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1 1 HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO.
1 2 BY (PROPOSED COMMITTEE ON STATE GOVERNMENT BY CHAIRPERSON
1 3 MARTIN)
1 4 A Concurrent Resolution calling for the convening of a
1 5 Conference of the States and providing for Iowa's
1 6 participation in the Conference.
1 7 WHEREAS, the Constitution of the United States established
1 8 a balanced system of federal, state, and local governance and
1 9 through the Tenth Amendment reserved all nondelegated and
1 10 nonprohibited powers to the States or to the people; and
1 11 WHEREAS, over many years, the federal government has
1 12 dramatically expanded the scope of its power and preempted
1 13 state government authority and increasingly has treated the
1 14 States as administrative subdivisions or as special interest
1 15 groups, rather than coequal partners; and
1 16 WHEREAS, the federal government has generated massive
1 17 budget deficits and continues to mandate programs that state
1 18 and local governments must administer; and
1 19 WHEREAS, the number of federal unfunded mandates has grown
1 20 exponentially during the last 30 years and has profoundly
1 21 distorted state budgets, including Iowa's, thereby limiting
1 22 the ability of state leaders in Iowa and across the country to
1 23 provide appropriate and needed services to their
1 24 constituencies; and
1 25 WHEREAS, since 1990, the federal government has enacted
1 26 numerous major statutes imposing burdensome and expensive
1 27 regulations and requirements on states and localities, which
1 28 is nearly equal to all those enacted in the prior two decades
1 29 combined; and
1 30 WHEREAS, in recent years the States have been the principal
1 31 agents of government reform, including updating their
1 32 constitutions, modernizing and restructuring governmental
1 33 institutions, and, along with local governments, have been the
1 34 pioneers of government innovation, thus responding to the
1 35 needs of their citizens; and
2 1 WHEREAS, Iowa has been a leader in governmental reform by
2 2 aggressively dealing with many challenges confronting the
2 3 State in recent years and by passing measures to reform the
2 4 state's budgetary practices, welfare system, and governmental
2 5 ethics laws, and to continually improve governmental
2 6 efficiency and effectiveness; and
2 7 WHEREAS, persistent, state-led endeavors have consistently
2 8 failed to generate any substantial reaction or remedy from the
2 9 federal government; and
2 10 WHEREAS, the United States Supreme Court has repeatedly
2 11 determined that the States must look to the Congress and
2 12 related political remedies for protection against federal
2 13 encroachments on the reserved powers of the States; and
2 14 WHEREAS, the convening of a Conference of the States will
2 15 communicate broad bipartisan public concern on the extent to
2 16 which the American political system has been distorted and
2 17 provide a formal forum for the States to collectively propose
2 18 constructive remedies for a more balanced state-federal
2 19 governance partnership for the twenty-first century; NOW
2 20 THEREFORE,
2 21 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, THE SENATE
2 22 CONCURRING, That the Iowa General Assembly adopt the following
2 23 proposal calling for the convening of a Conference of the
2 24 States and providing for Iowa's participation in the
2 25 Conference:
2 26 1. A delegation of five voting persons from the State of
2 27 Iowa shall be appointed to represent the State of Iowa at a
2 28 Conference of the States for the purposes described in section
2 29 2 of this proposal and to be convened as provided in section 3
2 30 of this proposal. The Iowa delegation shall consist of five
2 31 voting persons as follows:
2 32 a. The Governor, or, if the Governor does not wish to be a
2 33 member of the delegation, then a constitutional officer
2 34 selected by the Governor.
2 35 b. Four legislators, two from each house selected by the
3 1 presiding officer of that house.
3 2 No more than two of the four legislators may be from the
3 3 same political party. Each presiding officer may designate
3 4 two alternate legislator delegates, one from each party, who
3 5 shall have voting privileges in the absence of the primary
3 6 delegates.
3 7 2. The delegates of the Conference of the States will
3 8 propose, debate, and vote on elements of an action plan to
3 9 restore checks and balances between the States and the federal
3 10 government. Measures agreed upon will be formalized in an
3 11 instrument called a States' Petition and returned to the
3 12 delegation's state for consideration by the entire
3 13 legislature.
3 14 3. The Conference of the States shall be convened under
3 15 the auspices of the Council of State Governments, organized
3 16 pursuant to its status as a nonprofit organization under
3 17 Internal Revenue Code } 501(c)(3), and in cooperation with the
3 18 National Governors' Association and the National Conference of
3 19 State Legislatures no later than 270 days after at least 26
3 20 legislatures adopt this resolution without substantive
3 21 amendment.
3 22 4. Prior to the official convening of the Conference of
3 23 the States, a steering committee for the Conference of the
3 24 States, composed of state-elected officials, and established
3 25 by the Council of State Governments, in cooperation with the
3 26 National Governors' Association and the National Conference of
3 27 State Legislatures, will draft the following:
3 28 a. The governance structure and procedural and operating
3 29 rules for the Conference.
3 30 b. The process for receiving proposals concerning the
3 31 balance between the federal and state and local governments.
3 32 c. The financial and administrative functions of the
3 33 Conference, including the Council of State Governments as
3 34 fiscal agent.
3 35 5. The bylaws for the Conference of the States shall:
4 1 a. Conform to the provisions of this resolution.
4 2 b. Specify that each state delegation shall have one vote
4 3 at the Conference.
4 4 c. Specify that the Conference agenda be limited to
4 5 fundamental, structural, long-term reforms.
4 6 6. Upon the official convening of the Conference of the
4 7 States, the state delegations will vote upon and approve the
4 8 Conference governing structure, procedural and operating
4 9 rules, and bylaws.
4 10 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That copies of this Resolution be
4 11 sent to the Governor, the steering committee for the
4 12 Conference of the States, the Council of State Governments,
4 13 the National Governors' Association, and the National
4 14 Conference of State Legislatures.
4 15 LSB 1619HC 76
4 16 ec/jj/8
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