I am feeling this way a lot lately. There is a bill to mandate a minimum wage specifically for school teachers at the federal level. Teachers need higher pay, but a federal mandate isn't the solution.
That said, this zoning bill seems constitutional, per https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35875405
Explain this. Feds aren't taking money from states, the federal income tax for example is in addition to state tax (if any). There is no federal sales tax.
Any serious consideration of the sovereign state died in the civil war (Texas constiution included).
So? That support is guaranteed to them by the constitution, and is the justification for federal taxes. Still taking the taxes, but discriminating how they distribute them based on constitutionally-protected state activity, is illegitimate and counter to the spirit (and I believe letter) of the constitution.
It's like an employer withholding part of your wage because he doesn't like your conduct outside of work, despite your contract not placing any limits on that behavior. And when you complain, he replies with "well you couldn't earn this much money on your own".
Or perhaps a better example is being denied Medicaid or police protection, because of some otherwise legal conduct.
When the federal government gets two-thirds of all tax revenue and use it as a cudgel to circumvent its prescribed limits, it's a mandate. "States can refuse the mandate and the money" is possible only when state and federal tax receipts are at similar levels.