A resolution that would declare West Virginia‘s sovereignty under the U.S. Constitution was introduced yesterday in the State Senate and referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Senate Concurrent Resolution 20 would reassert that state’s sovereignty under the U.S. Constitution’s 1oth Amendment. From the resolution:

…Be it resolved by the Legislature of West Virginia: That the State of West Virginia reasserts sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States over all powers not otherwise enumerated and granted to the federal government by the Constitution of the United States; and, be it

Further Resolved, That all compulsory federal legislation that directs states to comply under threat of civil or criminal penalties or sanctions or requires states to pass legislation or lose federal funding be prohibited or repealed; and, be it

Further Resolved, That the Clerks of both houses forward a copy of this resolution to President Barack Obama and all members of West Virginia’s Congressional Delegation.

The 10th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution states that “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 to the people.”

The resolution is the brainchild of State Sen. Donna Boley, R-Pleasants, and is co-sponsored by the following State Senators: Clark Barnes, R-Randolph; Mike Hall, R-Putnam; Frank Deem, R-Wood; Don Caruth, R-Mercer; Dave Sypolt, R-Preston; Karen Facemyer, R-Jackson; Jesse Guills, R-Greenbrier; and Robert Plymale, D-Wayne.

“What we’ve seen going on in Washington D.C. is a lot of the federal government reaching out and taking power away from the states or mandating to the states things they should not be mandating to the states,” explained Boley in a conversation with West Virginia Watchdog. “There are several groups of people that are upset at losing state’s rights. That is part of the Tea Party movement and the people in Massachusetts that elected Scott Brown; they’re upset because the federal government is taking rights they should not be taking.”

According to the Tenth Amendment Center, a national think tank that educates the public on state sovereignty issues, similar legislation has been introduced in 16 states. Senate Concurrent Resolution 424 in South Carolina passed the Senate and the House, where it is back in the Senate. In Alabama, Senate Joint Resolution 27 passed the Senate, where it was sent to the House.

“As federal power continues to grow regardless of political party in charge, more and more people are recognizing that the only way to work towards Constitutional government is in ways that Thomas Jefferson and other prominent founders recommended – through state governments,” said Tenth Amendment Center Founder Michael Boldin in an email. “As agents of the people, it is the highest duty of a state government to protect the liberty of the People and resist encroachments on their rights from any and all sources.”

Boldin explains that the 10th Amendment is less about protecting the powers of the states as much as it’s about limiting the power of the federal government.

“It’s not always intrusions into state matters that are the greatest violations of the Constitution,” said Boldin. “The federal government has been running roughshod over the rules that bind it – the Constitution – for ages. Some of the most prominent include foreign policy, proposed federal mandates for health care, federal control over education, the federal drug war, federal gun laws and regulations, corporate bailouts, monetary policy, and much more.  The bottom line?  Much, if not most, of what the federal government engages in today is not authorized by the Constitution.”

Last year a similar piece of legislation, House Concurrent Resolution 49, made it no further than the House Rules Committee.

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