Rep. Barry Moore, R-Enterprise, has introduced a bill that would render null and void certain provisions of ObamaCare and prevent Alabama state employees and agencies from implementing portions of the law that exceed the powers granted to the federal government in the U.S. Constitution.
“I refuse to sit idly by and watch Obamacare destroy our healthcare system and hurt working families all over this state,” Rep. Moore said. “I want Alabama to have the strongest possible protections against this destructive law. The states have an obligation to check the federal government when it exceeds the boundaries set forth in the Constitution. That’s exactly what this bill does. People throughout my district have expressed to me the harmful effects of Obamacare on their families and small businesses. We’re not going to have state employees doing the dirty work of the federal government when it comes to infringing on our liberties.”
The Alabama Freedom of Health Care Act cites the Tenth Amendment to the Constitutes, which provides that the federal government is authorized to exercise only those powers delegated to it in the Constitution.
The bill states that ObamaCare “grossly exceeds” those powers and therefore cannot and should not be considered the supreme law of the land.
The bill goes on to state that “no agency, officer, or employee of the state, or any political subdivision thereof, may engage in an activity that aids any agency in the enforcement of those provisions of (ObamaCare)… that exceed the authority of the United States Constitution.”
The bill empowers the Alabama state legislature to take “all necessary actions to ensure that all agencies, departments and political subdivisions of the state” do not aid in the law’s implementation in the state.
The Alabama Attorney General is also empowered to bring court action in the name of the state if he has “reasonable cause to believe that a person or business is being harmed by the implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010.”
Such action could be taken against “the person or entity causing the harm to restrain by temporary restraining order, temporary injunction, or permanent injunction the use of such method, act, or practice.”
Moore said that constituents in his wiregrass-area district have grown frustrated with the rising costs of health insurance brought on by ObamaCare and have expressed their desire for him to act.
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