Six and Counting. States Seek to Bypass DC, Nullify National Health Care

While Congress wrangles over repealing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, lawmakers in six states have taken steps to bypass Washington D.C. completely and take matters into their own hands.

State legislators in Maine, Montana, Oregon, Texas and Wyoming have already introduced bills into their state assemblies that would declare the health care bill unconstitutional, therefore null, void and unenforceable in their states. Today, Nebraska joined them.

Nebraska’s bill, LB515 – the Federal Health Care Nullification Act – states:

The Legislature declares that the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is not authorized by the Constitution of the United States and violates its true meaning and intent as given by the founders and ratifiers and is hereby declared to be invalid in this state, shall not be recognized by this state, is specifically rejected by this state, and shall be considered null and void and of no effect in this state.

In 2007, 2 years after the Bush administration and the republican congress gave us the unconstitutional Real ID act, states like Maine and New Hampshire began the process of passing resolutions and laws rejecting the federal law. Now, nearly 25 states have gotten on board with the nullification efforts led by democrats and the ACLU – and the result? The law is virtually null and void in most of the country.

Today, less than a year after the Affordable care act – already 7 states have passed Health Care Freedom Acts, rejecting the mandates in the federal law. Those states are focusing primarily on a strategy of trying to win in federal court to affirm their state laws.

But introduction of the nullification act in six states already (sources close to the Tenth Amendment Center tell us to expect at least 10 states do the same this year) – indicate that there’s a growing segment of the population that is looking to exercise their rights whether Congress or the federal courts want to give them permission to or not.

All six acts also establish penalties, including fines and jail time, for any agent seeking to enforce the health care bill within the state’s borders. For example, from LB515:

Any official, agent, or employee of the United States or any employee of a corporation providing services to the United States that enforces or attempts to enforce a federal act, order, law, statute, rule, or regulation of the United States government in violation of the Federal Health Care Nullification Act is guilty of a Class IV felony.

Will these bills go anywhere? Only time will tell. But, whether they do or not, there is much to be learned from the left-wing nullification efforts of the last few years and beyond. Whether it’s 25 states saying no to Real ID, or 15 states rejecting federal laws on marijuana – there’s a blueprint. When enough people say no to federal laws, and enough states back them up by passing laws to do the same – there’s not much that Washington D.C. can do about it.

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CLICK HERE – to view the TAC’s Health Care Nullification Act legislative tracking page.

CLICK HERE – to view the full text of TAC’s model legislation – the Federal Health Care Nullification Act.  Please send it to your state reps and senators for introduction in your state today!

Read more at The Tenth Amendment Center