South Carolina About to
Nullify Obamacare
by Dave Jolly
Would you believe
that there is one state out of fifty that has the fortitude to exercise their
Tenth Amendment rights?
South Carolina Republicans are on the verge of passing a
bill that would completely nullify every aspect of the Affordable Care Act in
their state. Known as H3101,
the bills purpose states:
“A bill to amend the Code of Laws
of South Carolina, 1976, so as to enact the ‘South Carolina Freedom of Health
Care Protection Act’ by adding Article 21 to Chapter 71, Title 38 so as to
render null and void certain unconstitutional laws enacted by the Congress of
the United States taking control over the health insurance industry and
mandating that individuals purchase health insurance under threat of penalty;
to prohibit certain individuals from enforcing or attempting to enforce such
unconstitutional laws; and to establish criminal penalties and civil liability
for violating this article.”
In effect, H3101 prohibits any and all agents, officials or employees
of the state of South Carolina from implementing any provision that is part of
Obamacare. It also allows for the issuing of a state tax
deduction equal to the tax penalty enacted by the IRS and makes the state
exchanges illegal. They are also considering two additional
provisions that would make the Medicare expansion illegal and the suspension of
state insurance licenses of any insurer that received federal subsidies through
Obamacare.
The bill passed the South Carolina House in April by a 65-34
vote. The bill has now gone to the Republican controlled Senate with a
special-order priority. They are expected to easily pass the bill,
sending it to the desk of South Carolina’s Republican Governor Nikki Haley.
From everything I’ve heard, Haley will most likely sign the bill into law as
soon as possible, making South Carolina to take such drastic action to stop the
implementation and enforcement of Obamacare in their state. State Sen. Tom
Davis (R-Beaufort) commented:
“It will essentially have five
components to it, all of which in my judgment are legal, effective, and within
the state’s power to do.”
Defending the bill, Davis said that it is based upon the
anti-commandeering doctrine that was established in case law that stated that
the federal government cannot force a state to enforce federal laws. He
explained:
“What the Supreme Court said in
Printz v. United States is that states are not merely political subdivisions of
the federal government to carry out what the federal government does; they are sovereign entities. Congress can
pass laws, but it cannot compel the states to utilize either their treasury or
personnel to implement those federal laws.”
It’s about time a state does the right thing in standing up to the
federal government and exercising their Tenth Amendment rights to state
sovereignty. Our Founding Fathers knew the dangers of a growing federal
government and purposely wrote the Tenth Amendment to protect the states’
rights to sovereignly govern themselves, free of federal hindrance.
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