HF 2242

as introduced - 80th Legislature (1997 - 1998) Posted on 12/15/2009 12:00am

  1.1                             A resolution
  1.2             memorializing Congress to amend the Constitution of 
  1.3             the United States. 
  1.4      
  1.5      WHEREAS, the triumph of freedom and justice embodied in the 
  1.6   Constitution of the United States of America gave contemporary 
  1.7   and future generations a structure for ordered liberty that has 
  1.8   served this nation well, and those historic decisions, augmented 
  1.9   from time to time by amendment, gave us a Constitution which 
  1.10  permits each generation to overcome the great social 
  1.11  disturbances of its time; and 
  1.12     WHEREAS, the rights of speech and assembly, the liberation 
  1.13  of enslaved Americans, the right of women to vote, restraints on 
  1.14  the power of concentrated wealth, the intelligent use of 
  1.15  government to protect the economic interests of all, and the use 
  1.16  of national military power here and abroad have all been 
  1.17  achieved through this Constitutional framework; and 
  1.18     WHEREAS, the American people have well understood their 
  1.19  Constitution and the values and powers it embodies; and 
  1.20     WHEREAS, a Constitution which protects our personal 
  1.21  security is the heart of the American system, and our 
  1.22  Constitution seeks to ensure that each person is free of the 
  1.23  threat of attack; free of actions by others that diminish life, 
  1.24  liberty, health, or property; or actions that prevent the 
  2.1   "pursuit of happiness"; and 
  2.2      WHEREAS, the people of the nation are increasingly besieged 
  2.3   by attacks on their personal security, their health and the 
  2.4   health of their families, and their right to enjoy the air, 
  2.5   water, and natural resources of the nation; and 
  2.6      WHEREAS, the continuing and growing threat to the public 
  2.7   health and the nation's natural resources is the challenge to 
  2.8   our generation of the kind other generations faced and overcame; 
  2.9   and 
  2.10     WHEREAS, we are the custodians of the health of our 
  2.11  children and future generations whose ability to breathe clean 
  2.12  air, drink healthful water, avoid poisons, and share in the 
  2.13  spiritual regeneration that comes from wilderness and nature is 
  2.14  in danger, and we are obliged to protect each citizen from these 
  2.15  threats as surely as were previous generations obliged to 
  2.16  enhance freedom, justice, and prosperity; and 
  2.17     WHEREAS, a Constitutional remedy is necessary to accomplish 
  2.18  this goal; and 
  2.19     WHEREAS, while the people have historically been reluctant 
  2.20  to amend the Constitution except for the most compelling 
  2.21  reasons, and while this body shares that view, the commitment to 
  2.22  the public health and environmental security of our citizens and 
  2.23  of future generations is so important, and so deeply a part of 
  2.24  American tradition and values, that it requires Constitutional 
  2.25  status; NOW, THEREFORE, 
  2.26     BE IT RESOLVED by the Legislature of the State of Minnesota 
  2.27  that it requests the Congress of the United States to submit to 
  2.28  the several states the following amendment to the Constitution 
  2.29  of the United States: 
  2.30     "The natural resources of the nation are the heritage of 
  2.31     present and future generations.  The right of each person 
  2.32     to clean and healthful air and water, and to the protection 
  2.33     of the other natural resources of the nation, shall not be 
  2.34     infringed upon by any person." 
  2.35     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this body also proposes that 
  2.36  the legislatures of the several states comprising the United 
  3.1   States apply to the Congress requesting the enactment of the 
  3.2   above amendment to the Constitution; and 
  3.3      BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of State of the 
  3.4   State of Minnesota is directed to prepare copies of this 
  3.5   memorial and transmit them to the Secretary of State and 
  3.6   presiding officers of both houses of the legislature of each of 
  3.7   the other states in the union, the President and the Secretary 
  3.8   of the United States Senate, the Speaker and the Clerk of the 
  3.9   United States House of Representatives, and Minnesota's Senators 
  3.10  and Representatives in Congress.