House passes HRC50 – House Concurrent Resolution 50

The 10th Amendment Center has published on their Texas Secession pages that the Texas House of Representatives passed House Concurrent Resolution 50 (HCR50) on May 30, 2009. See http://www.tenthamendmentcenter.com/2009/05/30/texas-house-feds-back-off/

As usual the proponents of the secession movement are either unwilling, unable to do a little research or just plain don’t care and just wish to throw some red meat at the pitch fork crowd. The article the 10th Amendment Center posted was the bill sent from Committee to the House.  They report with glee that “Texas House to Feds: Back Off” yet they fail to inform the readers that in order to get the bill passed it was amended to watered down to a state that makes it not worth the paper being used to distribute it.  The members of the House of Representatives used common sense to ensure the document was not and could not be used as propganda in the Texas Secession movement.

HCR 50
(by Creighton, Hughes, Berman, Gattis, Guillen, et al.)

HCR 50, Affirming that the State of Texas claims sovereignty under the
Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States over all powers not
otherwise enumerated and granted to the federal government by the U.S.
Constitution, serving notice to the federal government to cease and desist certain
mandates, and providing that certain federal legislation be prohibited or repealed.

Amendment No. 1
Representative Coleman offered the following amendment to HCRi50:
Amend HCR 50 as follows:
On page 2, line 19, after “legislation”, insert “not necessary to ensure rights
guaranteed the people under the constitution of the United States”.

Amendment No. 1 was adopted.Amendment No. 2
Representative Dunnam offered the following amendment to HCRi50:
Amend HCR 50 as follows:

(1) On page 1, before line 1, insert:
WHEREAS, Each Member of the Legislature feels great pride in being
citizens of the United States of America, which includes the rights of citizens to
petition their government for redress of grievances; and,

WHEREAS, All Texans have benefited from this State’s participation in the
unique experience in democracy that first began on a field in Lexington,
Massachusetts, and called The United States of America; and

WHEREAS, Countless Texans have served in the Armed Forces of the
United States with the brave sons and daughters of all our sister States to protect
our State, our Nation, our Union, and many of them gave the last full measure of
devotion by offering their lives to preserve that Union; and

WHEREAS, Each Member of the Legislature has sworn a solemn oath to
defend our National Union; and

WHEREAS, Each day, millions of Texans assemble in churches,
synagogues, schools, arenas, fields, and homes to pledge allegiance to the Flag of
the United States of America and the one nation, indivisible, for which that Flag
stands; and

Amendment 2 is very important as it takes all thought of secession out of the equation.  The Representatives endorse being part of the National Union.   How much more clear then WHEREAS, Each Member of the Legislature has sworn a solemn oath to defend our National Union;do you have to get.

6004 81st LEGISLATURE — REGULAR SESSION

(2) On page 2, lines 3, strike “congress” and substitute “the Congress of the
United States”.

The Representatives removed the slight from the partisan committee and used the proper name as well they should.

(3) On page 2, between lines 9 and 10, insert:
RESOLVED, by the House of Representatives, the Senate concurring, That
the 81st Legislature of the State of Texas reaffirms the pride of all Texans in both
our one and indivisible National Union and in our one and indivisible State and
the common heritage of both; and, be it further

the State of Texas reaffirms the pride of all Texans in both our one and indivisible National Union and in our one and indivisible State and the common heritage of both     pretty much sums up that secession is not the issue they are speaking of.

(5) Strike the last resolving clause and substitute:
RESOLVED, that the Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives is
directed to send a copy of this Resolution to the Senators and Representatives of
Texas in Congress with the request that this resolution be officially entered in the
Congressional Record as a memorial to the Congress of the United States of
America; and, be it further

RESOLVED, That the Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives is
directed to send a copy of this Resolution to the President of the United States of
America, the Vice President of the United States of America, the Speaker of the
House of Representatives of the United States of America, and to the governor of
each sister State as an expression of the affection of the people of Texas for our
one National and Indivisible Union.
Amendment No. 2 was adopted.

Amendment No. 3
Representative Veasey offered the following amendment to HCRi50:
Amend HCR 50 on page 2, line 27, between “United States Congress,” and
“and to all the members”, by inserting “to the minority leader of the house of
representatives and the minority leader of the senate,”.
Amendment No. 3 was adopted.

HCR 50, as amended, was adopted by (Record 1544): 99 Yeas, 36 Nays, 4
Present, not voting.
Yeas” Anderson; Aycock; Berman; Bohac; Bonnen; Branch; Brown, B.;
Brown, F.; Button; Callegari; Chisum; Christian; Cohen; Cook; Crabb; Craddick;
Creighton; Crownover; Darby; Davis, J.; Dunnam; Edwards; Eissler; Elkins;
Fletcher; Flynn; Frost; Gallego; Gattis; Geren; Guillen; Gutierrez; Hamilton;
Hancock; Hardcastle; Harless; Harper-Brown; Hartnett; Hilderbran; Homer;
Saturday, May 30, 2009 HOUSE JOURNAL — 84th Day 6005
Hopson; Howard, C.; Hughes; Hunter; Isett; Jackson; Jones; Keffer(C); King, P.;
King, S.; King, T.; Kleinschmidt; Kolkhorst; Laubenberg; Legler; Lewis; Lucio;
Madden; Maldonado; Martinez; McCall; McReynolds; Merritt; Miklos; Miller,
D.; Miller, S.; Moody; Morrison; Oliveira; Orr; Ortiz; Otto; Parker; Patrick;
Paxton; Pen˜ a; Phillips; Pickett; Pitts; Quintanilla; Riddle; Rios Ybarra; Ritter;
Rose; Sheffield; Shelton; Smith, T.; Smith, W.; Smithee; Solomons; Swinford;
Taylor; Thibaut; Truitt; Turner, C.; Vaught; Weber; Woolley; Zerwas.
Nays — Allen; Alonzo; Anchia; Burnam; Castro; Chavez; Coleman; Davis,
Y.; Deshotel; Dukes; Dutton; Eiland; Farias; Farrar; Flores; Gonzales; Gonzalez
Toureilles; Hernandez; Herrero; Hodge; Leibowitz; Mallory Caraway; Marquez;
Martinez Fischer; McClendon; Menendez; Naishtat; Olivo; Raymond;
Rodriguez; Thompson; Turner, S.; Veasey; Villarreal; Vo; Walle.
Present, not voting—Mr. Speaker; Bolton; Howard, D.; Strama.
Absent, Excused—Alvarado; Driver; Farabee; Giddings; Kent; Kuempel.
Absent, Excused, Committee Meeting—Corte.

It will be interesting to see if those in the Texas Secession movement  report that the bill does not give them the victory they have been hailing.  It gives the impression that due to the political climate in Texas and more specifically the Republican Party, you must toe the party line or else.  At least there are reasonable thinkers who were able amend the bill to ensure that it is basically meaningless, that is just more of a “Yeah we passed
an Amendment ” come election time.