North Las Vegas senator criticizes state ‘sovereignty’ resolution

CARSON CITY -- A Democratic chairman questioned Monday why a Republican senator's resolution declaring state "sovereignty" and demanding the federal government follow the 10th Amendment should be approved since the president and Congress probably would throw it in a wastebasket.

"What would we have accomplished?" asked Senate Government Affairs Chairman John Lee, D-North Las Vegas.

Nevada has three Republicans and two Democrats in Congress whose job should be representing the constitutional interests of Nevadans, he said. They have far more weight with Congress and the president than state legislators do, he added.

Lee said he plans to hold a workshop on Senate Joint Resolution 6, but added he must be shown whether "it would accomplish anything" before it passes. No Democrats signed on as co-sponsors of the resolution and Democrats control both houses of the Legislature. Resolutions are position statements from state legislators and carry no force of law. A similar resolution passed unanimously in 1995.

The resolution by Sen. James Settelmeyer, R-Minden, asserts that states are sovereign under the 10th Amendment. It calls for the federal government to stop imposing unconstitutional requirements on states. Under the 10th Amendment, powers not granted to the federal government are left to the states and the people.

Settelmeyer said the bill is important because in his home county of Douglas the Federal Emergency Management Agency is forcing homeowners to pay high flood insurance rates. After an isolated flood in Douglas County, he said FEMA added 2,500 acres to a flood zone "that no one in recorded history ever has seen flood."

Community leaders are spending $150,000 challenging FEMA's flood plain maps, he added.

In an interview, Settelmeyer agreed his resolution, if it wins legislative support, could be ignored by the president and Congress.

"That's the risk you take," he said.