State Sovereignty Considered on 2nd-to-Last Day of Session

03.11.2010 by Whittney Evans

(KCPW News) The Utah House passed a resolution supporting state sovereignty under the 10th Amendment Wednesday. It urges the federal government not to impose mandates under threat of criminal or civil penalties, or the loss of federal funding.  But Salt Lake City Democratic Representative Brian King argued that federal stimulus dollars allowed the state to fund critical programs over the past year. And he said Utah takes out more money from the Federal treasury each year than it contributes.

“I’m illustrating the inconsistency of our railing on the federal government on the one hand and our fervent desire to obtain every federal dollar we can on the other,” he said.  “We need to think about the discrepancy between our words and our actions a little more.”

The Resolution passed 47 to 19, with little support from House Democrats. States’ rights dominated part of this year’s legislative session. Democrats previously held a press conference to say they supported states rights, but were focused on more pressing issues.