By:  Carona                                           S.R. No. 1106
                                  SENATE RESOLUTION
 1-1           WHEREAS, The United States Congress has established the State
 1-2     Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP) to provide federal
 1-3     assistance to states and localities for costs incurred for the
 1-4     imprisonment of undocumented aliens who commit criminal offenses;
 1-5     and
 1-6           WHEREAS, The SCAAP program, which is administered by the
 1-7     United States Department of Justice, has a funding level authorized
 1-8     by statute of $650 million per year; actual SCAAP funding for the
 1-9     1999 fiscal year, however, is only $585 million, an amount that
1-10     provides state and local governments a mere 30 percent of their
1-11     total reimbursable costs; and
1-12           WHEREAS, The amount of money spent in Texas by local and
1-13     state governmental agencies related to incarceration of
1-14     undocumented aliens charged or convicted with criminal offenses
1-15     ranks as the third highest in the nation; and
1-16           WHEREAS, Although full funding of the SCAAP program to the
1-17     $650 million level will not decrease the total number of
1-18     undocumented aliens held in state or county facilities, increased
1-19     funding will raise the level of costs reimbursed by the federal
1-20     government to approximately 40 percent of the costs for
1-21     incarceration of these prisoners; now, therefore, be it
1-22           RESOLVED, That the Senate of the State of Texas, 76th
1-23     Legislature, hereby respectfully request the Congress of the United
1-24     States to fully fund the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program at
 2-1     the authorized level of $650 million; and, be it further
 2-2           RESOLVED, That the Secretary of the Senate forward official
 2-3     copies of this Resolution to the President of the United States, to
 2-4     the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of
 2-5     Representatives of the United States Congress, and to all the
 2-6     members of the Texas delegation to the Congress with the request
 2-7     that this Resolution be officially entered in the Congressional
 2-8     Record as a memorial to the Congress of the United States of
 2-9     America.
2-10                                  ______________________________________
2-11                                          President of the Senate
2-12                                       I hereby certify that the above
2-13                                  Resolution was adopted by the Senate
2-14                                  on May 26, 1999.
2-15                                  ______________________________________
2-16                                          Secretary of the Senate