By Chavez H.C.R. No. 137 75R5349 RVH-D HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 1-1 WHEREAS, With the advent of the North American Free Trade 1-2 Agreement (NAFTA), Texas roadways have borne the brunt of the 5,000 1-3 to 7,000 trucks that cross between Mexico and Texas daily, carrying 1-4 80 percent of all U.S. trade with Mexico; and 1-5 WHEREAS, With the total number of border crossings estimated 1-6 at 1.8 million for Texas in 1994 alone, and expectations of an 1-7 increase to eight million crossings by the year 2000, this 1-8 ever-increasing free trade is imposing an unfair burden not only on 1-9 Texas taxpayers, but on those in the border states of New Mexico, 1-10 Arizona, and California; and 1-11 WHEREAS, Overland trade traffic has not been effectively 1-12 limited to designated NAFTA corridors, and the illegal use of 1-13 county, farm-to-market, and other peripheral roads by overweight 1-14 trade vehicles has caused untold damage to roadways and created 1-15 financial hardships for county and local governments; and 1-16 WHEREAS, The Texas Department of Transportation (TXDoT) 1-17 estimates that damage to the Texas highway system from overweight 1-18 trucks costs $450 million annually and a 1994 study by the Texas 1-19 Transportation Institute found that a truck that weighs 4,000 1-20 pounds over the 80,000 pound limit could effectively shorten the 1-21 40-year lifespan of a highway to eight years; and 1-22 WHEREAS, Of the 4,800 Texas bridges on the NAFTA trade route, 1-23 28 percent currently fail to meet structural standards and if 1-24 Canadian and Mexican weight limits are imposed on the United 2-1 States, the percentage of structurally deficient bridges jumps to 2-2 64 percent; and 2-3 WHEREAS, A recent report by Shiner, Mosely, and Associates on 2-4 infrastructure requirements in the Texas border region estimated 2-5 the cost for all transportation infrastructure needed over the next 2-6 decade to be approximately $3.25 billion; and 2-7 WHEREAS, The Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act 2-8 (ISTEA), authorized by Congress in 1991, provides innovative 2-9 financing options for the construction and improvement of highways, 2-10 but the funds allocated to Texas since the Act's inception have 2-11 only met 40 percent of the state's highway needs; now, therefore, 2-12 be it 2-13 RESOLVED, That the 75th Legislature of the State of Texas 2-14 hereby urge the United States Congress to create a NAFTA Trade 2-15 Impact Fund under the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency 2-16 Act to provide border states and communities with funding for 2-17 transportation infrastructure for the facilitation of free trade 2-18 and NAFTA-generated passenger and commercial traffic; and, be it 2-19 further 2-20 RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official 2-21 copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to 2-22 the speaker of the house of representatives and the president of 2-23 the senate of the United States Congress, and to all members of the 2-24 Texas delegation to the congress with the request that this 2-25 resolution be officially entered in the Congressional Record as a 2-26 memorial to the Congress of the United States of America. 2-27 COMMITTEE AMENDMENT NO. 1 3-1 Amend House Concurrent Resolution No. 137, on page 2, line 3-2 11, by striking "40" and substituting "33". 3-3 Pitts