By Shapleigh S.C.R. No. 9
77R1996 RVH-D
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
1-1 WHEREAS, The daily flow of international trade through Texas
1-2 via the 26 international bridges and border crossings along the Rio
1-3 Grande under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)
1-4 involves a complex mix of interests and interactions among various
1-5 government agencies, private-sector businesses, and taxpaying
1-6 citizens on both sides of the Texas-Mexico border; and
1-7 WHEREAS, Each entity participating in or affected by this
1-8 burgeoning commercial traffic has its own set of short- and
1-9 long-term goals, however similar or disparate, either in common or
1-10 in conflict with others, making it unnecessarily difficult to
1-11 coordinate these interests into a comprehensive plan that addresses
1-12 current and future needs for improvements of the infrastructure
1-13 along this 1,200 mile border; and
1-14 WHEREAS, The creation of regional authorities to identify and
1-15 administer those projects that will enhance trade activities at the
1-16 border is thus warranted; local governments should be given the
1-17 option to create border port authorities; and
1-18 WHEREAS, The Senate Interim Committee on the North American
1-19 Free Trade Agreement recommended to the 76th Texas Legislature that
1-20 it consider authorizing the creation of port authorities by 19
1-21 border area counties to identify and meet the critical
1-22 transportation infrastructure needs of the border region; and
1-23 WHEREAS, A border port authority would be empowered to build
1-24 and maintain transportation-related facilities and industrial
2-1 projects, such as warehouses, inspection stations, parking
2-2 facilities, service stations, bridges, toll roads, and toll
2-3 bridges; and
2-4 WHEREAS, A border port authority would be authorized to pay
2-5 for such projects by issuing bonds or borrowing money in addition
2-6 to collecting certain user fees; the revenue-raising powers of the
2-7 authority would be required because highway and other revenues
2-8 currently available from all levels of government are simply not
2-9 enough to expand and upgrade the border's infrastructure; and
2-10 WHEREAS, Most importantly, a border port authority with
2-11 revenue-raising powers would be able to accelerate the completion
2-12 of projects that remedy critical shortcomings of the current
2-13 infrastructure so that it can begin to support, and perhaps keep
2-14 pace with, the demands that NAFTA has placed on it and ease the
2-15 impact of NAFTA traffic on Texans living in border communities; and
2-16 WHEREAS, The border region, as it has been throughout its
2-17 history, continues to be underfunded by all levels of government in
2-18 all program areas, including education, health services, the
2-19 environment, and transportation; and
2-20 WHEREAS, Preparations for the onslaught of NAFTA have been
2-21 ill-considered since its inception in 1994; border communities have
2-22 been forced to contend with the daily fallout of free-trade
2-23 commerce and the vehicular congestion and air and noise pollution
2-24 that accompany it; the time is right to redress the negative impact
2-25 that NAFTA has had on the quality of life along the border; now,
2-26 therefore, be it
2-27 RESOLVED, That the 77th Legislature of the State of Texas
3-1 hereby respectfully urge the Congress of the United States to take
3-2 the appropriate steps to further the creation of port authorities
3-3 along the Texas-Mexico border; and, be it further
3-4 RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official
3-5 copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to
3-6 the speaker of the house of representatives and the president of
3-7 the senate of the United States Congress, and to all the members of
3-8 the Texas delegation to the congress with the request that this
3-9 resolution be officially entered in the Congressional Record as a
3-10 memorial to the Congress of the United States of America.