1-1     By:  Lucio, et al.                                    S.C.R. No. 21
 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed February 1, 2001; February 5, 2001,
 1-3     read first time and referred to Committee on Business and Commerce;
 1-4     March 8, 2001, reported favorably by the following vote:  Yeas 6,
 1-5     Nays 0; March 8, 2001, sent to printer.)
 1-6                        SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
 1-7           WHEREAS, Border health conditions not only pose an immediate
 1-8     risk to those who live along either side of the United
 1-9     States-Mexico border, but also are a health concern for all of the
1-10     United States, and unaddressed health concerns in this region will
1-11     only continue to worsen as the border population and its mobility
1-12     increase, thereby escalating the risks to other areas of exposure
1-13     and transmission of disease; and
1-14           WHEREAS, While the State of Texas has attempted to address
1-15     many of the health issues facing the border population in Texas,
1-16     binational cooperation at the federal level is essential to
1-17     addressing these health concerns; and
1-18           WHEREAS, In 1999, the Texas Legislature called for an
1-19     in-depth study of the public health infrastructure and barriers to
1-20     a cooperative effort between Texas and Mexico; results of the study
1-21     indicate that differences in technology and limitations on the
1-22     exchange of technology, disparities in methods of collecting data
1-23     and confidentiality provisions that restrict information sharing,
1-24     and cultural differences that affect interaction between local and
1-25     state health departments all combine to inhibit collaboration on
1-26     health issues of mutual concern; and
1-27           WHEREAS, An example of the consequences of such barriers to
1-28     cooperation occurred in 1999, when an outbreak of dengue fever in
1-29     South Texas was traced back to Mexican cities and was thought to
1-30     have been brought from Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, to Laredo, Texas; and
1-31           WHEREAS, Despite the implications for an outbreak across the
1-32     border, Mexican health officials were limited in their ability to
1-33     confirm cases of the mosquito-borne illness, and provisions in the
1-34     Mexican Constitution restricted them from sharing the results of
1-35     tests performed on Mexican citizens with Texas' health officials;
1-36     and
1-37           WHEREAS, Similar instances have occurred where incidences of
1-38     tuberculosis, salmonella, and malaria around the United States were
1-39     found to have started in the Texas-Mexico border region; and
1-40           WHEREAS, It is in the interest of the United States to
1-41     control the spread of diseases, beginning in the places where they
1-42     originate, and poverty and poor health conditions along the United
1-43     States-Mexico border region provide a large incubation ground for
1-44     diseases; however, the efforts of one state or country alone will
1-45     not address conditions that are present on both sides of the
1-46     border, or legal issues that create incompatibilities between
1-47     approaches, making a cooperative binational effort vitally
1-48     important; and
1-49           WHEREAS, The United States and Mexico have worked in concert
1-50     in forming NAFTA and related side agreements that address
1-51     environmental infrastructure issues, creating the Border
1-52     Environment Cooperation Commission and establishing the North
1-53     American Development Bank; the success of these joint ventures
1-54     suggests that forming similar international agreements to improve
1-55     the public health infrastructure and finding ways to address the
1-56     exchange of technology and information will improve the quality of
1-57     life for residents of the border region as well as reduce the
1-58     public health risks in the spread of disease; and
1-59           WHEREAS, Establishing an agreement between the United States
1-60     and Mexico will show a commitment to the issue of public health and
1-61     acknowledge that the spread of disease is an international problem
1-62     without boundaries; now, therefore, be it
1-63           RESOLVED, That the 77th Legislature of the State of Texas
1-64     hereby urge the Congress of the United States to initiate the
 2-1     development of an agreement or treaty with Mexico to address health
 2-2     issues of mutual concern; and, be it further
 2-3           RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official
 2-4     copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to
 2-5     the speaker of the house of representatives and the president of
 2-6     the senate of the United States Congress, and to all the members of
 2-7     the Texas delegation to the congress with the request that this
 2-8     resolution be officially entered in the  Congressional Record as a
 2-9     memorial to the Congress of the United States of America.
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