The 10th Amendment says:
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or the people.
Many federal lawmakers know the 10th Amendment and mention it but in recent times it rarely has been followed. Florida legislators want to make sure it is and that is why the senate introduced a bill that would create a Commission on Federalism per The Daily Signal.
The commission would keep an eye on federal overreach. It would evaluate any “federal law, agency, policy, mandate, or executive order” that “is not authorized by the powers delegated to the Federal Government or any of its agencies under the United States Constitution or violates the principle of federalism.”
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Florida’s proposed commission would be made up of senior members of the state legislature such as the president of the Senate, the speaker of the House and the minority leaders of each house.
Contrary to popular belief, states do not have the power to unilaterally nullify federal laws. They do have the duty to voice their opinion when the government violates the Constitution or oversteps its limits of authority.
The new commission would be tasked with drawing attention to federal violations of the principle of federalism.The commission can request information about a particular federal action and give written notice of their evaluations. It can also recommend the governor hold a “special session of the Legislature to respond to the evaluated law, agency, policy, mandate, or executive order.”
If successful, hopefully other states will adopt similar laws that would require lawmakers in Washington to consider powers of the states when they are enacting new law.
Two years ago Utah created its own Commission Federalism and the American Legislative Exchange Council has model legislation advising how to create such a commission.