Bill Text: FL S0480 | 2014 | Regular Session | Introduced


Bill Title: Commission on Federalism

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Failed) 2014-05-02 - Died in Judiciary [S0480 Detail]

Download: Florida-2014-S0480-Introduced.html
       Florida Senate - 2014                                     SB 480
       
       
        
       By Senator Evers
       
       
       
       
       
       2-00384A-14                                            2014480__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to the Commission on Federalism;
    3         creating s. 11.9006, F.S.; creating the Commission on
    4         Federalism; requiring that the commission meet six
    5         times each calendar year beginning on a specified
    6         date; providing staff support for the commission;
    7         providing membership of the commission; providing for
    8         members to be reimbursed for per diem and travel
    9         expenses; providing duties of the commission;
   10         providing criteria to evaluate a federal law;
   11         requiring the commission to determine if an evaluated
   12         federal law violates the principle of federalism;
   13         specifying what sources the commission may rely on in
   14         an evaluation of a federal law; requiring the
   15         commission to submit twice a year a report to the
   16         Governor and the Legislature; providing report
   17         requirements; providing an effective date.
   18          
   19  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   20  
   21         Section 1. Section 11.9006, Florida Statutes, is created to
   22  read:
   23         11.9006 Commission on Federalism.—
   24         (1) CREATION.—There is created the Commission on
   25  Federalism. The commission shall convene beginning in January
   26  2015 and shall meet six times each calendar year unless
   27  additional meetings are approved by the President of the Senate
   28  and the Speaker of the House of Representatives. The President
   29  of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives
   30  shall assign staff to assist the commission.
   31         (2) MEMBERSHIP.—
   32         (a) The commission is comprised of seven members as
   33  follows:
   34         1. The President of the Senate or his or her designee, who
   35  shall serve as co-chair of the commission;
   36         2. A member of the Senate appointed by the President of the
   37  Senate;
   38         3. The Speaker of the House of Representatives or his or
   39  her designee, who shall serve as co-chair of the commission;
   40         4. Two members of the House of Representatives appointed by
   41  the Speaker of the House of Representatives;
   42         5. The Minority Leader of the Senate or his or her
   43  designee; and
   44         6. The Minority Leader of the House of Representatives or
   45  his or her designee.
   46         (b) A vacancy on the commission shall be filled in the same
   47  manner as the original appointment.
   48         (c) Members of the commission are entitled to receive
   49  reimbursement for per diem and travel expenses pursuant to s.
   50  112.061.
   51         (3) DUTIES.—
   52         (a) The commission may evaluate a federal law when agreed
   53  to by a majority of the commission.
   54         (b) The commission may request information regarding a
   55  federal law under evaluation from a member of Florida’s
   56  Congressional Delegation.
   57         (c) If a majority of the commission finds that a federal
   58  law, agency, policy, mandate, or executive order is not
   59  authorized by the powers delegated to the Federal Government or
   60  any of its agencies under the United States Constitution or
   61  violates the principle of federalism as described in paragraph
   62  (5)(a), a co-chair of the commission may do any of the
   63  following:
   64         1. Request from a member of Florida’s Congressional
   65  Delegation information about the federal law or assistance in
   66  communicating with a federal government entity regarding the
   67  federal law;
   68         2. Give written notice of an evaluation of the federal law
   69  to the federal government entity responsible for adopting or
   70  administering the evaluated law and request that the federal
   71  government entity respond to the evaluation by a specific date;
   72         3. Request a meeting, conducted in person or by electronic
   73  means, with the federal government entity or any member of
   74  Congress to discuss the evaluated law and any possible remedy;
   75  or
   76         4. Correspond with the presiding officers of the
   77  legislative branch of another state or with an entity of another
   78  state which has powers and duties that are similar to those of
   79  the commission to discuss and coordinate the evaluation of and
   80  response to the federal law.
   81         (d) If agreed upon by a majority of the commission, the
   82  commission may recommend to the Governor that he or she call a
   83  special session of the Legislature to give the Legislature an
   84  opportunity to respond to the evaluated law.
   85         (e) The commission shall keep a current list on the website
   86  of the Florida Legislature of the following:
   87         1. Each federal law that the commission evaluates;
   88         2. Any action taken by a co-chair of the commission under
   89  paragraph (c); and
   90         3. Any response to an evaluation received from a federal
   91  government entity.
   92         (4) EVALUATION.—The commission shall determine whether a
   93  federal law evaluated by the commission is authorized by any of
   94  the following:
   95         (a) Section 2, Art. I of the United States Constitution to
   96  provide for the decennial census.
   97         (b) Section 4, Art. I of the United States Constitution to
   98  override state laws regulating the times, places, and manner of
   99  congressional elections other than the places of senatorial
  100  elections.
  101         (c) Section 7, Art. I of the United States Constitution to
  102  authorize the President of the United States to veto bills,
  103  orders, and resolutions passed by Congress.
  104         (d) Section 8, Art. I of the United States Constitution to:
  105         1. Lay and collect uniform taxes, duties, imposts, and
  106  excises to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and
  107  general welfare of the United States;
  108         2. Borrow money on the credit of the United States;
  109         3. Regulate commerce with foreign nations, among the
  110  several states, and with the Indian tribes;
  111         4. Establish a uniform rule of naturalization and uniform
  112  laws on the subject of bankruptcies throughout the United
  113  States;
  114         5. Coin money, regulate the value of coin money and of
  115  foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures;
  116         6. Provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the
  117  securities and current coin of the United States;
  118         7. Establish post offices and post roads;
  119         8. Promote the progress of science and useful arts by
  120  securing for limited times to authors and inventors the
  121  exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries;
  122         9. Constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court;
  123         10. Define and punish piracies and felonies committed on
  124  the high seas and offenses against the law of nations;
  125         11. Declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and
  126  make rules concerning captures on land and water;
  127         12. Raise and support armies, but an appropriation of money
  128  to that use must be only for a term of 2 years or less;
  129         13. Provide and maintain a Navy;
  130         14. Make rules for the government and regulation of the
  131  land and naval forces;
  132         15. Provide for calling forth the militia to execute the
  133  laws of the union, suppress insurrections, and repel invasions;
  134         16. Provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the
  135  militia and for governing the part of the militia which may be
  136  employed in the service of the United States, reserving to the
  137  states respectively the appointment of the officers and the
  138  authority of training the militia according to the discipline
  139  prescribed by Congress;
  140         17. Exercise exclusive legislation in all cases over such
  141  district that does not exceed 10 square miles as may, by the
  142  cession of particular states and the acceptance of Congress,
  143  become the seat of the government of the United States, and
  144  exercise like authority over all places purchased by the consent
  145  of the legislature of the state in which the places shall be,
  146  for the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dockyards, and
  147  other needful buildings; and
  148         18. Make all laws that are necessary and proper for
  149  carrying into execution the powers listed in s. 8, Art. I of the
  150  United States Constitution and all other powers vested by the
  151  United States Constitution in the government of the United
  152  States or in any department or officer of the United States.
  153         (e) Section 9, Art. I of the United States Constitution to
  154  authorize a federal officer to receive benefits from a foreign
  155  nation.
  156         (f) Section 1, Art. II of the United States Constitution
  157  to:
  158         1. Set the time for choosing electors; or
  159         2. Establish who succeeds to the presidency after the Vice
  160  President.
  161         (g) Section 2, Art. II of the United States Constitution to
  162  have the President:
  163         1. Serve as Commander in Chief of the United States Armed
  164  Forces;
  165         2. Require the written opinions of executive officers;
  166         3. Grant reprieves and pardons;
  167         4. Make vacancy appointments;
  168         5. Make treaties, subject to the advice and consent of the
  169  United States Senate;
  170         6. Appoint foreign affairs officers subject to the advice
  171  and consent of the United States Senate;
  172         7. Appoint domestic affairs officers subject to the advice
  173  and consent of the United States Senate or pursuant to law;
  174         8. Appoint judges subject to the advice and consent of the
  175  United States Senate; or
  176         9. Fill designated inferior offices without senatorial
  177  consent.
  178         (h) Section 3, Art. III of the United States Constitution
  179  to authorize the President to:
  180         1. Give Congress information;
  181         2. Make recommendations to Congress;
  182         3. Convene Congress on extraordinary occasions;
  183         4.Adjourn Congress if it cannot agree on a time;
  184         5. Receive representatives of foreign powers;
  185         6. Execute the laws; or
  186         7. Commission United States officers.
  187         (i) Art. III of the United States Constitution to:
  188         1. Create exceptions to the Supreme Court’s appellate
  189  jurisdiction;
  190         2. Establish the jurisdiction of federal courts inferior to
  191  the Supreme Court; or
  192         3. Declare the punishment for treason.
  193         (j) Section 1, Art. IV of the United States Constitution to
  194  establish the rules by which the records and judgments of states
  195  are proved in other states.
  196         (k) Section 3, Art. IV of the United States Constitution
  197  to:
  198         1. Consent to the admission of new states or the
  199  combination of existing states;
  200         2. Manage federal property;
  201         3. Dispose of federal property; or
  202         4. Govern the federal territories.
  203         (l) Section 4, Art. IV of the United States Constitution to
  204  defend each state from invasion, insurrection, and nonrepublican
  205  forms of government.
  206         (m) Article V of the United States Constitution to propose
  207  constitutional amendments.
  208         (n) Article VI of the United States Constitution to
  209  prescribe the oath for federal officers.
  210         (o) The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States
  211  Constitution to abolish slavery.
  212         (p) The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States
  213  Constitution to guard people from certain state abuses.
  214         (q) The Sixteenth Amendment to the United States
  215  Constitution to impose taxes on income from any source without
  216  apportioning the total dollar amount of tax collected from each
  217  state according to each state’s population in relation to the
  218  total national population.
  219         (r) The Twentieth Amendment to the United States
  220  Constitution to revise the manner of presidential succession.
  221         (s) The Fifteenth Amendment, the Nineteenth Amendment, the
  222  Twenty-Third Amendment, and the Twenty-Fourth Amendment to the
  223  United States Constitution to extend and protect the right to
  224  vote.
  225         (t) The Twenty-Seventh Amendment to the United States
  226  Constitution to grant a pay raise to a sitting Congress.
  227         (5) ADDITIONAL STANDARDS FOR EVALUATION.—
  228         (a) The commission shall evaluate whether a federal law
  229  violates the principle of federalism by:
  230         1. Affecting the distribution of power and responsibility
  231  between the state and federal governments;
  232         2. Limiting the policymaking discretion of the state;
  233         3. Affecting a power or a right reserved to the state or
  234  its residents by the Ninth Amendment or the Tenth Amendment to
  235  the United States Constitution; and
  236         4. Affecting the sovereignty rights and interest of the
  237  state or a political subdivision to provide for the health,
  238  safety, and welfare and to promote the prosperity of the
  239  residents in the state or the political subdivision.
  240         (b) In evaluating a federal law, the commission shall rely
  241  on:
  242         1. The text of the United States Constitution, as amended;
  243         2. The meaning of the text of the United States
  244  Constitution, as amended, at the time of its drafting and
  245  ratification; and
  246         3. A primary source document that is directly relevant to
  247  the drafting, ratification, or initial implementation of the
  248  United States Constitution, as amended, or created by a person
  249  directly involved in the drafting, adoption, ratification, or
  250  initial implementation of the United States Constitution, as
  251  amended.
  252         (c) The commission may rely on other relevant sources,
  253  including federal court decisions. However, the commission’s
  254  evaluation of a federal law is not bound by a holding by a
  255  federal court.
  256         (6) REPORT REQUIREMENT.—On or by May 20 and October 20 of
  257  each year, the commission shall submit a report by e-mail to the
  258  Governor and the Legislature which summarizes the following:
  259         (a) Action taken by the commission in accordance with this
  260  section.
  261         (b) Action taken by, or communication received from, any of
  262  the following in response to a request or inquiry made by the
  263  commission or any other action taken by the commission:
  264         1. A member of Florida’s Congressional Delegation;
  265         2. A member of Congress from another state; or
  266         3. A federal government entity, official, or employee.
  267         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2014.

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