Utah Helps Save the Obamacare Lawsuit

Representative Carl Wimmer posted this on Facebook, I had to share!

"We should all be ecstatic about the news that Judge Roger Vinson is going to allow the state’s lawsuit against the national takeover of health care (Obama care) to continue (See here.)

"This was huge and is a massive blow to the federal administration who felt very confident that their motion to dismiss was going to be upheld. This is indeed the biggest victory for the 10th amendment in more than a half-century.

"There is a story behind the story that is not making headlines, but I wanted to make you aware of it. Quite frankly this story makes me proud to be from Utah, and even prouder to have played a small part in the bill which blocked Obama care in Utah. Furthermore, I am proud of every single Utahan who stood at the capitol and rallied, who sent emails and made phone calls, or who came to the committee hearings to help pass the bill that blocked Obama care (HB67-Health care amendments - C. Wimmer)

"This is the story behind the story my friends. It was told to me by our Attorney General's office.

"When considering the motion to dismiss the lawsuit brought by the twenty states, Judge Vinson needed to be convinced that the states had standing. He was looking specifically for a state, any state that had a law on the books prohibiting the implementation of the health care take over before the federal law went into place. One by one he went down the list, and one by one there was no state who had a law in place before Obama signed the health care bill into law. Here is why.

"Arizona ran the first health care freedom act. They ran it a full six-months before Utah had a chance to, because we are not in session nearly as long as they are in Arizona. They ran a constitutional amendment which among other things prohibited any government from forcing their citizens from purchasing health care insurance. Several states followed suit and began to run their own constitutional amendments.

"As I and my friends of the Patrick Henry Caucus began work on what would ultimately be HB67, as the chief sponsor I felt compelled to NOT run it as a constitutional amendment. The reason was simple, time was of the essence. We knew that at any moment the Obama administration and congress could pass the takeover. We also knew that the one major problem with constitutional amendments is that they must be ratified by the people, which will not take place until November 2nd, 2010. So we ran a bill instead. Some disagreed with this decision, citing the fact that a state constitutional amendment is viewed as stronger than a law or statute in the eyes of some courts.

"I had inserted a clause in the bill which said that if the bill passed by 2/3 in both the House and the Senate, that upon the the signature of the Governor, the bill would take immediate effect. This is important, because sometimes if a bill passes in February or March, it won’t take effect until July 1st.

"Through the combined efforts of the legislature and the activist citizens, we were successful in passing HB67 through the legislature with the required 2/3 majority.

"On Tuesday March 23rd, President Obama signed the national health care take over into law.

"In a much less ceremonious signing on MONDAY March 22nd, Governor Gary Herbert signed HB67 into law, and it took...Immediate effect.

"As Judge Vinson was eliminating state after state from the list of those who had a law in effect prior to Obama care being signed, and just as the prospects of the lawsuit being dismissed on grounds of a lack of standing, began to look like a possibility, he came to Utah. Utah had a law. It had been signed and was in affect one day before Obama signed the takeover. The law had standing. The states had standing. The lawsuit would continue. (Missouri also had standing based on their citizen passed proposition in August)

"And the Democrats had called it a "worthless message bill."

"In March, just after Obama signed the health care law, the Deseret News ran a story about the health care battle that was brewing. Quoting them:

'The Utah bill's sponsor, Rep. Carl Wimmer, R-Herriman, said Monday that he was disheartened by Congress' decision (to pass the health care bill) but proud of the Utah Legislature's move this past session to pre-empt possible federal mandates. 'I'm beyond disappointed that Congress chose to ignore the will of the citizens in passing this clearly unconstitutional bill,' Wimmer said. 'Now, I believe HB67 will turn out to be far more important than some critics, who called it a message bill, ever thought.'

More important than they ever thought."

Carl Wimmer

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Copyright 2010. All rights reserved by Candace E. Salima.