By Carona                                             S.R. No. 1106
         76R17558 EFD-D                           
                                 R E S O L U T I O N
 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 76th Texas Legislature
1-23     hereby respectfully request the Congress of the United States to
1-24     fully fund the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program at the
 2-1     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.