TAC Daily Digest

Twisting Language: 4 Ways They’ve Expanded Power

Michael Boldin — Fri, 09 Jun 2023 16:58:25 +0000

Tyranny often goes hand in hand with powerful people controlling and manipulating language – the meaning of words. Here are four – of many – ways they’ve done this with the Constitution.

Path to Liberty, Fast Friday Edition: June 9, 2023

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James Madison to Henry Lee (25 June 1824)

Maharrey – Constitution 101: Living and Breathing is the Same as Dead

Natelson – The ideas that formed the Constitution: Coke, Blackstone, and English law

Thomas Jefferson – Opinion on the Constitutionality of a National Bank (15 Feb 1791)

Boldin – Necessary is Supposed to Mean Necessary

Natelson – The Nondelegation Doctrine and the Necessary and Proper Clause

The Original Meaning of the Constitution’s Postal Clause

Natelson – New Study Finds Administrative State Unconstitutional

Natelson – How the Supreme Court Rewrote the Constitution Part V: Killing Economic Freedom

The Meaning of “Regulate Commerce” to the Constitution’s Ratifiers

James Madison – Political Observations (20 Apr 1795)

Boldin – Under the Constitution Limited Strikes Qualify as War

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The post Twisting Language: 4 Ways They’ve Expanded Power first appeared on Tenth Amendment Center.

To the Governor: Connecticut Bill Would Eliminate State Conformity with IRS Section 280E for Marijuana Businesses

Mike Maharrey — Fri, 09 Jun 2023 03:37:43 +0000

HARTFORD, Conn. (June 8, 2023) – On Tuesday, the Connecticut Senate gave final approval to a bill that includes provisions that would eliminate the state’s conformity with Internal Revenue Code (IRC) Section 280E. The enactment of this provision would represent a small, but important state tax relief for marijuana businesses despite ongoing federal cannabis prohibition.

House Bill 6941 (HB6941) sets the state budget for the next year. Provisions in the bill would also deconform the state tax code from federal law as it applies to deductions for marijuana businesses. In effect, the legislation would allow marijuana businesses in Connecticut to take tax deductions on their state returns that they’re currently prohibited from utilizing.

Section 280E of the IRC forbids businesses from deducting otherwise ordinary business expenses from gross income associated with the “trafficking” of Schedule I or II substances, as defined by the Controlled Substances Act. The IRS applies Section 280E to state-legal cannabis businesses, meaning marijuana growers, processors and sellers cannot deduct expenses from their taxes that businesses in other sectors can write off. The only deduction that cannabis businesses can make is the cost of goods sold.

Under the current tax scheme, marijuana businesses pay effective tax rates of up to 80 percent.

Under Connecticut law, the state tax codes generally conform to federal tax law with respect to itemized deductions and business deductions. Under HB6941, marijuana businesses in the state would be able to deduct “the amount of ordinary and necessary expenses that would be eligible to be claimed as a deduction for federal income purposes…but that are disallowed under Section 280E of the Internal Revenue Code because marijuana is a controlled substance under the federal Controlled Substance Act.”

The House passed HB6941 by a 139-12 vote. The Senate approved the measure by a 35-1 vote. It now goes to Gov. Ned Lamont’s desk for his consideration.

EFFECT ON FEDERAL PROHIBITION

Connecticut legalized medical marijuana in 2012 and legalized cannabis for adult use in 2021.

Under the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA) passed in 1970, the federal government maintains complete prohibition of marijuana. Of course, the federal government lacks any constitutional authority to ban or regulate cannabis within the borders of a state, despite the opinion of the politically connected lawyers on the Supreme Court. If you doubt this, ask yourself why it took a constitutional amendment to institute federal alcohol prohibition.

The legalization of medical and recreational cannabis removed a huge layer of laws prohibiting the possession and use of marijuana. This is significant because FBI statistics show that law enforcement makes approximately 99 of 100 marijuana arrests under state, not federal law. When states stop enforcing marijuana laws, they sweep away most of the basis for 99 percent of marijuana arrests.

Furthermore, figures indicate it would take 40 percent of the DEA’s yearly budget just to investigate and raid all of the dispensaries in Los Angeles – a single city in a single state. That doesn’t include the cost of prosecution. The lesson? The feds lack the resources to enforce marijuana prohibition without state assistance.

Providing tax relief for marijuana businesses in Illinois would help further expand the market and make it that much more difficult for the feds to enforce cannabis prohibition.

A GROWING MOVEMENT

Colorado, Washington state, Oregon and Alaska were the first states to legalize recreational cannabis, and California, Nevada, Maine and Massachusetts joined them after ballot initiatives in favor of legalization passed in November 2016. Michigan followed suit when voters legalized cannabis for general use in 2018. Vermont became the first state to legalize marijuana through a legislative act in 2018. Illinois followed suit in 2019. New Jersey, Montana and Arizona all legalized recreational marijuana through ballot measures in the 2020 election. In 2021, New York, New Mexico, Virginia and Connecticut legalized marijuana through legislative action, and Rhode Island legalized cannabis for adult use in 2022. Missouri and Maryland legalized marijuana in November 2022, and Delaware and Montana joined in 2023, there are now 37 states allowing cannabis for medical use, and 23 legalizing it for adult recreational use.

The lesson here is pretty straightforward. As Tenth Amendment Center Executive Director Michael Boldin noted, “When enough people say, ‘No!’ to the federal government, and enough states pass laws backing those people up, there’s not much the feds can do to shove their so-called laws, regulations, or mandates down our throats.”

The proposal to provide tax relief to marijuana businesses demonstrates an important strategic point. Passing bills that take a step forward sets the stage, even if they are limited in scope. Opening the door clears the way for additional steps. You can’t take the second step before you take the first.

WHAT’S NEXT

Gov. Lamont will have 15 days from the date HB6941 is transmitted to his office to sign or veto the bill. If he takes no action, it will become law without his signature.

The post To the Governor: Connecticut Bill Would Eliminate State Conformity with IRS Section 280E for Marijuana Businesses first appeared on Tenth Amendment Center.

Censorship Is the First Step Toward Tyranny

Mike Maharrey — Thu, 08 Jun 2023 18:36:03 +0000

If you want to subject people to tyranny, the first step is to eliminate the freeness of speech.

If you can’t have an open discussion about what people in power are doing, you can’t be surprised when those people abuse their power.

This was widely understood in the founding generation.

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For More Information

A Brief History of the Freedom of Speech in America

5 Founders on the Freedom of Speech

5 Founders on Free Speech and Press – Vol 2

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Now in Effect: West Virginia Law Prohibits Using Credit Card Information to Track Firearms Purchases Without a Warrant

Mike Maharrey — Thu, 08 Jun 2023 10:25:12 +0000

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (June 8, 2023) – Today, a West Virginia law goes into effect prohibiting state government entities from accessing information about firearm and ammunition purchases generated by a credit card merchant code without a warrant.

Del. Chris Phillips and a coalition of 10 cosponsors introduced House Bill 2004 (HB2004) on Jan. 12. The new law prohibits any West Virginia governmental entity from accessing or obtaining a record of a transaction involving a credit card that is retrieved, characterized, generated, labeled, sorted, or grouped based on the assignment of a firearms code without a warrant or a subpoena in most situations.

Financial institutions are also barred from disclosing such information with the same exceptions. Financial institutions could disclose such information if the customer provides written authorization for disclosure.

HB2004 includes specific requirements for a subpoena requesting such information.

On Feb. 3, the House passed HB2004 by a 95-0 vote. The Senate approved the measure with amendments by a 32-0 vote on March 9. The following day, the House concurred with the Senate amendments. With Gov. Jim Justice’s signature, the law went into effect on June 8.

In response to legislation like HB2837, the major credit card payment networks have “paused” implementation of the firearms merchant code. In an email to Reuters, a Mastercard representative said such bills would cause “inconsistency” in how the code could be applied by merchants, banks and payment networks. The more states that ban such codes, the more likely this program gets scrapped permanently.

BACKGROUND

HB2004 explains the background for this bill in the legislative findings.

“In September of 2022, the world’s three largest payment card networks publicly announced they would assign a unique Merchant Category Code to firearms retailers accepting payment cards for purchases, after members of Congress sent a public letter to networks, pressuring them to adopt the new code. In the letter to payment card networks, federal lawmakers stated that the new Merchant Category Code for firearms retailers would be “[. . .] the first step towards facilitating the collection of valuable financial data that could help law enforcement in countering the financing of terrorism efforts”, expressing a clear government expectation that networks will utilize the new Merchant Category Code to conduct mass surveillance of constitutionally protected firearms, firearm accessories or components, and ammunition purchases in cooperation with law enforcement.

The new Merchant Category Code will allow the banks, payment card networks, acquirers, and other entities involved in payment card processing to identify and separately track lawful payment card purchases at firearms retailers in West Virginia, paving the way for both unprecedented surveillance of Second Amendment activity and unprecedented information sharing between financial institutions and the government.”

IMPACT ON FEDERAL PROGRAMS

As the legislative findings warn, data collected from this merchant code would almost certainly end up in federal government databases.

The feds can share and tap into vast amounts of information gathered at the state and local level through fusion centers and a system known as the “information sharing environment” or ISE.

Fusion centers were sold as a tool to combat terrorism, but that is not how they are being used. The ACLU pointed to a bipartisan congressional report to demonstrate the true nature of government fusion centers: “They haven’t contributed anything meaningful to counterterrorism efforts. Instead, they have largely served as police surveillance and information sharing nodes for law enforcement efforts targeting the frequent subjects of police attention: Black and brown people, immigrants, dissidents, and the poor.”

Fusion centers operate within the broader ISE. According to its website, the ISE “provides analysts, operators, and investigators with information needed to enhance national security. These analysts, operators, and investigators…have mission needs to collaborate and share information with each other and with private sector partners and our foreign allies.” In other words, ISE serves as a conduit for the sharing of information gathered without a warrant. Known ISE partners include the Office of Director of National Intelligence which oversees 17 federal agencies and organizations, including the NSA. ISE utilizes these partnerships to collect and share data on the millions of unwitting people they track.

In practice, local data collection using ALPRs, stingrays, drones and other spy technologies create the potential for the federal government to track the movement of millions of Americans, and obtain and store information on millions of Americans, including phone calls, emails, web browsing history and text messages, all with no warrant, no probable cause, and without the people even knowing it.

In a nutshell, without state and local assistance, the feds have a much more difficult time gathering information. When the state limits surveillance and data collection, it means less information the feds can tap into. This represents a major blow to the surveillance state and a win for privacy.

The post Now in Effect: West Virginia Law Prohibits Using Credit Card Information to Track Firearms Purchases Without a Warrant first appeared on Tenth Amendment Center.

States Don’t Have to Help the Feds Enforce Anything

Mike Maharrey — Wed, 07 Jun 2023 20:36:07 +0000

States and localities don’t have to help the feds enforce any federal act. It doesn’t matter whether the act is constitutional or not.

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For More Information

The Blueprint: James Madison’s Advice

The Anti-Commandeering Doctrine: An Introduction

Anti-Commandeering: An Overview of Five Major Supreme Court Cases

The post States Don’t Have to Help the Feds Enforce Anything first appeared on Tenth Amendment Center.

Rhode Island House Committee Passes Bill to Legalize Possession of Psilocybin Despite Federal Prohibition

Mike Maharrey — Wed, 07 Jun 2023 20:17:45 +0000

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (June 7, 2023) – Yesterday, a Rhode Island House committee passed a bill that would legalize the possession of psilocybin and the cultivation of “magic mushrooms,” setting the stage to nullify federal prohibition of the same in practice and effect.

Rep. Brandon Potter and a bipartisan coalition of cosponsors introduced House Bill 5923 (HB5923) on March 1. The legislation would remove criminal penalties for possessing and cultivating up to one ounce of psilocybin for personal use. The proposed law would also allow adults to share up to 1 ounce of psilocybin with other adults.

HB5923 also includes provisions setting the stage for regulated therapeutic access to psilocybin if the FDA reschedules the psychedelic.

On June 6, the House Judiciary Committee passed HB5923 by a 12-2 vote with an amendment sunsetting the legalization on July 1, 2025.

Psilocybin, often referred to as “magic mushrooms,” is a hallucinogenic compound found in certain mushrooms. A number of studies have shown psilocybin to be effective in the treatment of depression, PTSD, chronic pain and addiction. For instance, a Johns Hopkins study found that “psilocybin produces substantial and sustained decreases in depression and anxiety in patients with life-threatening cancer.”

Efforts to legalize psilocybin in Vermont follow a successful ballot measure that decriminalized a number of drugs, including heroin and cocaine in Oregon. In 2022, Colorado voters passed a ballot measure decriminalizing several naturally occurring psychedelic substances. At least 14 cities including Detroit, Michigan have decriminalized “magic mushrooms.”

Psychedelic decriminalization and legalization efforts at the state and local levels are moving forward despite the federal government’s prohibition of psilocybin and other psychedelic substances.

LEGALITY

Under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) passed in 1970, the federal government maintains the complete prohibition of psilocybin. Of course, the federal government lacks any constitutional authority to ban or regulate such substances within the borders of a state, despite the opinion of the politically connected lawyers on the Supreme Court. If you doubt this, ask yourself why it took a constitutional amendment to institute federal alcohol prohibition.

In effect, the passage of HB5923 would end criminal enforcement of laws prohibiting the possession of psilocybin in Rhode Island. As we’ve seen with marijuana and hemp, when states and localities stop enforcing laws banning a substance, the federal government finds it virtually impossible to maintain prohibition. For instance, FBI statistics show that law enforcement makes approximately 99 of 100 marijuana arrests under state, not federal law. By curtailing or ending state prohibition, states sweep part of the basis for 99 percent of marijuana arrests.

Furthermore, figures indicate it would take 40 percent of the DEA’s yearly annual budget just to investigate and raid all of the dispensaries in Los Angeles – a single city in a single state. That doesn’t include the cost of prosecution either. The lesson? The feds lack the resources to enforce marijuana prohibition without state and local assistance, and the same will likely hold true with other drugs.

WHAT’S NEXT

HB5923 will now move to the full House for further consideration.

The post Rhode Island House Committee Passes Bill to Legalize Possession of Psilocybin Despite Federal Prohibition first appeared on Tenth Amendment Center.

“Don’t Waste My Time with All this Talk!”

Michael Boldin — Wed, 07 Jun 2023 18:13:37 +0000

In a society where an alarming number of people have little to no knowledge of our history and foundational principles, we consider it our duty to teach as many people as possible about liberty, the original, legal meaning of the Constitution – and how to protect and defend both.

Path to Liberty: June 7, 2023

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James Madison to Henry Lee (25 June 1824)
https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/04-03-02-0333

Rob Natelson – The ideas that formed the Constitution: Public Education

The ideas that formed the Constitution: Public Education

Thomas Jefferson’s Fair Copy

James Madison – Federalist 48

Alexander Hamilton – Federalist 33

Lysander Spooner – An Essay on the Trial by Jury (1852)

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The post “Don’t Waste My Time with All this Talk!” first appeared on Tenth Amendment Center.

Today in History: Nathan Hale Born

Mike Maharrey — Tue, 06 Jun 2023 10:34:46 +0000

On this date in 1755, patriot spy and American Revolution hero Nathan Hale was born.

Hale was born on June 6, 1775, to a deeply religious family in Coventry, Connecticut.

At 14, Hale was admitted to Yale College, and he graduated with first-class honors in 1773. After graduating, Hale worked as a teacher.

After hearing about the battles of Lexington and Concord, Hale attended a town meeting in his home of New London, Connecticut, and urged his fellow residents to support the American cause.

In the spring of 1775. Hale joined a Connecticut militia unit and was elected to the rank of first lieutenant. His company fought in the Battle of Bunker Hill, but Hale was not there. He may have been hindered from joining his unit due to his teaching obligations. There is also some speculation that he was reluctant to fight.

In July 1775, Hale’s friend and former Yale classmate Benjamin Tallmadge sent him a letter to convince him to fight for the patriot cause.

“Was I in your condition, I think the more extensive service would be my choice. Our holy Religion, the honor of our God, a glorious country, & a happy constitution is what we have to defend.”

Hale apparently took the appeal to heart. A short time later, He accepted a commission as a first lieutenant in the 7th Connecticut Regiment.

In early May 1776, Hale led a raid on a British supply sloop. His unit captured the ship, and Hale earned the notice of his commanders.

When the New York City defenses fell, Hale volunteered to stay behind to gather intelligence on British troop movements. In September 1776 entered the British-controlled city disguised as a teacher looking for work.

His work as a spy didn’t last long. According to an account written by a Connecticut shopkeeper and Loyalist named Consider Tiffany, Major Robert Rogers of the Queen’s Rangers spotted Hale in a tavern and recognized him. The British officer tricked Hale into betraying his allegiance by pretending to be a fellow Patriot. There is also a possibility that Hale’s identity was revealed by Samuel Hale, his loyalist cousin.

Under the laws of war at the time, spies were considered illegal combatants and subject to the death penalty.

Before carrying out the death sentence, the British held Hale for several days. Frederick McKenzie, a British officer, wrote about Hale in his journal and praised his composure.

“He behaved with great composure and resolution, saying he thought it the duty of every good officer, to obey any orders given him by his commander in chief; and desired the spectators to be at all times prepared to meet death in whatever shape it might appear.”

The British hanged Hale on the morning of Sept. 22. He was just 21 years old.

A British engineer who witnessed the execution said Hale proclaimed, “I only regret, that I have but one life to lose for my country.”

There are no official records of Hale’s last words and it’s unclear if Hale actually said those words.

The post Today in History: Nathan Hale Born first appeared on Tenth Amendment Center.

Mainstream Ignorance on Nullification

Michael Boldin — Mon, 05 Jun 2023 18:30:51 +0000

What a surprise. Victims of government-run education make all kinds of bold claims about nullification. And almost every one of them are totally wrong.

Path to Liberty: June 5, 2023

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Thomas Jefferson’s Fair Copy

Mike Maharrey: Fugitive Slave Act of 1850

Michigan Day by Day

Vermont vs the Fugitive Slave Act

Abolitionists for Nullification

Episode – Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 and Nullification by Northern States

WIKI – South Carolina Declaration of Secession

South Carolina Declaration of Secession – Full Text

Gov George Wallace – 1963

JFK – EO 11111

Alexander Hamilton – Federalist 33

Walt Whitman’s Caution

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The post Mainstream Ignorance on Nullification first appeared on Tenth Amendment Center.

Benjamin Franklin’s Warnings on Executive Power

Michael Boldin — Fri, 02 Jun 2023 16:57:56 +0000

After you hear what Franklin had to say about executive power and human nature, we think you just might join us in saying “he called it!”

Path to Liberty, Fast Friday Edition: June 2, 2023

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Philadelphia Convention (4 June 1787)

Poor Richard’s Almanack – 1733

Poor Richard’s Almanack – 1755

Philadelphia Convention (2 June 1787)

Mike Maharrey – Franklin Speech Exposes the Inherent Danger of Power and Money

Philadelphia Convention (17 Sept 1787)

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California Assembly Passes Bill to Restrict Geofence Location Tracking

Mike Maharrey — Fri, 02 Jun 2023 15:32:59 +0000

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (June 2, 2023) – Yesterday, the California Assembly passed a bill that would ban geofence location tracking and reverse keyword search orders. The enactment of the legislation would not only protect privacy in California; it would also hinder the growth of the federal surveillance state.

Assm. Mia Bonta and three cosponsors introduced Assembly Bill 793 (AB793) in February. The legislation “would prohibit any government entity from seeking, or any court from enforcing, assisting, or supporting, a reverse-keyword or reverse-location demand … issued by a government entity or court in this state or any other state.” The bill would also prohibit a person or California entity from complying with a reverse keyword or reverse location demand. Any information gathered in violation of the law would be inadmissible in court.

On June 1, the Assembly passed AB793 by a 54-15 vote.

Reverse-location court orders and reverse keyword court orders enable police to obtain location data or technology search data without identifying any specific person for whom there is probable cause to believe they have committed or will imminently commit a crime. For instance, a reverse keyword search would allow police to pinpoint every individual you did a Google search for a specific keyword such as “assault rifle.”

In effect, the passage of AB793 would also prohibit a process called “geofencing.” This technique allows police to search broad geographical areas and identify every electronic device in the area. They can then take that data and determine the identity of individuals near a given place at a given time. In practice, police use Google location data to engage in massive fishing expeditions and subject hundreds, if not thousands, of innocent people to police location tracking. According to the New York Times, federal agents first utilized the practice in 2016. According to the report, broadly construed geofencing warrants help police pinpoint possible suspects and witnesses in the absence of other clues. Google employees said the company often responds to a single warrant with location information on dozens or hundreds of devices.

IMPACT ON FEDERAL SURVEILLANCE PROGRAMS

The feds can share and tap into vast amounts of information gathered at the state and local level through fusion centers and a system known as the “information sharing environment” or ISE. In other words, stingrays create the potential for the federal government to track the movement of millions of Americans with no warrant, no probable cause, and without the people even knowing it.

Limiting information collected by state and local law enforcement agencies limits the amount of information that can flow into federal databases through fusion centers and the ISE.

WHAT’S NEXT

AB793 will now move to the Senate for further consideration. Once it receives a committee assignment, it must get a hearing and pass by a majority vote before moving forward in the legislative process.

The post California Assembly Passes Bill to Restrict Geofence Location Tracking first appeared on Tenth Amendment Center.

California Assembly Passes Bill to Expand Limits on ALPR Data Retention, Help Block National License Plate Tracking Program

Mike Maharrey — Fri, 02 Jun 2023 15:30:01 +0000

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (June 2, 2023) – Yesterday, the California Assembly passed a bill that would further limit the storage and sharing of information collected by Automated License Plate Readers (ALPRs) in the state. The proposed law would also place significant roadblocks in the way of a federal program using states to help track the location of millions of everyday people through pictures of their license plates.

Asm. Josh Lowenthal introduced Assembly Bill 1463 (AB1463) on Feb. 17. Under current law, police can only retain ALPR data for 60 days unless it is being used as evidence or for the investigation of felonies. AB1463 would limit ALPR data retention to 30 days unless it matches the information on a hot list. AB1463 would also prohibit ALPR information from being sold, shared, or transferred to an out-of-state or federal agency without a court order or warrant issued by a California court.

AB1463 includes provisions that would expand annual audit requirements to review and assess ALPR end-user searches during the previous year to determine compliance with the usage and privacy policy, as specified.

On June 1, the Assembly passed AB1463 by a 48-15 vote.

Oakland Privacy, a grassroots organization fighting government surveillance, pointed out that ALPR cameras are in ubiquitous use in California.

“Billions of scans are in privately held cloud storage databases and retained for an average of a year and sometimes as long as five years. The cloud databases can share the geolocation data with thousands of law enforcement agencies across the country, including those in states with current and pending bans on reproductive medical care as well as federal immigration enforcement.”

The enactment of AB1463 would limit the retention and sharing of this data, and help prevent it from entering into permanent federal databases.

IMPACT ON FEDERAL PROGRAMS

As reported in the Wall Street Journal, the federal government, via the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), tracks the location of millions of vehicles through data provided by ALPRs operated on a state and local level. They’ve engaged in this for nearly a decade, all without a warrant, or even public notice of the policy.

State and local law enforcement agencies operate most of these tracking systems, paid for by federal grant money. The DEA then taps into the local database to track the whereabouts of millions of people – for the “crime” of driving – without having to operate a huge network itself.

ALPRs can scan, capture and record thousands of license plates every minute and store them in massive databases, along with date, time and location information.

Records obtained by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) through open records requests encompassed information compiled by 200 law enforcement agencies that utilize ALPRs. The data revealed more than 2.5 billion license plate scans in just two years (2016 and 2017).

Perhaps more concerning, this gigantic sample of license plate scans reveals that 99.5 percent of this data was collected regardless of whether the vehicle or its owner were suspected of being involved in criminal activity. On average, agencies share this data with a minimum of 160 other agencies. In some cases, agencies share this data with as many as 800 other agencies.

Private companies contribute to the proliferation of ALPR databases. In late 2019, Rekor Systems announced that they had launched the Rekor Public Safety Network (RPSN) which gives law enforcement real-time access to license plates.

“Any state or local law enforcement agency participating in the RPSN will be able to access real-time data from any part of the network at no cost. The Company is initially launching the network by aggregating vehicle data from customers in over 30 states. With thousands of automatic license plate reading cameras currently in service that capture approximately 150 million plate reads per month, the network is expected to be live by the first quarter of 2020.”

Police generally configure ALPRs to store the photograph, the license plate number, and the date, time, and location of a vehicle’s license plate, which is bad enough. But according to records obtained by the ACLU via a Freedom of Information Act request, these systems also capture photographs of drivers and their passengers.

With the FBI rolling out a nationwide facial-recognition program in the fall of 2014, and the federal government building a giant biometric database with pictures provided by the states and corporate friends, the feds can potentially access stored photographs of drivers and passengers, along with detailed data revealing their location and activities. With this kind of information, government agents can easily find individuals without warrants or oversight, for any reason whatsoever.

Since a majority of federal license plate tracking data comes from state and local law enforcement, laws banning or even restricting ALPR use are essential. As more states pass such laws, the end result becomes more clear. No data equals no federal license plate tracking program.

Passage of AB1463 would take another step toward putting a dent in federal plans to continue location tracking and expanding its facial recognition program. The less data that states make available to the federal government, the less ability it has to track people in California and elsewhere.

WHAT’S NEXT

AB1463 will now move to the Senate for further consideration. Once it receives a committee assignment, it must get a hearing and pass by a majority vote before moving forward in the legislative process.

The post California Assembly Passes Bill to Expand Limits on ALPR Data Retention, Help Block National License Plate Tracking Program first appeared on Tenth Amendment Center.

What Debt Ceiling?

Jacob Hornberger — Fri, 02 Jun 2023 01:09:52 +0000

Statists all across the United States, especially those within the mainstream press, are uncorking their champagne bottles today and celebrating the newest deal that lifts the debt ceiling.

Predictably, the political strategy of crying “Default! Default! Default!” succeeded spectacularly, just as it does every time. In fact, it worked so well that this time Congress decided to not even set a new ceiling. Instead, the deal authorizes federal officials to spend and borrow to their heart’s content for the next two years — beyond Election Day 2024, of course.

The people who will pay the price for this deal will be American taxpayers. If you happen to die before the day of reckoning arrives, you’ll escape having to bear the consequences of what these people have done. But if you’re alive when that day of reckoning comes, you will be one of the ones reaping the whirlwind.

Right now, each taxpayer’s share of the federal government’s $31 trillion in debt is around $275,000. It will be increasing over the next couple of years. How many people list that liability on their financial statements? I’ll bet not very many. And yet, there it is — and growing.

The biggest fear factor in the debt-ceiling circus is always the default factor. “Default! Default! Default!” the statists cry. “If the debt ceiling isn’t raised, the federal government will default on its debts and the United States will fall into the ocean.”

Really?

Well, for one thing, it’s simply not true that failing to raise the debt ceiling automatically meant default in the payment of the federal government’s debts. That’s because the federal government could slash welfare-warfare state programs instead of defaulting on its debts. The military, for example, spends more than the next 10 countries combined. There’s obviously plenty to cut there, but of course, given the control that the Pentagon, the CIA, and the NSA have over Congress, the notion of cutting military spending was never seriously considered.

Throughout the debt-ceiling circus, the mainstream press claimed that there had never been a default on the government’s debt. That’s simply not true.

For more than a century, the official money of the United States consisted of gold coins and silver coins. That was the monetary system called for in the Constitution. No, it wasn’t a paper-money system that was “backed by gold,” as the mainstream press often claims. It was a monetary system in which the official money was gold coins and silver coins.

Under the Constitution, the federal government was authorized to borrow money. They exercised that power by issuing notes, bills, and bonds, which people would purchase with their gold coins. These debt instruments promised to pay the lenders back in gold coins.

In the 1930s, the Franklin Roosevelt administration declared an end to America’s gold-coin, silver-coin system. FDR did this without even the semblance of a constitutional amendment. Displaying the attributes of a European dictator, he ordered every American to deliver his gold coins to the federal government. FDR threatened that if anyone got caught violating his edict, he would slap him with a federal criminal indictment, conviction, and incarceration for 10 years in a federal penitentiary. Not surprisingly, most Americans hurriedly rushed to turn in their gold in exchange for irredeemable paper money.

What about those notes, bills, and bonds in which the federal government promised to pay people back their gold coins? FDR had a quick answer: Tough luck. We are going to pay you back in devalued, irredeemable paper money. And there is nothing you can do about it.

In a word: Default. People had in good faith loaned their gold coins to the federal government. The federal government had promised in writing to pay back its loans with gold coins. The federal government knowingly, intentionally, and deliberately broke its promise by refusing to pay back its loans with gold coins. Instead, it chose to pay back its loans with cheapened, debased, irredeemable paper money. In taking this route, the government defaulted.

Did the United States fall into the ocean? Nope. It simply became a paragon of immorality, one that people could no longer trust.

FDR’s nationalization of gold, along with his conversion of the federal government to a welfare state, set the stage for a century of out-of-control federal spending, debt, and monetary debauchery. Once President Truman converted the federal government to a national-security state in 1947, so much paper money was printed to cover federal welfare-warfare state expenditures that silver coins, which FDR had not made illegal to own, were driven out of circulation.

Contrary to popular opinion, the biggest threat to the freedom and well-being of the American people is not Russia, China, Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Cuba, North Korea, Vietnam, the terrorists, the Muslims, the drug dealers, or the illegal immigrants. The biggest threat to our freedom and well-being lies in Washington, D.C. It is the welfare-warfare state that is taking us down from within. It is just a question of whether the American people will put a stop to it before it takes us down completely.

The post What Debt Ceiling? first appeared on Tenth Amendment Center.

About that Oath of Office

Michael Boldin — Wed, 31 May 2023 18:00:36 +0000

Being bound by their oath to the Constitution, officers of the government violate that oath “whenever they give their sanction, by obedience, or otherwise, to any unconstitutional act of any department of the government.”

Path to Liberty: May 31, 2023

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Thomas Jefferson to Abigail Adams (22 July 1804)

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Nullification Is a Natural Right

Mike Maharrey — Tue, 30 May 2023 23:14:30 +0000

Some people will tell you nullification isn’t “constitutional.” I would argue that it is. But more fundamentally, nullification is a natural right.

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To the Governor: Illinois Bill Would Eliminate State Conformity with IRS Section 280E for Marijuana Businesses

Mike Maharrey — Tue, 30 May 2023 23:11:01 +0000

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (May 30, 2023) – Last week, the Illinois House gave final approval to a bill that includes provisions that would eliminate the state’s conformity with Internal Revenue Code (IRC) Section 280E. The enactment of this provision would represent a small, but important state tax relief for marijuana businesses despite ongoing federal cannabis prohibition.

Rep. Jehan Gordon-Booth and a large coalition of cosponsors introduced House Bill 3817 (HB3817) in February. Provisions in the budget bill would deconform the state tax code from federal law as it applies to deductions for marijuana businesses. In effect, the legislation would allow marijuana businesses in Illinois to take tax deductions on their state returns that they’re currently prohibited from utilizing.

Under the current tax scheme, marijuana businesses pay effective tax rates of up to 80 percent.

Under Illinois law, the state tax codes generally conform to federal tax law with respect to itemized deductions and business deductions. Under HB3817, marijuana businesses would be able to take deductions for state tax purposes in “an amount equal to the deductions that were disallowed under Section 280E of the Internal Revenue Code for the taxable year.

HB3817 also includes provisions that would direct funding to a cannabis development fund and extend the deadline for conditional marijuana business licensees to find a storefront.

The House passed HB3817 by a 73-38 vote. The Senate approved the measure by a 36-20 vote. The bill now goes to Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s desk for his consideration.

EFFECT ON FEDERAL PROHIBITION

Illinois legalized medical marijuana in 2013 and legalized cannabis for adult use in 2019.

Providing tax relief for marijuana businesses in Illinois would help further expand the market and make it that much more difficult for the feds to enforce cannabis prohibition.

A GROWING MOVEMENT

WHAT’S NEXT

Gov. Pritzker will have 60 days from the date HB3817 is transmitted to his desk to sign or veto the bill. If he takes no action, it will become law without his signature.

The post To the Governor: Illinois Bill Would Eliminate State Conformity with IRS Section 280E for Marijuana Businesses first appeared on Tenth Amendment Center.

Minnesota Becomes 23rd State to Legalize Marijuana Despite Federal Prohibition

Mike Maharrey — Tue, 30 May 2023 17:21:35 +0000

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. (May 30, 2023) – On Tuesday, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz signed a bill into law to legalize marijuana for adult use in the state despite ongoing federal cannabis prohibition.

Rep. Zack Stephenson and 34 cosponsors introduced House Bill 100 (HF100) back in January. Under the final version of the bill passed in both the House and Senate, adults 21 and over can legally possess up to 2 ounces of marijuana in public. They can also have up to 2 pounds of processed marijuana in their homes and grow up to 8 cannabis plants (4 mature).

The legislation also creates a licensing and regulation scheme for the commercial cultivation and sale of marijuana under a newly created Office of Cannabis Management. Stephenson told Reason that it would take 12 to 18 months to get retail sales going.

The law includes provisions allowing marijuana use at specially licensed businesses and events.

HF100 also includes provisions to automatically expunge misdemeanor marijuana possession records and creates a review board to consider resentencing individuals with felony marijuana convictions.

On May 18, the House passed the final version of HF100 by a 73-57 vote. The Senate passed the bill by a 34-0 vote. With Gov. Walz’s signature, legalization provisions will go into effect Aug. 1.

“I trust adults to make their own decisions,” Walz said in a CNN interview. “We certainly believe [ending the] prohibition on cannabis is long overdue, and we’ll get that out there. We’ll have it legally.”

EFFECT ON FEDERAL PROHIBITION

Minnesota is the 23rd state to legalize marijuana for adult use despite ongoing cannabis prohibition.

Minnesota legalized medical marijuana in 2014. The legalization of marijuana for adult use takes the next step and removes another layer of laws prohibiting the possession and use of marijuana in the state even though federal prohibition remains in effect. This is significant because FBI statistics show that law enforcement makes approximately 99 of 100 marijuana arrests under state, not federal law. When states stop enforcing marijuana laws, they sweep away most of the basis for 99 percent of marijuana arrests.

A GROWING MOVEMENT

Colorado, Washington state, Oregon and Alaska were the first states to legalize recreational cannabis, and California, Nevada, Maine and Massachusetts joined them after ballot initiatives in favor of legalization passed in November 2016. Michigan followed suit when voters legalized cannabis for general use in 2018. Vermont became the first state to legalize marijuana through a legislative act in 2018. Illinois followed suit in 2019. New Jersey, Montana and Arizona all legalized recreational marijuana through ballot measures in the 2020 election. In 2021, New York, New Mexico, Virginia and Connecticut legalized marijuana through legislative action, and Rhode Island legalized cannabis for adult use in 2022. With Missouri and Maryland legalizing marijuana in November 2022, and Delaware joining in 2023, there are now 37 states allowing cannabis for medical use, and 23 legalizing it for adult recreational use.

The post Minnesota Becomes 23rd State to Legalize Marijuana Despite Federal Prohibition first appeared on Tenth Amendment Center.

Who Decides the Extent of Federal Power?

Mike Maharrey — Sat, 27 May 2023 17:40:29 +0000

Letting the feds determine the extent of their own power is a surefire way to ensure that their power grows.

And here we are. But it wasn’t supposed to be that way!

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Tenth Amendment Essential: Sovereignty and Resistance

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Implied Powers Are a Tool of Tyrants

Mike Maharrey — Sat, 27 May 2023 15:39:41 +0000

People today love the idea of implied government powers to advance this or that political agenda.

In a constitutional system, government powers are fixed by the Constitution, not created by “tacit implication.”

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To the Governor: Texas Bill Would Expand Right to Try Act

Mike Maharrey — Fri, 26 May 2023 21:39:21 +0000

AUSTIN, Texas (May 26, 2023) – This week, the Texas House and Senate gave final approval to a bill to expand the state’s “Right to Try” law, further rejecting Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rules that deny access to experimental treatments.

On Feb. 7, Sen. Tan Parker filed Senate Bill 773 (SB773) on Feb. 6. The legislation is an expansion of the Texas Right to Try law that went into effect in June 2015. Current law enables terminally ill patients to access medications and treatments that do not have final FDA approval. The enactment of SB773 would expand that to enable patients suffering from chronic diseases, rather than only terminal, to access medications and treatments not yet given final approval for use by the FDA.

After different versions of the bill passed both houses of the legislature, it went to a conference committee to iron out the differences. On May 25, the House passed the final version by a 141-1 vote. On Friday, the Senate approved the final measure as well. SB773 now moves to Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk for his consideration.

The bill defines “severe chronic disease” as “a condition, injury, or illness that may be treated, cannot be cured or eliminated, and entails significant mental functional impairment or severe pain.” Under the proposed law, the executive commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission would designate specific medical conditions as “severe chronic disease.”

The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act generally prohibits access to experimental drugs. However, under the expanded access provision of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, 21 U.S.C. 360bbb, patients with serious or immediately life-threatening diseases may access experimental drugs after receiving express FDA approval. Right to Try allows terminally ill patients to bypass the expanded access provision and obtain experimental drugs from manufacturers without first obtaining FDA permission.

Since the Texas Right to Try law went into effect, at least 78 patients in Texas have received an experimental cancer treatment not allowed by the FDA. If passed, SB773 would expand the Right to Try to patients suffering from chronic illnesses.

SB773 includes provisions similar to those in the current Texas Right to Try law. Specifically, the legislation prohibits state officials from any actions that would prevent the lawful administering of experimental procedures to eligible patients. It reads, in part:

“An official, employee, or agent of this state may not block or attempt to block an eligible patient’s access to an investigational drug, biological product, or device under this chapter” unless it is adulterated or misbranded.

This is important since local law enforcement often works closely with federal agencies to take aggressive actions to stop state programs that aren’t in line with federal law. Including this provision ensures that the “boots on the ground” for law enforcement – the locals, won’t be taking any action to stop sick people from trying new treatments. The feds will have to handle it, and they don’t have the manpower or resources to get the job done.

Healthcare providers are also protected under the bill, with a prohibition against revoking a license or issuing sanctions based on recommendation or issuance of such investigational treatments. Manufacturers of medications and treatments are shielded from legal recourse as well.

Congress passed a federal Right to Try law in 2018 after 40 states enacted laws allowing terminally ill patients to effectively bypass the FDA and try experimental treatments without federal permission.

SB773 expands on the foundation established by Right to Try for terminally ill patients, but it doesn’t go as far as a recent Right to Try expansion in Montana that opened up access to experimental treatments to any patient without any eligibility requirements.

Right to Try expansion demonstrates an important strategic point. Passing bills that take a step forward sets the stage, even if they are limited in scope. Opening the door clears the way for additional steps. You can’t take the second step before you take the first.

WHAT’S NEXT

Gov. Abbot will have 20 days from the date SB773 is transmitted to his office to sign or veto the bill. If he takes no action, it will become law without his signature.

The post To the Governor: Texas Bill Would Expand Right to Try Act first appeared on Tenth Amendment Center.

You Don’t have “2nd Amendment Rights.” You Just have Rights.

Michael Boldin — Fri, 26 May 2023 17:03:01 +0000

The Constitution doesn’t give you rights, and the 2nd Amendment isn’t your “gun permit.” You are.

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Thomas Paine – Rights of Man

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St George Tucker – View of the Constitution (1803)

Arthur Lee – Tribunus, Preface to A Summary View (1774)

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Facial Recognition Surveillance and How to Stop It

Mike Maharrey — Fri, 26 May 2023 15:55:47 +0000

I recently appeared on the Corbett Report to talk about ever-expanding facial recognition surveillance and what we can do about it.

Facial recognition surveillance is expanding every day all across the U.S. Not only are government agencies running their own facial recognition programs; private companies are jumping in to offer facial recognition services to state and local police.

But there is pushback at the state and local levels.

In this interview, I talk about the dangers of unchecked facial recognition and outline some of the efforts to rein it in.

The post Facial Recognition Surveillance and How to Stop It first appeared on Tenth Amendment Center.

Can Biden raise the debt ceiling?

Brion McClanahan — Fri, 26 May 2023 02:16:31 +0000

The uniparty in Washington D.C. continues to “negotiate” over the “debt ceiling” with a potential default by the United States government taking place June 1.

I don’t see it happening, but this entire topic is a beautiful example of the complete destruction of the original federal republic.

Let me explain.

First, if Biden governed the way the founding generation designed the executive branch, there wouldn’t be a “negotiation’ with Congress over the purse. Congress would pass a budget and as long as it was constitutional–even Republicans couldn’t pull that off–he would sign it. The President was not to use the veto as a legislative hammer and he has no power over the purse. Hamilton pointed this out in Federalist No. 69.

Second, most of the spending Congress and Biden wring their hands over is unconstitutional and should be decided at the State level. That is the beauty of federalism. The one size fits all government by the uniparty has created this unseemly mess.

Third, the Jeffersonians worried about the ability of the general government to borrow without restraint. They said so openly and then placed limits on such activity in the Confederate Constitution of 1861. If you want to understand how we arrived at a multi-trillion dollar hole, look to the 1860s Republican Party who spent money like drunken sailors on shore leave.

Fourth, Biden has no authority to unilaterally raise the debt ceiling. He has mulled using the 14th Amendment as justification, but even progressives think this is a stupid idea. That has never stopped them before, but I don’t see him following this path.

Fifth, neither party really wants to “cut” spending. Republicans want to throw trillions at the defense industry while Democrats want to spend your dollars on their pet progressive domestic projects, and Ukraine. The uniparty will always spend more money then they have on hand. That is modern politics.

Sixth, the Republicans will probably blink–so will Joe Biden–but I think if the government does “default” on the debt, the Democrats will be able to spin this as a Republican war on poor people. I don’t see a win for Republicans in this scenario even if Joe Biden also has his back against the wall leading into an election year. He doesn’t want to own a recession. High inflation, fine. A recession, no.

Where does this leave us? Thinking locally and acting locally. We still have the power at the State and local level, and more importantly in your own households, to ignore the uniparty in D.C. That would be the greatest gift of all.

I have not been Podcasting as much recently due to several other commitments, but I should be back to my regular schedule next week.

In the meantime, I cover the Biden debt ceiling fiasco on Episode 824 of The Brion McClanahan Show.

You can listen to it and download it here.

The post Can Biden raise the debt ceiling? first appeared on Tenth Amendment Center.

California Senate Passes Bill to Legalize Some Psychedelics Despite Federal Prohibition

Mike Maharrey — Thu, 25 May 2023 01:59:41 +0000

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (May 24, 2023) – Today, the California Senate passed a bill that would legalize several naturally-occurring psychedelic drugs, including “magic mushrooms.” Enactment of this legislation would set the foundation for people to nullify the federal prohibition on the same.

Sen. Scott Weiner (D) filed Senate Bill 58 (SB58) for the 2023 legislative session. The legislation would legalize the “possession, preparation, obtaining, transfer, as specified, or transportation of” specific amounts of psilocybin, psilocyn, DMT, ibogaine and mescaline for personal or facilitated use. The bill also specifically provides for “group counseling and community-based healing” involving the entheogenic substances.

The bill would also repeal the state law banning “any spores or mycelium capable of producing mushrooms or other material which contain psilocybin or psilocyn.” The state ban on drug paraphernalia for the covered substances would also be eliminated under the legislation.

On May 1, the Senate Appropriations Committee ordered the bill to the Senate floor through Senate Rule 28.8. This rule allows the Appropriations Committee chair to make a determination that a bill will not impose any significant costs to the state and send it to the Senate floor without a hearing. The Senate Committee on Public Safety previously passed SB58 by a 3-1 vote. Today, the full Senate passed the bill by a vote of 21-16.

SB58 is a revised version of a bill that passed the California Senate in 2022 but was derailed in the House by intense law enforcement lobbying. Last year’s legislation included some synthetic psychedelics including LSD and MDMA. These were not included in SB58.

Werner told Marijuana Moment the legalization of psychedelics “is not controversial among regular people.”

“People understand that psychedelics are not causing problems—and they are, in fact, helping people and so it’s time to stop criminalizing them.”

“This is a tremendously hopeful step for veterans and all those who wish to benefit from psychedelics to heal from PTSD, anxiety, and depression, or simply to improve their well-being,” Wiener said in a press release on Wednesday. “We came extremely close to decriminalizing these promising treatments in the last legislative session, and after deep engagement with stakeholders, we made changes to limit our proposal to naturally occurring substances and retain quantity limits to ensure these five naturally-occurring substances are for personal use only.”

Efforts to legalize psychedelics in California follow a successful ballot measure that decriminalized a number of drugs, including heroin and cocaine in Oregon. In 2022, Colorado voters passed a ballot measure decriminalizing several naturally occurring psychedelic substances. At least 14 cities including Detriot Michigan have decriminalized “magic mushrooms.”

Psilocybin is a hallucinogenic compound found in certain mushrooms. A number of studies have shown psilocybin to be effective in the treatment of depression, PTSD, chronic pain and addiction. For instance, a Johns Hopkins study found that “psilocybin produces substantial and sustained decreases in depression and anxiety in patients with life-threatening cancer.”

Psychedelic decriminalization and legalization efforts at the state and local levels are moving forward despite the federal government’s prohibition of psilocybin and other psychedelic substances.

LEGALITY

Under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) passed in 1970, the federal government maintains the complete prohibition of many of the drugs on SB519’s decriminalization list and heavily regulates others. Of course, the federal government lacks any constitutional authority to ban or regulate such substances within the borders of a state, despite the opinion of the politically connected lawyers on the Supreme Court. If you doubt this, ask yourself why it took a constitutional amendment to institute federal alcohol prohibition.

In effect, the passage of SB58 would end criminal enforcement of laws prohibiting the possession of these drugs in California. As we’ve seen with marijuana and hemp, when states and localities stop enforcing laws banning a substance, the federal government finds it virtually impossible to maintain prohibition. For instance, FBI statistics show that law enforcement makes approximately 99 of 100 marijuana arrests under state, not federal law. By curtailing or ending state prohibition, states sweep part of the basis for 99 percent of marijuana arrests.

WHAT’S NEXT

SB58 will move to the Assembly for further consideration.

The post California Senate Passes Bill to Legalize Some Psychedelics Despite Federal Prohibition first appeared on Tenth Amendment Center.

Louisiana House Passes Permitless Carry Bill

TJ Martinell — Wed, 24 May 2023 18:33:48 +0000

BATON ROUGE, La. (May 24, 2023) – Yesterday, the Louisiana House passed a bill that would legalize the permitless concealed carry of handguns in the state. The enactment of a so-called “constitutional carry” bill would also foster an environment more hostile to federal gun control.

Rep. Danny McCormick and 18 other cosponsors filed House Bill 131 (HB131) on March 17. The legislation would allow Louisiana residents 18 and over who are not prohibited from possessing a firearm under state or federal law to carry a concealed firearm without a permit. Under the proposed law, the state would continue issuing conceal carry permits for residents who want to carry in other states that have CCDW reciprocity with Louisiana.

Louisiana already allows the open carrying of firearms without a permit by individuals 21 and over.

Despite law enforcement opposition from the Louisiana Association of Chiefs of Police, the House passed HB131 by a 71-29 vote.

A similar measure passed the House in 2022 but stalled in the Senate. In 2021, then-governor John Bel Edwards vetoed a permitless carry bill.

EFFECT ON FEDERAL GUN CONTROL

While permitless carry bills do not directly affect federal gun control, the widespread passage of permitless conceal carry laws in states subtly undermines federal efforts to regulate guns. As we’ve seen with marijuana and industrial hemp, a federal regulation becomes ineffective when states ignore it and pass laws encouraging the prohibited activity anyway.

The federal government lacks the enforcement power necessary to maintain its ban, and people will willingly take on the small risk of federal sanctions if they know the state will not interfere. This increases when the state actively encourages “the market.”

Less restrictive state gun laws will likely have a similar impact on federal gun laws. It will make it that much more difficult for the feds to enforce any future federal gun control, and increase the likelihood that states with few limits will simply refuse to cooperate with federal enforcement efforts.

State actions such as passing HB131 would lower barriers for those wanting the option of defending themselves with firearms and encourages a “gun-friendly” environment that would make federal efforts to limit firearms that much more difficult.

WHAT’S NEXT

HB131 will now move to the Senate for further consideration. Once it is assigned to a committee, it must get a hearing and pass by a majority vote before moving forward in the legislative process.

The post Louisiana House Passes Permitless Carry Bill first appeared on Tenth Amendment Center.

Ohio Bill Would Legalize Marijuana for Adult Use Despite Ongoing Federal Prohibition

TJ Martinell — Wed, 24 May 2023 18:32:49 +0000

COLUMBUS, Ohio (May 22, 2023) – A bipartisan bill introduced in the Ohio Senate would legalize marijuana for adult use and create a regulatory structure for cannabis commerce in the state despite ongoing federal cannabis prohibition on the same.

Rep. Jamie Callender introduced House Bill 168 (HB168) on May 8. The legislation would legalize marijuana for adults 21 years or older and create a regulatory structure for a state medical cannabis program. Patients would be able to possess up to five ounces of marijuana,15 grams of hashish, and up to 8 grams of cannabis concentrates. Individuals could also cultivate up to 12 plants at home.

HB168 includes provisions to create an expungement process for minor marijuana possession charges.

EFFECT ON FEDERAL PROHIBITION

Under the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA) passed in 1970, the federal government maintains a complete prohibition of marijuana. Of course, the federal government lacks any constitutional authority to ban or regulate cannabis within the borders of a state, despite the opinion of the politically connected lawyers on the Supreme Court. If you doubt this, ask yourself why it took a constitutional amendment to institute federal alcohol prohibition.

Ohio legalized medical marijuana in 2016. Legalizing marijuana for adult use would remove another large layer of laws prohibiting the possession and use of marijuana in Ohio even though federal prohibition remains in effect. This is significant because FBI statistics show that law enforcement makes approximately 99 of 100 marijuana arrests under state, not federal law. When states stop enforcing marijuana laws, they sweep away most of the basis for 99 percent of marijuana arrests.

A GROWING MOVEMENT

Colorado, Washington state, Oregon and Alaska were the first states to legalize recreational cannabis, and California, Nevada, Maine and Massachusetts joined them after ballot initiatives in favor of legalization passed in November 2016. Michigan followed suit when voters legalized cannabis for general use in 2018. Vermont became the first state to legalize marijuana through a legislative act in 2018. Illinois followed suit in 2019. New Jersey, Montana and Arizona all legalized recreational marijuana through ballot measures in the 2020 election. In 2021, New York, New Mexico, Virginia and Connecticut legalized marijuana through legislative action, and Rhode Island legalized cannabis for adult use in 2022. With Missouri and Maryland legalizing marijuana in November 2022, and Delaware joining in 2023, there are now 37 states allowing cannabis for medical use, and 22 legalizing it for adult recreational use.

WHAT’S NEXT

HB168 has been referred to the Finance Committee, where it must get a hearing and pass by a majority vote before moving forward in the legislative process.

The post Ohio Bill Would Legalize Marijuana for Adult Use Despite Ongoing Federal Prohibition first appeared on Tenth Amendment Center.

The Virginia Plan: Blueprint for Unlimited Power

Michael Boldin — Wed, 24 May 2023 17:53:38 +0000

While most people recognize that the Constitution created a much more “energetic” system than under the Articles of Confederation, few know that early plans during the convention, like James Madison’s Virginia Plan, would have set up a system much closer to the unlimited power of the British that the revolutionaries fought to free themselves from.

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James Madison – Letter to George Washington (16 Apr 1787)

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The Constitution Did Not Create a “Nation”

Mike Maharrey — Tue, 23 May 2023 16:49:58 +0000

The Constitution did not create a “nation” in the modern sense. It created a union of sovereign states. That distinction is crucial.

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This Is Not One Nation and Never Was

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Brutus No. 1: Antifederalist Warning on Consolidation

Federalist #45

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Another Ohio Town Decriminalizes Marijuana Despite Federal Prohibition

Mike Maharrey — Tue, 23 May 2023 16:46:46 +0000

HELENA, Ohio (May 23, 2023) – Voters in Helena, Ohio, have approved a ballot measure to decriminalize marijuana possession despite ongoing federal cannabis prohibition.

The ordinance decriminalizes the possession of up to 200 grams of marijuana. Instead of making arrests or issuing citations, police are directed to confiscate the cannabis.

Voters in Helena, a small town of around 200 people, approved the ordinance in the May primary election by a 65 percent to 35 percent margin.

While a small town decriminalizing cannabis may not sound significant, it is part of a larger movement in Ohio. More than three dozen Ohio localities have enacted decriminalization through local ballot measures over the last few years. Meanwhile, major Ohio cities including Cincinnati, Columbus and Cleveland have decriminalized marijuana through city council action.

Decriminalization of marijuana in these Ohio towns continues 50-year efforts by the states to nullify the feds, cities to nullify the states – and individuals to nullify them all.

EFFECT ON FEDERAL PROHIBITION

The decriminalization of the possession of small amounts of marijuana effectively removes a small layer of laws. This is significant because FBI statistics show that law enforcement makes approximately 99 of 100 marijuana arrests under state, not federal law. When states stop enforcing marijuana laws, they sweep away most of the basis for 99 percent of marijuana arrests.

A GROWING MOVEMENT

Colorado, Washington state, Oregon and Alaska were the first states to legalize recreational cannabis, and California, Nevada, Maine and Massachusetts joined them after ballot initiatives in favor of legalization passed in November 2016. Michigan followed suit when voters legalized cannabis for general use in 2018. Vermont became the first state to legalize marijuana through a legislative act in 2018. Illinois followed suit in 2019. New Jersey, Montana and Arizona all legalized recreational marijuana through ballot measures in the 2020 election. In 2021, New York, New Mexico, Virginia and Connecticut legalized marijuana through legislative action, and Rhode Island legalized cannabis for adult use in 2022. With Missouri and Maryland legalizing marijuana in November 2022, and Delaware joining in 2023, there are now 37 states allowing cannabis for medical use, and 22 legalizing it for adult recreational use.

The post Another Ohio Town Decriminalizes Marijuana Despite Federal Prohibition first appeared on Tenth Amendment Center.

Not Delegated Means No!

Mike Maharrey — Tue, 23 May 2023 00:40:27 +0000

If a power isn’t delegated to the federal government in the Constitution, the federal government can’t do it. It’s as simple as that.

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The 10th Amendment: History, Purpose and Impact

The Nature of the Federal Government

Thirty Enumerated Powers

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To the Governor: Minnesota Passes Bill to Legalize Marijuana Despite Federal Prohibition

Mike Maharrey — Mon, 22 May 2023 21:09:39 +0000

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. (May 22, 2023) – Last week, the Minnesota House and Senate gave final approval to a bill to legalize marijuana for adult use in the state despite ongoing federal cannabis prohibition.

Rep. Zack Stephenson and 34 cosponsors introduced House Bill 100 (HF100) back in January. Under the final version of the bill passed in both the House and Senate, adults 21 and over could legally possess up to 2 ounces of marijuana in public. They would also be able to have up to 2 pounds of processed marijuana in their homes and grow up to 8 cannabis plants (4 mature).

The law includes provisions allowing marijuana use at specially licensed businesses and events.

HF100 also includes provisions to automatically expunge misdemeanor marijuana possession records and creates a review board to consider resentencing individuals with felony marijuana convictions.

On May 18, the House passed the final version of HF100 by a 73-57 vote. The Senate passed the bill by a 34-0 vote. Gov. Tim Walz said in a tweet that he will sign the bill into law.

EFFECT ON FEDERAL PROHIBITION

When Gov. Walz signs HF100, Minnesota will become the 23rd state to legalize marijuana for adult use despite ongoing cannabis prohibition.

A GROWING MOVEMENT

Colorado, Washington state, Oregon and Alaska were the first states to legalize recreational cannabis, and California, Nevada, Maine and Massachusetts joined them after ballot initiatives in favor of legalization passed in November 2016. Michigan followed suit when voters legalized cannabis for general use in 2018. Vermont became the first state to legalize marijuana through a legislative act in 2018. Illinois followed suit in 2019. New Jersey, Montana and Arizona all legalized recreational marijuana through ballot measures in the 2020 election. In 2021, New York, New Mexico, Virginia and Connecticut legalized marijuana through legislative action, and Rhode Island legalized cannabis for adult use in 2022. With Missouri and Maryland legalizing marijuana in November 2022, and Delaware joining in 2023, there are now 37 states allowing cannabis for medical use, and 22 legalizing it for adult recreational use.

The post To the Governor: Minnesota Passes Bill to Legalize Marijuana Despite Federal Prohibition first appeared on Tenth Amendment Center.

Signed as Law: Montana 2nd Amendment Financial Privacy Act

Michael Boldin — Mon, 22 May 2023 21:06:17 +0000

HELENA, Mont. (May 22, 2023) – On Friday, Montana Governor Greg Gianforte signed a bill into law that prohibits financial institutions operating in the state from requiring a credit card merchant code to track the purchases of firearms and ammunition separating from other types of purchases.

Sen. Terry Vermeire introduced Senate Bill 359 (SB359) on Feb. 15. The law states its purpose is to “prohibit a financial institution from mandating firearms retailers to adopt a firearms code that is separate from a general merchandise retailer or sporting goods retailer.”

The law simply states that “a financial institution may not require a firearms retailer in this state to use a firearms code that is different from that of a general transaction.”

A firearms code is defined as “the merchant category code approved by the international organization for standardization for the purposes of initiating a card-based transaction for firearms retailers.”

The legislation first cleared the Senate on March 1 by a 41-9 vote. On April 17, the House passed the measure with some technical amendments by a 69-28 vote. Last month, the Senate concurred with a vote of 37-13. With Gov. Gianforte’s signature, it goes into effect on October 1.

BACKGROUND

In response to legislation like SB359, the major credit card payment networks have “paused” implementation of the firearms merchant code. In an email to Reuters, a Mastercard representative said such bills would cause “inconsistency” in how the code could be applied by merchants, banks and payment networks. The more states that ban such codes, the more likely this program gets scrapped permanently.

In September 2022, the International Standards Organization, based in Switzerland, approved a new merchant category code for firearm and ammunition merchants. In the letter to payment card networks, federal lawmakers stated that the new Merchant Category Code for firearms retailers would be “. . .the first step towards facilitating the collection of valuable financial data that could help law enforcement in countering the financing of terrorism efforts,” expressing a clear government expectation that networks will utilize the new Merchant Category Code to conduct mass surveillance of constitutionally protected firearms and ammunition purchases in cooperation with law enforcement.

The three major credit card companies have “paused” development of the firearms merchant code, but only because of state bills like HB1110. In an email to Reuters, a Mastercard representative said such bills would cause “inconsistency” in how the code could be applied by merchants, banks and payment networks. The more states that ban such codes, the more likely this program gets scrapped altogether.

IMPACT ON FEDERAL PROGRAMS

Data collected from this merchant code would almost certainly end up in federal government databases.

Concern about the misuse of federal firearms databases isn’t just paranoia. The Taliban has reportedly used a firearm ownership database created by the U.S. government to track down gun owners and confiscate firearms in Afghanistan. This goes to show that even if you trust the people creating the database, it can fall into the wrong hands. In other words, the very existence of a database is a danger.

The feds can share and tap into vast amounts of information gathered at the state and local level through fusion centers and a system known as the “information sharing environment” or ISE.

The post Signed as Law: Montana 2nd Amendment Financial Privacy Act first appeared on Tenth Amendment Center.

Pistol Brace Rule: A Test of your Disposition

Michael Boldin — Mon, 22 May 2023 18:07:44 +0000

With an enforcement deadline looming, potentially affecting millions of stabilizing braces, the new ATF rule is – as the founders told us – a test or an “experiment of your disposition.”

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California Assembly Committee Passes Bill to Restrict Geofence Location Tracking

Mike Maharrey — Mon, 22 May 2023 14:41:09 +0000

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (May 22, 2023) – Last Thursday, a third California Assembly Committee passed a bill that would ban geofence location tracking and reverse keyword search orders. The enactment of the legislation would not only protect privacy in California; it would also hinder the growth of the federal surveillance state.

Assm. Mia Bonta and three cosponsors introduced Assembly Bill 793 (AB793) in February. The legislation would prohibit any government entity from seeking, or any court from enforcing, assisting, or supporting, a reverse keyword or reverse location demand issued by a government entity or court in California or any other state. The bill would also prohibit a person or California entity from complying with a reverse keyword or reverse location demand. Any information gathered in violation of the law would be inadmissible in court.

On May 18, the Assembly Appropriation Committee passed AB793 by a 12-2 vote.

IMPACT ON FEDERAL SURVEILLANCE PROGRAMS

Limiting information collected by state and local law enforcement agencies limits the amount of information that can flow into federal databases through fusion centers and the ISE.

WHAT’S NEXT

AB793 will now move to the full Assembly for consideration.

The post California Assembly Committee Passes Bill to Restrict Geofence Location Tracking first appeared on Tenth Amendment Center.

It’s Our Job!

Mike Maharrey — Sun, 21 May 2023 23:40:26 +0000

Constitutions don’t enforce themselves. That means if the Constitution isn’t enforced, it’s not the Constitution’s fault.

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To the Governor: Texas Passes Second Amendment Financial Privacy Act

Mike Maharrey — Sun, 21 May 2023 21:36:19 +0000

AUSTIN, Texas (May 21, 2023) – On Friday, the Texas Senate gave final approval to a bill that would prohibit financial institutions operating in the state from requiring a credit card merchant code to track the purchases of firearms and ammunition.

Rep. Matt Schaefer and Rep. Candy Noble introduced House Bill 2837 (HB2837) on Feb. 24. Titled the Second Amendment Financial Privacy Act, the legislation would prohibit a financial institution operating in Texas from requiring or assigning a firearms code, which is defined as “any merchant category code approved by the International Organization for Standardization for a firearms retailer, including Merchant Category Code 5723.”

The bill also limits the merchant codes that can be assigned to the sale of firearms, firearm accessories, and ammunition.

“For the purposes of the sale of firearms, ammunition for use in firearms, and firearms accessories, a firearms retailer may provide a firearms code to a payment card issuer or payment card network and may only use or be assigned a merchant category code for general merchandise retailers or sporting goods retailers. Any agreement or contractual provision to the contrary is void.

On May 15, the Senate State Affairs Committee passed HB2837 by an 8-3 vote. The House previously passed the bill by a vote of 85-56. On Friday, the full Senate concurred, sending the bill to Governor Greg Abbott’s desk.

BACKGROUND

HB2837 explains the background for this bill in the legislative findings.

In September 2022, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), based in Switzerland, approved a new merchant category code for firearm and ammunition merchants; In the letter to payment card networks, federal lawmakers stated that the new Merchant Category Code for firearms retailers would be “. . .the first step towards facilitating the collection of valuable financial data that could help law enforcement in countering the financing of terrorism efforts”, expressing a clear government expectation that networks will utilize the new Merchant Category Code to conduct mass surveillance of constitutionally protected firearms and ammunition purchases in cooperation with law enforcement;

The new Merchant Category Code will allow the banks, payment card networks, acquirers, and other entities involved in payment card processing to identify and separately track lawful payment card purchases at firearms retailers in the State of Texas, paving the way for both unprecedented surveillance of Second Amendment activity and unprecedented information sharing between financial institutions and the government; This potential for cooperative surveillance and tracking of lawful firearms and ammunition purchases will have a significant chilling effect on citizens wishing to exercise their federal and state constitutional rights to keep and bear arms in Texas.

The State Attorney General would be authorized to investigate violations of the law and impose civil penalties of up to $10,000 for those found guilty.

IMPACT ON FEDERAL PROGRAMS

Concern about the misuse of firearms databases isn’t just paranoia. The Taliban has reportedly used a firearm ownership database created by the U.S. government to track down gun owners and confiscate firearms in Afghanistan. This goes to show that even if you trust the people creating the database, it can fall into the wrong hands. In other words, the very existence of a database is a danger.

The feds can share and tap into vast amounts of information gathered at the state and local level through fusion centers and a system known as the “information sharing environment” or ISE.

In practice, local data collection using ALPRs, stingrays, drones and other spy technologies create the potential for the federal government to obtain and store information on millions of Americans including phone calls, emails, web browsing history, location history, and text messages, all with no warrant, no probable cause, and without the people even knowing it.

WHAT’S NEXT

Gov. Abbott will have 20 days to sign or veto HB2837 once it hits his desk, or it becomes law without his signature.

The post To the Governor: Texas Passes Second Amendment Financial Privacy Act first appeared on Tenth Amendment Center.

The Real Problem is Power

Mike Maharrey — Sat, 20 May 2023 17:40:26 +0000

The real problem with the biggest government in history isn’t the people in power. It’s the power in the first place. That means you can’t solve the problem by simply switching out the people.

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California Assembly Committee Passes Bill to Expand Limits on ALPR Data Retention, Help Block National License Plate Tracking Program

Mike Maharrey — Fri, 19 May 2023 17:42:27 +0000

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (May 19, 2023) – Yesterday, a third California Assembly committee passed a bill that would further limit the storage and sharing of information collected by Automated License Plate Readers (ALPRs) in the state. The proposed law would also place significant roadblocks in the way of a federal program using states to help track the location of millions of everyday people through pictures of their license plates.

On May 18, the Assembly Appropriations Committee passed AB1463 by an 11-4 vote.

Oakland Privacy, a grassroots organization fighting government surveillance, pointed out that ALPR cameras are in ubiquitous use in California.

“Billions of scans are in privately held cloud storage databases and retained for an average of a year and sometimes as long as five years. The cloud databases can share the geolocation data with thousands of law enforcement agencies across the country, including those in states with current and pending bans on reproductive medical care as well as federal immigration enforcement.”

The enactment of AB1463 would limit the retention and sharing of this data, and help prevent it from entering into permanent federal databases.

IMPACT ON FEDERAL PROGRAMS

ALPRs can scan, capture and record thousands of license plates every minute and store them in massive databases, along with date, time and location information.

“Any state or local law enforcement agency participating in the RPSN will be able to access real-time data from any part of the network at no cost. The Company is initially launching the network by aggregating vehicle data from customers in over 30 states. With thousands of automatic license plate reading cameras currently in service that capture approximately 150 million plate reads per month, the network is expected to be live by the first quarter of 2020.”

WHAT’S NEXT

AB1463 will next move to the full Assembly for debate and a vote.

The post California Assembly Committee Passes Bill to Expand Limits on ALPR Data Retention, Help Block National License Plate Tracking Program first appeared on Tenth Amendment Center.

States vs CBDC: Here Comes the Opposition

Michael Boldin — Fri, 19 May 2023 17:10:31 +0000

As support for state efforts against a central bank digital currency ramps up, we’re starting to hear what opponents have to say. You probably won’t be surprised to learn that much of it is based on their view that federal supremacy is the answer to everything.

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New York Bill Would Establish State Process to End Qualified Immunity

Alan Mosley — Fri, 19 May 2023 02:50:16 +0000

ALBANY, N.Y. (May 18, 2023) – A bill introduced in the New York Assembly would create a process to sue police officers and government officials in state court for the deprivation of individual rights without the possibility of “qualified immunity” as a defense.

Asm. John McGowan introduced Assembly Bill 6714 (A6714) on May 5. The legislation would create a cause of action in state courts to sue a police officer who “subjects or causes to be subjected any other person to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the federal or state constitution or laws.”

The proposed law includes language that would preclude qualified immunity as a defense.

“It shall not be a defense or immunity to any action that an elected public officer was acting in good faith, or that such public officer believed, reasonably or otherwise, that their conduct was lawful at the time when it was committed. Nor shall it be a defense or immunity that the rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the federal or state Constitution or laws were not clearly established at the time of their deprivation or interference or attempted interference by the defendant, or that the state of the law was otherwise such that the public officer could not reasonably have been expected to know whether their conduct was lawful.”

Typically, people sue police for using excessive force or other types of misconduct through the federal court system under the U.S. Bill of Rights. But federal courts created a qualified immunity defense out of thin air, making it nearly impossible to hold law enforcement officers responsible for actions taken in the line of duty. In order to move ahead with a suit, the plaintiff must establish that it was “clearly established” that the officer’s action was unconstitutional. The “clearly established” test erects an almost insurmountable hurdle to those trying to prove excessive force or a violation of their rights.

In effect, the passage of A6714 would create an alternative path to address violations of rights in state court with no qualified immunity hurdle to clear. A similar law was passed in Colorado.

IN PRACTICE

It remains unclear how the state legal process would play out in practice.

The first question is whether people will actually utilize the state courts instead of the federal process. Under the original constitutional system, it would have never been a federal issue to begin with. Regulation of police powers was clearly delegated to the states, not the federal government. But with the advent of the incorporation doctrine, people reflexively run to federal courts. But by removing the qualified immunity hurdle, the legislation should incentivize people to take advantage of the state system.

The second question is if police officers will be able to transfer cases to federal jurisdiction in order to take advantage of qualified immunity.

Language in A6714 opens that door. The proposed law would allow people to sue in state court for violations of the U.S. Constitution or laws of the United States, as well as the New York state constitution. All matters regarding the U.S. Constitution or federal law will be remanded to federal courts. To avoid this, plaintiffs would have to sue based solely on the New York constitution and its bill of rights. The only way to avoid federal jurisdiction and ensure federal qualified immunity doesn’t come into play would be to limit the suit to state constitutional issues.

Even if the suit is focused on state law and the New York constitution, state and local law enforcement officers working on joint state/federal task forces would almost certainly be able to move the case to federal court. They are effectively treated as federal agents.

One attorney told the Tenth Amendment Center that it might be possible for officers to have their case removed to federal court to consider U.S. constitutional ramifications. But he said even then, he thinks federal courts would have to respect the state law prohibiting qualified immunity as a defense. The federal court would likely have to apply the state law as the state intended, even though the federal court might well be able to decide whether or not a U.S. constitutional violation had taken place.

Other lawyers we talked to said it wasn’t clear to them that the federal courts would have to honor the state statute. It is possible that the federal court could simply decide its jurisdiction supersedes state law and hear the case under the federal process, including the application of qualified immunity. Only time will tell how the process will play out in practice. Regardless, the state process will make it more difficult for police to simply side-step civil suits by declaring sovereign immunity upfront.

MOVING FORWARD

The Supreme Court shows no interest in rolling back its qualified immunity doctrine. In fact, the High Court recently rejected several cases that would have allowed it to revisit the issue. For instance, the SCOTUS let stand an Eleventh Circuit decision granting immunity to a police officer who shot a ten-year-old child in the back of the knee, while repeatedly attempting to shoot a pet dog that wasn’t threatening anyone.

Congress could prohibit qualified immunity. A bill sponsored by Rep. Justin Amash (L-Mich.) and Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) during the last Congress would have done just that, but it was never taken up. Congress does not have a good track record on reining in government power.

The best path forward is to bypass the federal system as Colorado has already done.

Other states should follow their lead and create state processes to hold their police officers accountable. With the evolution of qualified immunity, the federal process is an abject failure. As Supreme Court Justice Byron White wrote in the 1986 case Malley v. Briggs, qualified immunity protects “all but the plainly incompetent or those who knowingly violate the law.” Reuters called it “a highly effective shield in thousands of lawsuits seeking to hold cops accountable for using excessive force.”

Attorney and activist Dave Roland called on Missouri to adopt a similar process in an op-ed published by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

A consensus has developed — crossing all party and ideological lines — for the proposition that qualified immunity is an evil that should be undone. At the federal level either the Supreme Court or Congress could undo it, but thus far neither has seen fit to act. Justice in Missouri, however, does not need to wait on Washington — the Legislature can and should adopt a Missouri statute that allows citizens to sue government officials who have violated citizens’ constitutional rights.

WHAT’S NEXT

A6714 was referred to the Assembly Governmental Operations Committee. It must receive a hearing and pass the committee by a majority vote before moving forward in the legislative process.

The post New York Bill Would Establish State Process to End Qualified Immunity first appeared on Tenth Amendment Center.

You Can’t Trust the Federal Government to Limit Itself

Mike Maharrey — Thu, 18 May 2023 11:40:35 +0000

You can’t trust anybody to limit their own power. This is especially true of the federal government. If we fail to limit its power, it will only grow — no matter which team is in power.

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Maine Senate Passes Bill to Remove Sales Tax from Gold and Silver Bullion

Mike Maharrey — Thu, 18 May 2023 00:54:46 +0000

AUGUSTA, Maine (May 17, 2023) – Yesterday, the Maine Senate approved a bill that would create a sales tax exemption on the sale of gold and silver bullion. Passage into law would relieve some of the tax burdens on investors and eliminate one barrier to using gold and silver in everyday transactions, a foundational step for people to undermine the Federal Reserve’s monopoly on money.

Sen. Eric Brakey introduced Senate Bill 1051 (LD1051) on March 7. The legislation would exempt the sale of gold and silver coins and bullion from the state sales and use tax effective Jan. 1, 2024.

The bill defines “gold and silver coins and bullion” as “coins, bars or rounds minted primarily of refined gold or silver that are marked and valued by their weight, purity and content and not on their form. Bullion does not include fabricated gold or silver that has been processed or manufactured for industrial, professional or artistic uses.”

On May 16, the Senate passed LD1051 by a 17-15 vote.

A second bill that would have made gold and silver legal tender in the state (LD1270) died in the Senate. The chamber voted 19-13 to accept the Joint Committee on Health Coverage minority “ought not to pass” report.

KNOCKING DOWN BARRIERS

Currently, 43 states have eliminated sales taxes on gold and silver bullion. Repealing sales taxes on precious metal bullion takes a step toward treating gold and silver as money instead of commodities. Taxes on precious metal bullion erect barriers to using gold and silver as money by raising transaction costs. As Sound Money Defense League policy director Jp Cortez testified during a committee hearing on a similar bill in Wyoming in 2018, charging taxes on money itself is beyond the pale.

“In effect, states that collect taxes on purchases of precious metals are inherently saying gold and silver are not money at all.”

Imagine if you asked a grocery clerk to break a $5 bill and he charged you a 35-cent tax. Silly, right? After all, you were only exchanging one form of money for another. But that’s essentially what Maine’s sales tax on gold and silver bullion does. By eliminating this tax on the exchange of gold and silver, Maine would treat specie as money instead of a commodity. This represents a small step toward reestablishing gold and silver as legal tender and breaking down the Fed’s monopoly on money.

“We ought not to tax money – and that’s a good idea. It makes no sense to tax money,” former U.S. Rep. Ron Paul said during testimony in support an Arizona bill that repealed capital gains taxes on gold and silver in that state. “Paper is not money, it’s fraud,” he continued.

The impact of enacting this legislation will go beyond mere tax policy. During an event after his Senate committee testimony, Paul pointed out that it’s really about the size and scope of government.

“If you’re for less government, you want sound money. The people who want big government, they don’t want sound money. They want to deceive you and commit fraud. They want to print the money. They want a monopoly. They want to get you conditioned, as our schools have conditioned us, to the point where deficits don’t matter.”

Practically speaking, eliminating taxes on the sale of gold and silver cracks open the door for people to begin using specie in regular business transactions. This marks an important small step toward currency competition.

The effect has been most dramatic in Utah where United Precious Metals Association (UMPA) was established after the passage of the Utah Specie Legal Tender Act and the elimination of all taxes on gold and silver. UPMA offers accounts denominated in U.S.-minted gold and silver dollars. The company also recently released the “Utah Goldback.” UPMA describes it as “the first local, voluntary currency to be made of a spendable, beautiful, physical gold.”

BACKGROUND

The United States Constitution states in Article I, Section 10, “No State shall…make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts.” Currently, all debts and taxes in Kentucky are either paid with Federal Reserve Notes (dollars) which were authorized as legal tender by Congress or with coins issued by the U.S. Treasury — very few of which have gold or silver in them.

The Federal Reserve destroys this constitutional monetary system by creating a monopoly based on its fiat currency. Without the backing of gold or silver, the central bank can easily create money out of thin air. This not only devalues your purchasing power over time; it also allows the federal government to borrow and spend far beyond what would be possible in a sound money system. Without the Fed, the U.S. government wouldn’t be able to maintain all of its unconstitutional wars and programs. The Federal Reserve is the engine that drives the most powerful government in the history of the world.

The passage of LD1051 would remove one of the tax barriers that hinder the use of gold and silver as money in Maine.

Repealing taxes on gold and silver also takes the first step in the process of abolishing the Federal Reserve system by attacking it from the bottom up – pulling the rug out from under it by working to make its functions irrelevant at the state and local levels, and setting the stage to undermine the Federal Reserve monopoly by introducing competition into the monetary system.

In a paper presented at the Mises Institute, Constitutional tender expert Professor William Greene said when people in multiple states actually start using gold and silver instead of Federal Reserve Notes, it would effectively nullify the Federal Reserve and end the federal government’s monopoly on money.

“Over time, as residents of the state use both Federal Reserve notes and silver and gold coins, the fact that the coins hold their value more than Federal Reserve notes do will lead to a “reverse Gresham’s Law” effect, where good money (gold and silver coins) will drive out bad money (Federal Reserve notes). As this happens, a cascade of events can begin to occur, including the flow of real wealth toward the state’s treasury, an influx of banking business from outside of the state – as people in other states carry out their desire to bank with sound money – and an eventual outcry against the use of Federal Reserve notes for any transactions.”

Once things get to that point, Federal Reserve notes would become largely unwanted and irrelevant for ordinary people. Nullifying the Fed on a state-by-state level is what will get us there.

WHAT’S NEXT

LD1051 will move to the House for debate and a vote.

The post Maine Senate Passes Bill to Remove Sales Tax from Gold and Silver Bullion first appeared on Tenth Amendment Center.

Texas Senate Committee Passes Second Amendment Financial Privacy Act

Mike Maharrey — Thu, 18 May 2023 00:49:43 +0000

AUSTIN, Texas (May 17, 2023) – On Monday, a Texas Senate committee passed a bill that would prohibit financial institutions operating in the state from requiring a credit card merchant code to track the purchases of firearms and ammunition.

The bill also limits the merchant codes that can be assigned to the sale of firearms, firearm accessories, and ammunition.

“For the purposes of the sale of firearms, ammunition for use in firearms, and firearms accessories, a firearms retailer may provide a firearms code to a payment card issuer or payment card network and may only use or be assigned a merchant category code for general merchandise retailers or sporting goods retailers. Any agreement or contractual provision to the contrary is void.

On May 15, the Senate State Affairs Committee passed HB2837 by an 8-3 vote without any amendments. The House previously passed the bill by a vote of 85-56.

BACKGROUND

HB2837 explains the background for this bill in the legislative findings.

In September 2022, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), based in Switzerland, approved a new merchant category code for firearm and ammunition merchants; In the letter to payment card networks, federal lawmakers stated that the new Merchant Category Code for firearms retailers would be “. . .the first step towards facilitating the collection of valuable financial data that could help law enforcement in countering the financing of terrorism efforts”, expressing a clear government expectation that networks will utilize the new Merchant Category Code to conduct mass surveillance of constitutionally protected firearms and ammunition purchases in cooperation with law enforcement;

The new Merchant Category Code will allow the banks, payment card networks, acquirers, and other entities involved in payment card processing to identify and separately track lawful payment card purchases at firearms retailers in the State of Texas, paving the way for both unprecedented surveillance of Second Amendment activity and unprecedented information sharing between financial institutions and the government; This potential for cooperative surveillance and tracking of lawful firearms and ammunition purchases will have a significant chilling effect on citizens wishing to exercise their federal and state constitutional rights to keep and bear arms in Texas.

The State Attorney General would be authorized to investigate violations of the law and impose civil penalties of up to $10,000 for those found guilty.

IMPACT ON FEDERAL PROGRAMS

The feds can share and tap into vast amounts of information gathered at the state and local level through fusion centers and a system known as the “information sharing environment” or ISE.

WHAT’S NEXT

HB2837 can now move to the full Senate for further consideration.

The post Texas Senate Committee Passes Second Amendment Financial Privacy Act first appeared on Tenth Amendment Center.

New York Senate Committee Passes Bill to End Civil Asset Forfeiture and Opt State Out of Federal Forfeiture Program

Mike Maharrey — Thu, 18 May 2023 00:44:14 +0000

ALBANY, N.Y. (May 17, 2023) – On Monday, a New York Senate committee passed a bill that would end civil asset forfeiture in the state and replace it with a criminal process. Passage of the bill would also opt the state out of a program that allows police to circumvent more strict state forfeiture laws by passing cases off to the feds.

Sen. Jamaal Bailey introduced Senate Bill 2192 (S2192) on Jan. 19. The legislation would replace the state’s civil asset forfeiture process with a criminal process. Under the new process, forfeiture could only occur if the “prosecuting authority secures a conviction of a crime that authorizes the forfeiture of property and the prosecuting authority establishes by clear and convincing evidence the property is an instrumentality of or proceeds derived directly from the crime for which the state secured a conviction.”

S2192 would also address the “policing for profit” motive inherent in civil asset forfeiture by requiring the state treasurer to deposit forfeiture proceeds into the general fund after payment of specific allowable expenses. Under current law, police can keep up to 60 percent of forfeiture proceeds in New York.

Passage of the bill would opt New York out of a federal program that allows state and local police to get around more strict state asset forfeiture laws in most cases. This is particularly important in light of a policy directive issued in July 2017 by then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions for the Department of Justice (DOJ) that remains in effect today.

On May 15, the Senate Codes Committee passed S2192 by a 9-4 vote.

NECESSARY

While some people believe the Supreme Court “ended asset forfeiture, its opinion in Timbs v. Indiana ended nothing. Without further action, civil asset forfeiture remains. Additionally, as law professor Ilya Somin noted, the Court left an important issue unresolved. What exactly counts as “excessive” in the civil forfeiture context?

“That is likely to be a hotly contested issue in the lower federal courts over the next few years. The ultimate effect of today’s decision depends in large part on how that question is resolved. If courts rule that only a few unusually extreme cases qualify as excessive, the impact of Timbs might be relatively marginal.”

Going forward, opponents of civil asset forfeiture could wait and see how lower federal courts will address this “over the next few years,” or they can do what a number of states have already taken steps to do, end the practice on a state level, and opt out of the federal equitable sharing program as well.

FEDERAL LOOPHOLE

A federal program known as “Equitable Sharing” allows prosecutors to bypass more stringent state asset forfeiture laws by passing cases off to the federal government through a process known as adoption. Through this process, state or local police hand the forfeiture case to the feds to prosecute even though there was initially no federal involvement in the investigation and seizure. State and local police can also tap into equitable sharing by working with the feds on joint task forces. About 85 percent of equitable sharing cases arise from these joint task forces, but a significant number also begin with adoption.

Law enforcement agencies can circumvent more strict state forfeiture laws by claiming cases are federal in nature. Under these arrangements, state officials simply hand cases over to a federal agency, participate in the case and then receive up to 80 percent of the proceeds. However, when states merely withdraw from participation, the federal directive loses its impact.

California faced this situation. The state has some of the strongest state-level restrictions on civil asset forfeiture in the country, but state and local police were circumventing the state process by passing cases to the feds. According to a report by the Institute for Justice, Policing for Profit, California ranked as the worst offender of all states in the country between 2000 and 2013. In other words, California law enforcement was passing off a lot of cases to the feds and collecting the loot. The state closed the loophole in 2016.

Language in the bill would limit New York law enforcement from participating in the equitable sharing program through the adoption process.

A law enforcement agency shall not offer for adoption any property seized under state law, to a federal agency for the purpose of forfeiture under the federal Controlled Substances Act, or other federal law unless such seized property includes United States currency that exceeds twenty thousand dollars.

I would also limit participation in the program by law enforcement agencies working on joint task forces. Forfeiture proceedings for property seized by joint state/federal task forces would have to be prosecuted in state courts unless the seizure includes currency over $20,000. State and local law enforcement agencies would be prohibited from receiving equitable sharing funds if the federal government requires federal forfeiture in cases involving less than $20,000 in currency.

Most forfeitures fall below the $20,000 currency threshold.

As the Tenth Amendment Center previously reported the federal government inserted itself into the asset forfeiture debate in California. The feds clearly want the policy to continue.

Why?

We can only guess. But perhaps the feds recognize paying state and local police agencies directly in cash for handling their enforcement would reveal their weakness. After all, the federal government would find it nearly impossible to prosecute its unconstitutional “War on Drugs” without state and local assistance. Asset forfeiture “equitable sharing” provides a pipeline the feds use to incentivize state and local police to serve as de facto arms of the federal government by funneling billions of dollars into their budgets.

WHAT’S NEXT

S2192 now moves to the Senate Finance Committee where it must get a hearing and pass by a majority vote before moving forward kin the legislative process.

The post New York Senate Committee Passes Bill to End Civil Asset Forfeiture and Opt State Out of Federal Forfeiture Program first appeared on Tenth Amendment Center.

Emergency Powers: 8 Stages of Tyranny

Michael Boldin — Wed, 17 May 2023 21:51:49 +0000

Once they get new powers for one “emergency” or another – they don’t give them back, at least voluntarily. And even when they stop using them – it’s just until the next time.

Path to Liberty: May 17, 2023

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John Whitehead – Rutherford Institute

Episode – Emergency Powers are Forever

Ryan McMaken – Mises Institute

FA Hayek – Law, Legislation and Liberty vol. 3

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Kim Lane Scheppele – States of Emergency as a Script for Undermining Constitutional Government

James Madison – Political Observations (20 Apr 1795)

Episode – Militarized Federal Agencies, the Other Standing Army

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James Madison to Thomas Jefferson (13 May 1798)

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North Dakota Governor Signs Second Amendment Financial Privacy Act

Michael Boldin — Wed, 17 May 2023 01:23:36 +0000

Bismarck, N.D. (May 16, 2023) – Last month, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum signed a bill into law to prohibit financial institutions operating in the state from requiring a credit card merchant code to track the purchases of firearms and ammunition.

Rep. Ben Koppelman nine cosponsors introduced House Bill 1487 (HB1487) on Jan. 18. Titled the Second Amendment Financial Privacy Act, the law prohibits a financial institution operating in North Dakota from requiring or assigning a firearms code.

A financial entity or its agent may not require the use of a firearms code in a manner that distinguishes a firearms retailer located in this state from a general merchandise retailer or a sporting goods retailer.

A firearms code is defined as “a merchant category code approved by the international organization for standardization for firearms retailers.”

The State Attorney General would be authorized to investigate violations of the law and impose civil penalties of up to $10,000 for those found guilty.

The bill first cleared the House on April 6 in a 46-1 vote and then in the Senate on April 24 in a 81-10 vote, and then received concurrence in the Senate on April 25 in a 45-2 vote. With Gov. Doug Burgum’s signature, the law goes into effect on Aug 1.

In response to legislation like HB1487, the major credit card payment networks have “paused” implementation of the firearms merchant code. In an email to Reuters, a Mastercard representative said such bills would cause “inconsistency” in how the code could be applied by merchants, banks and payment networks. The more states that ban such codes, the more likely this program gets scrapped permanently.

BACKGROUND

In September 2022, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), based in Switzerland, approved a new merchant category code for firearm and ammunition merchants; In the letter to payment card networks, federal lawmakers stated that the new Merchant Category Code for firearms retailers would be “. . .the first step towards facilitating the collection of valuable financial data that could help law enforcement in countering the financing of terrorism efforts”, expressing a clear government expectation that networks will utilize the new Merchant Category Code to conduct mass surveillance of constitutionally protected firearms and ammunition purchases in cooperation with law enforcement;

The new Merchant Category Code will allow the banks, payment card networks, acquirers, and other entities involved in payment card processing to identify and separately track lawful payment card purchases at firearms retailers in the State of North Dakota, paving the way for both unprecedented surveillance of Second Amendment activity and unprecedented information sharing between financial institutions and the government; This potential for cooperative surveillance and tracking of lawful firearms and ammunition purchases will have a significant chilling effect on citizens wishing to exercise their federal and state constitutional rights to keep and bear arms in North Dakota.

IMPACT ON FEDERAL PROGRAMS

The feds can share and tap into vast amounts of information gathered at the state and local level through fusion centers and a system known as the “information sharing environment” or ISE.

The post North Dakota Governor Signs Second Amendment Financial Privacy Act first appeared on Tenth Amendment Center.

California Assembly Passes Bill to Extend Temporary Ban on Facial Recognition with Police Body Cameras

Mike Maharrey — Tue, 16 May 2023 18:24:14 +0000

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (May 16, 2023) – Yesterday, the California Assembly passed a bill that would extend a temporary ban on police use of facial recognition and biometric scanners with police officer cameras for three more years.

Asm. Lori Wilson introduced Assembly Bill 1034 (AB1034) on Feb. 15.

On Jan. 1, 2020, a law went into effect prohibiting law enforcement agencies or law enforcement officials from installing, activating, or using any biometric surveillance system in connection with an officer camera or data collected by an officer camera. This includes body-worn and handheld devices. This law sunset on Jan. 1, 2023. AB1034 would reenact the law and keep it in effect until 2027.

On May 15, the Assembly passed AB1034 by a 41-17 vote.

The law had a major impact even before it even went into effect. In December 2019, San Diego announced it would shut down one of the largest facial recognition programs in the country to comply with AB1215. According to an agenda released by the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG), the facial recognition system used by more than 30 agencies was suspended as of Jan. 1, 2020. The announcement came after the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) sent a letter demanding the shutdown of the massive program to comply with AB1215.

A second bill (AB642) sponsored by Asm. Philip Ting, Sen. Steven Bradford, and Assm Kevin McCarty purports to restrict law enforcement use of facial recognition, but the bill is written in a way that would give police sweeping statutory authorization to use facial recognition in virtually limitless scenarios. For instance, the bill puts limits on facial recognition surveillance of First Amendment activities but includes exceptions that would easily allow it.

It is now pending the Assembly Appropriations Committee. Privacy activists say its chances of final passage were “heavily damaged” during a hearing in the Assembly Committee on Privacy and Consumer Protection, but it still passed that committee. Sources close to the Tenth Amendment Center say there is a chance to stop the bill in Appropriations, but it will require strong grassroots pressure.

IMPACT ON FEDERAL PROGRAMS

A 2019 report revealed that the federal government has turned state driver’s license photos into a giant facial recognition database, putting virtually every driver in America in a perpetual electronic police lineup. The revelations generated widespread outrage, but the story wasn’t new. The federal government has been developing a massive facial recognition system for years.

The FBI rolled out a nationwide facial recognition program in the fall of 2014, with the goal of building a giant biometric database with pictures provided by the states and corporate friends.

In 2016, the Center on Privacy and Technology at Georgetown Law released “The Perpetual Lineup,” a massive report on law enforcement use of facial recognition technology in the U.S. You can read the complete report at perpetuallineup.org. The organization conducted a year-long investigation and collected more than 15,000 pages of documents through more than 100 public records requests. The report paints a disturbing picture of intense cooperation between the federal government, and state and local law enforcement to develop a massive facial recognition database.

“Face recognition is a powerful technology that requires strict oversight. But those controls, by and large, don’t exist today,” report co-author Clare Garvie said. “With only a few exceptions, there are no laws governing police use of the technology, no standards ensuring its accuracy, and no systems checking for bias. It’s a wild west.”

Despite the outrage generated by these reports, Congress has done nothing to roll back this facial recognition program.

There are many technical and legal problems with facial recognition, including significant concerns about the accuracy of the technology, particularly when reading the facial features of minority populations. During a test run by the ACLU of Northern California, facial recognition misidentified 26 members of the California legislature as people in a database of arrest photos.

With facial recognition technology, police and other government officials have the capability to track individuals in real time. These systems allow law enforcement agents to use video cameras and continually scan everybody who walks by. According to the report, several major police departments have expressed an interest in this type of real-time tracking. Documents revealed agencies in at least five major cities, including Los Angeles, either claimed to run real-time face recognition off of street cameras, bought technology with the capability, or expressed written interest in buying it.

In all likelihood, the federal government heavily involves itself in helping state and local agencies obtain this technology. The feds provide grant money to local law enforcement agencies for a vast array of surveillance gear, including ALPRs, stingray devices and drones. The federal government essentially encourages and funds a giant nationwide surveillance net and then taps into the information via fusion centers and the Information Sharing Environment (ISE).

Reports that the Berkeley Police Department in cooperation with a federal fusion center deployed cameras equipped to surveil a “free speech” rally and Antifa counterprotests provided the first solid link between the federal government and local authorities in facial recognition surveillance.

In a nutshell, without state and local cooperation, the feds have a much more difficult time gathering information. The passage of state laws and local ordinances banning and limiting facial recognition eliminates one avenue for gathering facial recognition data. Simply put, data that doesn’t exist cannot be entered into federal databases.

WHAT’S NEXT

AB1034 now moves to the Senate for further consideration. After receiving a committee assignment, it must get a hearing and pass by a majority vote before moving forward in the legislative process.

The post California Assembly Passes Bill to Extend Temporary Ban on Facial Recognition with Police Body Cameras first appeared on Tenth Amendment Center.

Fear Enables Tyranny

Mike Maharrey — Tue, 16 May 2023 18:21:44 +0000

Fear leads to pessimism and inaction. And if we fail to act, they have already won.

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For More Information

Don’t Give in to Fear: Patrick Henry’s Anti-Federalist Speech No. 3

Freedom from Fear: Stop Playing the Government’s Mind Games

Five Big Roadblocks to Liberty

The post Fear Enables Tyranny first appeared on Tenth Amendment Center.

Federal Tax Receipts Are Tanking But Federal Spending Isn’t

Mike Maharrey — Tue, 16 May 2023 17:37:57 +0000

The U.S. government ran a surplus in April, as it generally does in tax return month. But federal tax revenues collapsed year-on-year and the fiscal 2023 deficit is still close to $1 trillion with five months to go despite the small April windfall. Meanwhile, the federal government keeps right on spending as if it had unlimited funds.

The budget deficit decreased by $176.18 billion in April as tax receipts rolled into the Treasury leading up to tax day, according to the Monthly Treasury Statement.

A surplus sounds like good news, but digging into the data reveals that federal revenues are falling even as spending continues unabated.

The U.S. Treasury took in $638.52 billion in April. That was more than double the receipts. This is to be expected as the government collects a large amount of tax revenue in April. But compared to April 2022, tax receipts were down 26.1 percent. That plunge in revenue pushed the April budget surplus down by 43 percent compared to last year’s.

Falling tax receipts are a big problem for a government that continues to spend around half a trillion dollars every single month.

Last year, strong tax receipts helped to paper over the spending problem. The federal government enjoyed a revenue windfall in fiscal 2022. According to a Tax Foundation analysis of Congressional Budget Office data, federal tax collections were up 21 percent. Tax collections also came in at a multi-decade high of 19.6 percent as a share of GDP. But CBO analysts warned it won’t last. And government tax revenue will decline even faster if the economy spins into a recession.

In a nutshell, the U.S. government faces a double-whammy of falling receipts and increasing spending.

And the real problem is on the spending side of the ledger. Last month, the U.S. government blew through another $462.34 billion.

The CBO now projects that the fiscal 2023 budget deficit will come in at $1.5 trillion. That would be bigger than any deficit run by the Obama administration during the Great Recession and higher than last year’s $1.3 trillion shortfall.

Even with the U.S. government up against the debt ceiling, there is no indication that the spending freight train will slow down any time soon. Congress passed a $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill for 2023 that increased outlays by about $1.5 billion over fiscal 2022.

Of course, this is only one component of federal expenditures. The U.S. government is still handing out COVID stimulus money, and in March 2021, Congress approved $1.9 trillion in spending to address the pandemic. Last year, it passed the euphemistically named “Inflation Reduction Act.” Meanwhile, the U.S. continues to shower money on Ukraine and other countries around the world. All of that spending will pile on top of this most recent allocation of funding.

Compounding the problem, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates by another 25 basis points in May. That will add to the quickly ballooning interest cost.

Interest payments on outstanding debt in the first seven months of fiscal 2023 totaled $460.3 billion. That was a 31 percent increase over the same period last year.

And interest expense was already skyrocketing in 2022. According to an analysis by the New York Times, net interest costs rose by 41 percent last year. According to the Peterson Foundation, the jump in interest expense was larger than the biggest increase in interest costs in any single fiscal year, dating back to 1962.

The cost of financing the debt will almost certainly rise even more once Congress raises the debt ceiling. At that point, the U.S. Treasury will have to sell a significant number of bonds to catch up with its deficit spending. That flood of paper will likely drive Treasury rates higher. Currently, the Treasury is running “extraordinary measures” to fund government spending since it is against its borrowing limit.

If interest rates remain elevated or continue rising, interest expenses could climb rapidly into the top three federal expenses. (You can read a more in-depth analysis of the national debt HERE.)

In October, the national debt blew past $31 trillion. It now stands at $31.46 trillion. It will remain there until the fake debt ceiling fight resolves and it will then spike quickly toward $32 trillion.

According to the National Debt Clock, the debt-to-GDP ratio stands at 120.3 percent. Despite the lack of concern in the mainstream, debt has consequences. More government debt means less economic growth. Studies have shown that a debt-to-GDP ratio of over 90 percent retards economic growth by about 30 percent. This throws cold water on the conventional “spend now, worry about the debt later” mantra, along with the frequent claim that “we can grow ourselves out of the debt” now popular on both sides of the aisle in DC.

To put the debt into perspective, every American citizen would have to write a check for $94,830 in order to pay off the national debt.

A BIG PROBLEM FOR THE FED

The soaring national debt and the U.S. government’s spending addiction are big problems for the Federal Reserve as it battles price inflation.

And now it has to deal with the extra pressure of a budding financial crisis.

As you’ve already seen, the push to raise interest rates is putting a strain on Uncle Sam’s borrowing costs. But there is an even bigger problem. The Fed can’t slay monetary inflation — the cause of price inflation — with rate cuts alone. The U.S. government also needs to cut spending.

The U.S. government can’t keep borrowing and spending without the Fed monetizing the debt. It needs the central bank to buy Treasuries to prop up demand. Without the Fed’s intervention in the bond market, prices will tank, driving interest rates on US debt even higher.

A paper published by the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank acknowledged that the central bank can’t slay inflation unless the U.S. government gets its spending under control. In a nutshell, the authors argue that the Fed can’t control inflation alone. U.S. government fiscal policy contributes to inflationary pressure and makes it impossible for the Fed to do its job.

Trend inflation is fully controlled by the monetary authority only when public debt can be successfully stabilized by credible future fiscal plans. When the fiscal authority is not perceived as fully responsible for covering the existing fiscal imbalances, the private sector expects that inflation will rise to ensure sustainability of national debt. As a result, a large fiscal imbalance combined with a weakening fiscal credibility may lead trend inflation to drift away from the long-run target chosen by the monetary authority.”

This clearly isn’t in the cards.

Something has to give. The Fed can’t simultaneously fight inflation and prop up Uncle Sam’s spending spree. Either the government will have to cut spending or the Fed will eventually have to go back to creating money out of thin air in order to monetize the debt.

The post Federal Tax Receipts Are Tanking But Federal Spending Isn’t first appeared on Tenth Amendment Center.

Signed as Law: Iowa Legalizes Limited Raw Milk Sales

Mike Maharrey — Mon, 15 May 2023 16:22:35 +0000

DES MOINES, Iowa (May 15, 2023) – Last week, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds signed a bill legalizing the limited sale of raw milk and raw milk products in the state. Enactment of this bill will not only start to open Iowa’s raw milk market; it will take a step toward nullifying a federal prohibition scheme in practice and effect.

The Senate State Government Committee replaced Senate Study Bill 1107 with Senate Bill 315 (SF315) on Feb. 16. The new law will allow a raw milk producer to process, market, and distribute raw milk and raw milk products directly to a consumer from the dairy. SF315 also creates regulatory guidelines for the sale of raw milk and raw milk products.

Under the old law, raw milk sales were illegal in Iowa.

On April 12, the House passed SF315 with amendments by a 64-35 vote. On April 17, the Senate concurred with the amendment on a voice vote and then passed the measure as amended by a 37-13 vote. With Gov. Kim Reynolds’ signature, the law will go into effect July 1.

A similar bill passed the Senate in 2022, but it died in the House due to fierce opposition from the state’s dairy lobby.

IMPACT ON FEDERAL PROHIBITION

FDA officials insist that unpasteurized milk poses a health risk because of its susceptibility to contamination from cow manure, a source of E. coli.

“It is the FDA’s position that raw milk should never be consumed,” agency spokeswoman Tamara N. Ward said in November 2011.

The FDA’s position represents more than a matter of opinion. In 1987, the feds implemented 21 CFR 1240.61(a), providing that, “no person shall cause to be delivered into interstate commerce or shall sell, otherwise distribute, or hold for sale or other distribution after shipment in interstate commerce any milk or milk product in final package form for direct human consumption unless the product has been pasteurized.”

Not only do the feds ban the transportation of raw milk across state lines; they also claim the authority to ban unpasteurized milk within the borders of a state.

“It is within HHS’s authority…to institute an intrastate ban [on unpasteurized milk] as well,” FDA officials wrote in response to a Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund lawsuit against the agency over the interstate ban.

The FDA clearly wants a complete prohibition of raw milk and some insiders say it’s only a matter of time before the feds try to institute an absolute ban. Armed raids by FDA agents on companies like Rawsome Foods back in 2011 and Amish farms over the last few years also indicate this scenario may not be too far off.

When states allow the sale of raw milk within their borders, it takes an important step toward nullifying this federal prohibition scheme.

As we’ve seen with marijuana and industrial hemp, an intrastate ban becomes ineffective when states ignore it and pass laws encouraging the prohibited activity anyway. The federal government lacks the enforcement power necessary to maintain its ban, and people will willingly take on the small risk of federal sanctions if they know the state will not interfere. This increases when the state actively encourages the market and nullifies federal prohibition in effect.

We’ve seen this demonstrated dramatically in states that have legalized industrial hemp. When they authorized production, farmers began growing industrial hemp, even in the face of a federal ban. Despite facing the possibility of federal prosecution, some growers were still willing to step into the void and begin cultivating the plant once the state removed its barriers.

In the same way, removing state barriers to raw milk consumption, sale and production would undoubtedly spur the creation of new markets for unpasteurized dairy products, no matter what the feds claim the power to do.

It could ultimately nullify the interstate ban as well. If all 50 states allow raw milk, markets within the states could easily grow to the point that local sales would render the federal ban on interstate commerce pointless. And history indicates the feds do not have the resources to stop people from transporting raw milk across state lines – especially if multiple states start legalizing it. Growing markets will quickly overwhelm any federal enforcement attempts.

The post Signed as Law: Iowa Legalizes Limited Raw Milk Sales first appeared on Tenth Amendment Center.