Posted on 08/13/2009 9:15:47 AM PDT by Ebenezer
A Republican lawmaker said Monday that he will propose a constitutional amendment to protect Louisiana from the repercussions of possible national health-care changes.
“This is kind of a way to throw the gauntlet down and stand up for ourselves as a state,” said state Rep. Kirk Talbot, a River Ridge businessman.
Talbot said he wants to protect state rights in the health-care arena via a constitutional change he will seek in 2010.
The change would require a two-thirds vote of the Legislature, then approval by the state’s voters to take effect.
Arizona and Florida are already considering similar proposals.
“I think you will see other states following next trying to exert their state independence,” Talbot said.
Talbot said there is a debate over whether such proposals meet constitutional muster. But, he said, he thinks an argument can be made that states rights should rule.
Louisiana’s health chief Alan Levine said the legal debate should be an interesting one.
“The 10th amendment to the Constitution ensures states have the right to conduct their affairs except for those things specifically ascribed to the federal government,” Levine said. “Health care is not one of those things the federal government has the ‘right’ to impose on states.”
Talbot’s proposal comes as the national health-care debate rages with major disagreements on legislation. It’s a hot topic of meetings with constituents during the August congressional break — bringing boisterous and sometime unruly crowds.
“This is not related to one bill. It’s related to the issue of government-run health care,” Talbot said. “They are going to penalize employers with this mandate, penalize people for not getting their own health care.”
Talbot said he is worried about the impact of a government-run plan on businesses.
His proposed constitutional amendment would say “Everybody in Louisiana has the right to buy their own insurance, get into the plan of their own choosing,” Talbot said.
Levine said Talbot’s concerns about small business being taxed “are real and significant.”
Levine said Congress has passed one measure out of committee that increases penalties on business, including small business, if they don’t participate.
“The congressional bill will push Louisiana’s tax burden for the highest bracket to a rate above 50 percent,” said Levine.
Levine said the congressional package also mandates expansion of Medicaid for people up to 133 percent of the federal poverty level.
That would translate into a major expansion of Louisiana’s government insurance program for the poor which today struggles to provide access to care for those enrolled, he said. Today, the program only covers adults to 12 percent of the federal poverty level, he said.
Pelican State ping
If similar initiatives catch on in other states, it will be a matter of time before we opponents of Obamacare are labelled “secessionists” and “traitors”.
I am sure the screaming banshees of the left are preparing the posters now.
River Ridge BUMP!!
If Louisiana's then maybe a prayer and it might be enforced under the US Constitution's 10 Amendment. If he is proposing an amendment to the US Constitution, he is just another state legislator among thousands and it is dead upon on arrival in Washington.
Talbot is proposing an amendment to the Louisiana Constitution.
Please ~ping~ me to articles relating to the 10th Amendment/States Rights so I can engage the pinger.
I've stopped scouring threads and unilaterally adding names to the ping list, so if you want on or off the list just say so.
Additional Resources:
Tenth Amendment Chronicles Thread
Tenth Amendment Center
The Right Side of Life/State Initiatives
Sovereign States
Find Law(Brief narrative on 10th Amendment)
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Bwahahahahaha. Yeah, it's a joke.
The Texas legislature is already in recess until 2011, isn't it? That biannual format is sure a double-edged sword; they have less time to screw things up, but they also require a special session if something of importance demands their attention.
I recently took the guided tour of the Texas capitol. In the House chamber, the guide was explaining that the legislators met there only every other year. One of the other people on the tour, a 40-ish woman, asked: "Now, the years when they don't meet here... is that when they meet in Washington, D.C.?" Most other people in the group exchanged eye-rolling glances, but the tour guide was polite and didn't even point at her and laugh. From her accent, I'd say she wasn't from Texas - thank goodness.
Yes..odd number years....which is a great protection and limitation on the havoc they can reek.
Yes, if a gauntlet ever needed to be thrown down, this is it. If only we could unite the United States on this issue. We are, however, in the unfortunate position of having “red” and “blue” states thanks to years of propaganda from the left.
Although I lived in California in 1994, I didn’t have a whole lot of interest in politics (but that is the year my open-mindedness got me out of the democrat party). Who was in charge in Sacramento at that time? Honestly, I don’t know.
Indeed, fact is, it can be broken down even further to counties IMHO. The population center pulik skools in particular have produced at least two generations of cultural and constitutional illiterates that are sorely lacking critical thinking skills. The suburban and rural skool districts only marginally better. Even so, poll after poll shows Americans by a huge majority are ideologically center-right, that is, EVERY state is in reality a "red" state. The voting trends indicate a significant disconnect between what many people actually believe and how they vote. The primary boogeyman in all of this, that is in addition to government schools is the dinomedia who legitimize, support and advocate for the loony left. Thank God they are circling the drain!
The good news? Glenn Beck is right, we have them surrounded! Now if we could just get everybody on the same page.
The Dims have been the majority in the CA legislature since 1970 all but two years, '95 and '96 when Pubbies were the majority in the state's house. Recall what happened in '94 in DC? The Pubbies swept the US House AND Senate during the Gingrich Revolution. So, maybe the '94 10th Amendment resolution in CA was a response to that. Possibly their attempt to tell the Pubbies in DC that CA still planned on continuing their loony ways.
You’re singing out of my choir book.
Geez. I’m sure you’re right. That’s the only thing that makes sense.
Heh, not that hard to figure out the libtards after applying some shadetree psychiatry, eh? The problem of course is that we can't tell these petulant crybabies to go to their rooms or ground them forever. Or even take a hickory switch to 'em for that matter. Especially when they are part of a very large consortium of looters, politicians(but I repeat myself), and a still viable but dying Information Ministry.
The children are running the playground; how do we get the adults back in charge??? Sortof a rhetorical question...
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