1-1     By:  Shapleigh                                         S.C.R. No. 9
 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed January 12, 2001; January 16, 2001,
 1-3     read first time and referred to Committee on Business and Commerce;
 1-4     March 15, 2001, reported favorably by the following vote:  Yeas 7,
 1-5     Nays 0; March 15, 2001, sent to printer.)
 1-6                        SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
 1-7           WHEREAS, The daily flow of international trade through Texas
 1-8     via the 26 international bridges and border crossings along the Rio
 1-9     Grande under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)
1-10     involves a complex mix of interests and interactions among various
1-11     government agencies, private-sector businesses, and taxpaying
1-12     citizens on both sides of the Texas-Mexico border; and
1-13           WHEREAS, Each entity participating in or affected by this
1-14     burgeoning commercial traffic has its own set of short-term and
1-15     long-term goals, however similar or disparate, either in common or
1-16     in conflict with others, making it unnecessarily difficult to
1-17     coordinate these interests into a comprehensive plan that addresses
1-18     current and future needs for improvements of the infrastructure
1-19     along this 1,200 mile border; and
1-20           WHEREAS, The creation of regional authorities to identify and
1-21     administer those projects that will enhance trade activities at the
1-22     border is thus warranted; local governments should be given the
1-23     option to create border port authorities; and
1-24           WHEREAS, The Senate Interim Committee on the North American
1-25     Free Trade Agreement recommended to the 76th Texas Legislature that
1-26     it consider authorizing the creation of port authorities by 19
1-27     border area counties to identify and meet the critical
1-28     transportation infrastructure needs of the border region; and
1-29           WHEREAS, A border port authority would be empowered to build
1-30     and maintain transportation-related facilities and industrial
1-31     projects, such as warehouses, inspection stations, parking
1-32     facilities, service stations, bridges, toll roads, and toll
1-33     bridges; and
1-34           WHEREAS,  A border port authority would be authorized to pay
1-35     for such projects by issuing bonds or borrowing money in addition
1-36     to collecting certain user fees; the revenue-raising powers of the
1-37     authority would be required because highway and other revenues
1-38     currently available from all levels of government are simply not
1-39     enough to expand and upgrade the border's infrastructure; and
1-40           WHEREAS, Most importantly, a border port authority with
1-41     revenue-raising powers would be able to accelerate the completion
1-42     of projects that remedy critical shortcomings of the current
1-43     infrastructure so that it can begin to support, and perhaps keep
1-44     pace with, the demands that NAFTA has placed on it and ease the
1-45     impact of NAFTA traffic on Texans living in border communities; and
1-46           WHEREAS, The border region, as it has been throughout its
1-47     history, continues to be underfunded by all levels of government in
1-48     all program areas, including education, health services, the
1-49     environment, and transportation; and
1-50           WHEREAS, Preparations for the onslaught of NAFTA have been
1-51     ill-considered since its inception in 1994; border communities have
1-52     been forced to contend with the daily fallout of free-trade
1-53     commerce and the vehicular congestion and air and noise pollution
1-54     that accompany it; the time is right to redress the negative impact
1-55     that NAFTA has had on the quality of life along the border; now,
1-56     therefore, be it
1-57           RESOLVED, That the 77th Legislature of the State of Texas
1-58     hereby respectfully urge the Congress of the United States to take
1-59     the appropriate steps to further the creation of port authorities
1-60     along the Texas-Mexico border; and, be it further
1-61           RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official
1-62     copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to
1-63     the speaker of the house of representatives and the president of
1-64     the senate of the United States Congress, and to all the members of
 2-1     the Texas delegation to the congress with the request that this
 2-2     resolution be officially entered in the Congressional Record as a
 2-3     memorial to the Congress of the United States of America.
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