Author Archive | TAC Daily Updates

Michigan House Bill 4455 is a bill to nullify warrantless surveillance and armed drones. HB4455 has been sitting in the Criminal Justice Committee since March. Your help is needed to move this bill forward.

HB4455 prohibits any law enforcement from storing biometric data from non-target suspects, ensures proper destruction of surveillance collected, and any surveillance obtained outside of this law may not be used as evidence in a court.

Please call and email your representatives. Tell them you want HB4455 to be voted on as soon as possible.

Action Items for HB4455.

1. Contact the Committee Chairman. Politely ask him to schedule HB4455 for public hearing and vote.

Kurt Heise (517) 373-3816 KurtHeise@house.mi.gov

2. Contact the other members of the Criminal Justice Committee. Strongly, but respectfully, urge each of them to vote YES on HB4455.

Joseph Graves (517) 373-1780 JosephGraves@house.mi.gov
Kenneth Kurtz (517) 373-1794 KennethKurtz@house.mi.gov
Mike Callton (517) 373-0842 MikeCallton@house.mi.gov
Ed McBroom (517) 373-0156 EdMcBroom@house.mi.gov
Margaret O’Brien (517) 373-1774 MargaretOBrien@house.mi.gov
Klint Kesto (517) 373-1799 KlintKesto@house.mi.gov Continue Reading →

by Michael Cannon, CATO Institute

ObamaCare supporters promised the law’s employer mandate would require employers to provide workers with comprehensive insurance. But they apparently didn’t read the bill very closely. It’s a recurring theme.

According to the Wall Street Journal, employers and employee-benefits consultants have found, and federal regulators now confirm, that the law actually requires most employers to offer no more than very flimsy coverage. Many employers are now exploring the option of offering limited-benefit health plans that cover preventive services and maybe “$100 a day for a hospital visit” but “wouldn’t cover surgery, X-rays or prenatal care.” Indeed, the law could push many employers to reduce the amount of coverage workers receive on the job.

The Obama administration’s reaction demonstrates they had no idea what they were doing. The Wall Street Journal:

Administration officials confirmed in interviews that the skinny plans, in concept, would be sufficient to avoid the across-the-workforce penalty. Several expressed surprise that employers would consider the approach.

“We wouldn’t have anticipated that there’d be demand for these types of band-aid plans in 2014,” said Robert Kocher, a former White House health adviser who helped shepherd the law. “Our expectation was that employers would offer high quality insurance.”
The Law of Unintended Consequences strikes again.

This and other employer responses to the law could make the roll-out of ObamaCare’s health insurance “exchanges” even more of a train wreck.

-To the extent ObamaCare’s employer mandate pushes firms to offer bare-bones plans, premiums for plans offered through Exchanges will rise. The healthiest workers will enroll in their employers’ bare-bones plans, but workers who have expensive illnesses (or with dependents who have expensive illnesses) will seek more-comprehensive coverage through the Exchanges. The influx of sick consumers will increase the premiums for Exchange-based plans. Many of these sick workers won’t receive any premium-assistance tax credits or cost-sharing subsidies because their employer’s bare-bones plan will likely satisfy ObamaCare’s definition of adequate – and because the statute forbids those entitlements in the 33 states that have declined to establish an Exchange. Continue Reading →

Pennsylvania House Bill 961 is a bill to nullify warrantless drone spying, wiretapping, and electronic surveillance. This bill is currently in the Judiciary Committee and needs your action to help it move forward.

HB961 requires that a judge sign an order for the use of a drone for surveillance purposes during a criminal investigation or unless prior consent was given. See Chapter 57 Title 18 Subchapter 5704 Section 4 for current Pennsylvania wiretapping law.

Call and email members of this committee to get this bill moving. The first step to move this bill forward is to urge the Chairman to schedule a hearing for HB961. Contact members of the committee to not only urge the chairman also, but to vote YES on HB961.

Action Items for HB961.

1. Contact the Committee Chairman. Politely ask him to schedule HB961 for public hearing and vote.

Ron Marisco (717) 783-2014

2. Contact the other members of the Judiciary Committee. Strongly, but respectfully, urge each of them to vote YES on HB2710.

Thomas R. Caltagirone, (717) 787-3525
Todd Stephens (215) 368-5165
Bryan Cutler (717) 783-6424
Glen R. Grell (717) 783-2063
Timothy Krieger (717) 260-6146
Sheryl M. Delozier (717) 783-5282 Continue Reading →

Missouri House Bill 436, the 2nd Amendment Preservation Act, has passed both the State house and senate – and is on it’s way to the Governor’s desk. If signed into law, his bill would nullify virtually every federal gun control measure on the books – past, present and future.

Your help is needed right now to ensure that HB436 becomes law – and federal gun control is subsequently nullified.

Action Items

1. Contact Governor Nixon.  While he’s not expected to be a friend of the effort, still call him and respectfully urge him to sign HB436.

2. Contact your State Senator and State Representative There is a veto-proof majority in both houses, but to ensure that holds, call your senators and representatives to voice your support for HB436 today!

http://www.senate.mo.gov/LegisLookup/Leg_Lookup.aspx

http://house.mo.gov/legislatorlookup.aspx

3. Share this information widely.  Please pass this along to your friends and family.  Also share it with any and all grassroots groups you’re in contact with around the state.  Please encourage them to email this information to their members and supporters.  Continue Reading →

Last month, the Oregon house voted to pass HB2710, a bill to nullify warrantless drone spying.  This bill is scheduled for a Work Session in the Senate Judiciary Committee with a possible vote out of committee on May 29th

HB2710 “provides that law enforcement agency may use drone to intercept communications only as provided under laws relating to wiretaps and other interceptions of communications.”

In other words?  No warrant = no drone.

Action Items for HB2710.

1. Contact the Committee Chairman. Thank him for scheduling the hearing, and encourage him to vote YES on HB2710.

Floyd Prozanski 503-986-1704 sen.floydprozanski@state.or.us

2. Contact the other members of the Judiciary Committee. Strongly, but respectfully, urge each of them to vote YES on HB2710.  Continue Reading →

The Alabama Senate recently created quite a stir when it passed a 2nd Amendment Preservation Act that would have nullified federal firearms regulations violating the Second Amendment.

But even with broad-based popular support, the Alabama House failed pass the bill and do its duty to protect Alabamians from federal overreach. SB93 did not move out of House Committee before session deadlines.

With the next legislative session a year away, only one option remains, and it’s likely the most effective: build grassroots groups to block violations of the  Second Amendment at the local level.

Counties and cities must refuse to assist any federal attempts to violate your right to keep and bear arms in their jurisdictions. Starting now, work to get your county, city or town to pass a resolution then a binding ordinance in response to violations of the 2nd Amendment.  Covering the state with local communities saying NO to such unconstitutional federal acts will not only render the laws “nearly impossible to enforce” as Judge Napolitano has said – it will also provide the heavy pressure needed to ensure that the state legislature will have the courage to do the same in the future.

Of course, local governments won’t act without your input and grassroots pressure. The good news is a few dedicated individuals can make a difference at the local level.

That’s where you can step up to the plate.

It’s going to take work to ensure that this is how things play out.  Here’s what you can start doing right now.

1.  Contact your local legislators – County, City, Town - and urge them to introduce model legislation in support of the 2nd Amendment Protection Act.

local ordinance here:
http://tenthamendmentcenter.com/legislation/2nd-amendment-preservation-act/

2.  Become a local leader.   If you’re dedicated t Continue Reading →

Texas House Bill 149, to nullify NDAA “indefinite detention” failed to pass through the process in the House in time to become law this legislative session.  There’s still the possibility that the bill could be added as a rider to another bill that did, but that’s not the only hope for Texans looking to stop the unconstitutional federal act.

HB149 is only one piece of the puzzle to nullify the unconstitutional federal act.  The most important step is something you can doing right now – nullify locally!

Government bodies at the local level can step into the fray. Counties and cities must refuse to assist any federal attempts at indefinite detention in their jurisdictions. Starting now, work to get your county, city or town to pass a resolution then a binding ordinance in response to NDAA indefinite detention.  Covering the state with local communities saying NO to the unconstitutional federal act will not only render the law “nearly impossible to enforce” as Judge Napolitano has said, it will also provide the heavy pressure needed to ensure that the state legislature will have the courage to do the same in the future.

Here’s what you can start doing right now.

1.  Contact your local legislators – County, City, Town - and urge them to introduce model legislation in support of the Liberty Preservation Act.

local ordinance here:
http://tenthamendmentcenter.com/ndaa

2.  Become a local leader.   If you’re dedicated to stopping Continue Reading →

The heat is on! The Second Amendment Preservation Act in Kansas is under fire from Mainstream Media outlets all over the nation. The federal supremacists don’t want to lose power that was never theirs to begin with, and they have unleashed campaigns against the new law through the establishment media.

But even with mounting pressure, grassroots organizations across Kansas can take action and nullify  that message.

The power to determine the extent of federal authority in the last resort resides in the people of the states, not a select few in DC. Under the newly passed Firearms freedom act, and now,  any federal action, law, regulation, or order infringing on the right to bear arms in Kansas is unenforceable.

The new law states, “Any act, law, treaty, order, rule or regulation of the government of the United States which violates the second amendment to the constitution of the United States is null, void and unenforceable in the state of Kansas.”

The law goes on to specify the operative interpretation of the Second Amendment.

“The second amendment to the constitution of the United States reserves to the people, individually, the right to keep and bear arms as that right was understood at the time that Kansas was admitted to statehood in 1861, and the guaranty of that right is a matter of contract between the state and people of Kansas and the United States as of the time that the compact with the United States was agreed upon and adopted by Kansas in 1859 and the United States in 1861.”

Based off this text, the state of Kansas is not allowed to participate in any federal gun control measures that restrict the individual right to keep and bear arms as understood in 1861.  Continue Reading →

SPRINGFIELD, Ill - Illinois Governor Pat Quinn will be deciding if his state will become the 20th to defy and nullify the unconstitutional federal ban on marijuana  after the state Senate approved legislation on Friday.

The Illinois House passed the bill legalizing marijuana for medical use by a vote of 61-57 in April, and the Senate concurred by a vote of 35-21.  on Wednesday.  Passage into law would nullify, as 18 states are already doing, unconstitutional federal bans on the plant.

Congress and the president claim the constitutional authority to ban marijuana. The Supreme Court concurs. But sharing an opinion on something doesn’t necessarily make it a fact. You can claim you are a unicorn, but you’re not. Clearly, the Constitution delegates no power of marijuana regulation to the feds. And the so-called war on drugs rests on the same legal authority as all of the other modern-day undeclared wars.

None.

So, more and more states continue to do exactly what they should do when the federal government tries exercise power it does not legitimately possess.

Ignore it.

Nineteen states have done just that, legalizing marijuana for either limited medical purposes – or as done by the People of Washington State and Colorado last fall, legalize the plant for the general public. The wave continues to build, with even more state legislatures considering medicinal marijuana legislation in the current session, and more likely to follow suit this year and next.

The message?  When enough people say NO to unconstitutional federal “laws” – and enough states back them up, there’s not much the feds can do about it. Continue Reading →