1-1 By: Shapleigh S.C.R. No. 12 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 29, 2001, reported adversely, with favorable Committee 1-5 Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 7, Nays 0; March 29, 2001, 1-6 sent to printer.) 1-7 COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.C.R. No. 12 By: Shapleigh 1-8 SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 1-9 WHEREAS, The strategy of the United States Department of 1-10 Justice to reduce crime along the United States border by focusing 1-11 on illegal immigration, alien smuggling, and drug trafficking 1-12 generated an explosion in arrests by agents from the United States 1-13 Customs Service, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the 1-14 Immigration and Naturalization Service at border checkpoints; and 1-15 WHEREAS, In 1999, the five federal southwestern judicial 1-16 districts along the border, including two in Texas, received 27 1-17 percent of all criminal case filings in the United States while the 1-18 other 73 percent were spread among the country's remaining 84 1-19 federal district courts; and 1-20 WHEREAS, From 1996 to 1997, the total number of federal 1-21 criminal cases filed in the Western and Southern districts of Texas 1-22 doubled, and from 1997 to 1999, the number of drug cases filed in 1-23 the Western District of Texas increased 64 percent and 100 percent 1-24 in the Southern District of Texas; and 1-25 WHEREAS, Judicial resources in the five southwestern border 1-26 districts have increased by only four percent, and since 1990, 1-27 congress has not approved any new judges for the Western District 1-28 of Texas, which leads the nation in the filing of drug cases; and 1-29 WHEREAS, As a result of the federal courts being inundated by 1-30 this unprecedented number of new drug and illegal immigration 1-31 indictments, the federal authorities no longer prosecute offenders 1-32 caught with less than a substantial amount of contraband; these 1-33 cases are instead referred to the local district attorneys in the 1-34 border counties of Texas to prosecute; and 1-35 WHEREAS, As a result, local governments in the border 1-36 counties, who are among the poorest in the United States, are being 1-37 overwhelmed with the costs involved in prosecuting and 1-38 incarcerating federal criminals; and 1-39 WHEREAS, The annual cost to prosecute these federal criminal 1-40 cases ranges from $2.7 million to approximately $8.2 million per 1-41 district attorney jurisdiction, and it is anticipated that the 1-42 total cost will reach $25 million per year; and 1-43 WHEREAS, The federal government has infinitely more resources 1-44 than state and local governments and in turn must shoulder a larger 1-45 portion of the financial burden; now, therefore, be it 1-46 RESOLVED, That the 77th Legislature of the State of Texas 1-47 hereby respectfully urge the Congress of the United States to 1-48 authorize an additional 18 federal judges and commensurate staff to 1-49 handle the current and anticipated caseloads along the United 1-50 States-Mexico border and to fully reimburse local governments for 1-51 the costs incurred in prosecuting and incarcerating federal 1-52 defendants; and, be it further 1-53 RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official 1-54 copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to 1-55 the speaker of the house of representatives and the president of 1-56 the senate of the United States Congress, and to all the members of 1-57 the Texas delegation to the congress with the request that this 1-58 resolution be officially entered in the Congressional Record as a 1-59 memorial to the Congress of the United States of America. 1-60 * * * * *