Section 4-53-101 - Constitutional authorityThe general assembly declares that the authority for this chapter is the following:
(1) The tenth amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees to the states and their people all powers not granted to the federal government elsewhere in the constitution and reserves to the state and people of this state certain powers as they were understood at the time that this state was admitted to statehood. The guarantee of those powers is a matter of contract between the state and people of this state and the United States as of the time that the compact with the United States was agreed upon and adopted by this state and the United States;(2) The ninth amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees to the people rights not granted in the constitution and reserves to the people of this state certain rights as they were understood at the time that this state was admitted to statehood. The guarantee of those rights is a matter of contract between the state and people of this state and the United States as of the time that the compact with the United States was agreed upon and adopted by this state and the United States;(3) Congressional authority to regulate commerce is derived from Article I, § 8, of the United States Constitution, which refers only to the regulation of commerce among the states, not within individual states. The United States supreme court has recognized that the power of congress to regulate commerce is therefore limited to the regulation of the channels of interstate commerce, the instrumentalities of interstate commerce, and activities that substantially affect interstate commerce;(4) The United States Constitution does not vest congress with the power to regulate commercial activities that occur wholly within a state and which have no effect among multiple states;(5) The authority to regulate intrastate commerce is vested in the states themselves under the ninth and tenth amendments to the United States Constitution, and such authority remains with the states unless and until expressly preempted by a federal law that is enacted pursuant to the proper constitutional authority of congress; and(6) Therefore, commercial activity that is conducted wholly within this state and which has no substantial effect on commerce activity among multiple states is not subject to federal regulation under the commerce power as it was granted to congress in the United States Constitution.Added by 2024 Tenn. Acts, ch. 1040,s 1, eff. 5/28/2024.