By John Lyon
Arkansas News Bureau
LITTLE ROCK — A resolution asserting states’ rights cleared a House committee Wednesday after being held up there for about a month.
The House Committee on State Agencies and Governmental Affairs gave a “do pass” recommendation to House Concurrent Resolution 1011 by Rep. Debra Hobbs, R-Rogers. The resolution advances to the full House.
The resolution, which the committee previously rejected, would assert that the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution reserves for the states all powers not specifically granted to the federal government and would ask the federal government not to hand down mandates beyond the scope of its constitutionally delegated powers.
An earlier version of the resolution would have asserted state “sovereignty” and would have issued a “demand” that the federal government cease and desist all overreaching mandates. Hobbs said she softened the language to fashion a “kinder, gentler” resolution, at the request of committee members.
“I think that we just see more and more evidence of our federal government probably encroaching upon rights that should be reserved to the states,” she told the committee.
As an example, Hobbs said a measure has been filed in Congress — House Resolution 45 by Rep. Bobby L. Rush, D-Ill. — that would establish a national system for prohibiting unlicensed gun ownership.
Hobbs’ resolution received 11 “yes” votes, nine of them from Republicans.
The committee also endorsed HCR 1022, also by Hobbs, which would rescind a resolution the Legislature adopted in 1979 that called for a constitutional convention to amend the constitution to require a balanced federal budget.
Hobbs said she supports a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced budget but believes a constitutional convention is unnecessary and might go beyond its intended purpose.
That resolution passed in a voice vote and advances to the full House.
