Bill 3592

                    Current Status

Bill Number:                       3592
Type of Legislation:               Concurrent Resolution CR
Introducing Body:                  House
Introduced Date:                   19950214
Primary Sponsor:                   Wilkins, 
All Sponsors:                      Wilkins, Limehouse, Hallman,
                                   Sandifer, Littlejohn, Walker,
                                   Harrison, Robinson, Rice, Simrill,
                                   Wilder, Easterday, Marchbanks,
                                   Jaskwhich, Harrell, Herdklotz,
                                   McCraw, Vaughn, Lanford, Wells,
                                   A. Young, Waldrop, Cain, Mason,
                                   Elliott, Tripp and Whatley 
Drafted Document Number:           gjk\21385sd.95
Residing Body:                     House
Current Committee:                 Judiciary Committee 25 HJ
Subject:                           Federal Mandates

Body    Date      Action Description                       Com     Leg Involved
______  ________  _______________________________________  _______ ____________

House   19950214  Introduced, referred to Committee        25 HJ

A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

TO CALL FOR A CONFERENCE OF THE STATES TO BE PROMOTED AND CONVENED BY THE COUNCIL OF STATE GOVERNMENTS FOR THE PURPOSE OF RESTORING BALANCE IN THE FEDERAL SYSTEM AND FOR RELATED MATTERS, AND TO PROVIDE FOR THE APPOINTMENT OF FIVE DELEGATES TO REPRESENT THE STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA AT THIS CONFERENCE.

Whereas, the United States' Constitution established a balanced compound system of governance and through the Tenth Amendment reserved all nondelegated and nonprohibited powers to the states or to the people; and

Whereas, over many years, the federal government has dramatically expanded the scope of its power and preempted state government authority and increasingly has treated states as administrative subdivisions or as special interest groups, rather than coequal partners; and

Whereas, the federal government has generated massive deficits and continues to mandate programs that state and local governments must administer; and

Whereas, the number of federal unfunded mandates has grown exponentially during the last thirty years and has profoundly distorted state budgets, thereby handcuffing the ability of state leaders to provide appropriate and needed services to their constituencies; and

Whereas, since 1990, the federal government has enacted at least forty-two major statutes imposing burdensome and expensive regulations and requirements on states and localities, which is nearly equal to all those enacted in the prior two decades combined; and

Whereas, persistent, state-led endeavors have failed consistently to generate any substantial reaction or remedy from the federal government; and

Whereas, the United States Supreme Court has repeatedly determined that the states must look to the congress and related political remedies for protection against federal encroachments on the reserved powers of the states; and

Whereas, The Council of State Governments, through its Intergovernmental Affairs Committee, has been the champion of state sovereignty for many years; and

Whereas, in recent years, states have been the principal agents of government reform, including updating their constitutions, modernizing and restructuring governmental institutions, and, along with local governments, have been the pioneers of government innovation, thus responding to the needs of their citizens; and

Whereas, The Council of State Governments recognizes a sense of urgency in calling for the Conference of the States, whereby each state government would send a delegation to develop a comprehensive action plan to restore balance in the federal system; and

Whereas, the aforementioned experience of The Council of State Governments, in conjunction with its regional structure and groupings of elected and appointed officials from all three branches of state government, reflects an entity ideally suited to promote and facilitate such a conference; and

Whereas, the conference of the states will communicate broad bipartisan public concern on the extent to which the American political system has been distorted and provide a formal forum for state governments to collectively propose constructive remedies for a more balanced state-federal governance partnership for the twenty-first century. Now, therefore,

Be it resolved by the House of Representatives, the Senate concurring:

That the members of the General Assembly, by this resolution, hereby call for a Conference of the States to be promoted and convened by The Council of State Governments for the purpose of restoring balance in the federal system and for related matters.

Be it further resolved that the following is adopted for purposes of this conference:

(1) A delegation of five voting persons from the State of South Carolina shall be appointed to represent the State of South Carolina at a Conference of the States for the purposes described in item (2)

to be convened as provided in item (3). The delegation shall consist of five voting persons as follows:

(a) the Governor or, if the Governor does not wish to be a member of the delegation then a constitutional officer selected by the Governor; and

(b) four legislators, two from each House selected by the presiding officer of that House.

No more than two of the four legislators may be from the same political party. Each presiding officer may designate two alternate legislator delegates, one from each party, who have voting privileges in the absence of the primary delegates.

(2) The delegates of The Conference of the States will propose, debate, and vote on elements of an action plan to restore checks and balances between states and the national government. Measures agreed upon will be formalized in an instrument called a States' Petition and returned to the delegation's state for consideration by the entire legislature.

(3) The Conference of the States shall be convened under Section 501(c)(3) auspices of The Council of State Governments in cooperation with the National Governor's Association and the National Conference of State Legislatures no later than two hundred seventy days after at least twenty-six legislatures adopt this resolution without amendment.

(4) Prior to the official convening of the Conference of the States the steering committee will draft:

(a) the governance structure and procedural rules for the conference;

(b) the process for receiving rebalancing proposals; and

(c) the financial and administrative functions of the conference, including The Council of State Governments as fiscal agent.

(5) The bylaws shall:

(a) conform to the provisions of this resolution;

(b) specify that each state delegation shall have one vote at the conference; and

(c) specify that the conference agenda be limited to fundamental, structural, long-term reforms.

(6) Upon the official convening of The Conference of the States, the state delegations will vote upon and approve the conference governing structure, operating rules, and bylaws.