SRC-AMY H.C.R. 204 78(R)   BILL ANALYSIS


Senate Research Center   H.C.R. 204
78R12057 CLE-DBy: Chavez (Lucio)
International Relations and Trade
5/19/2003
Committee Report (Unamended)


DIGEST

The United States and Mexico created the North American Development Bank
(NADB) to provide financing for environmental infrastructure projects,
particularly those related to water supply, wastewater treatment, and
solid waste management along their common border. Since its inception in
1995, NADB has financed 57 environmental infrastructure projects
representing $1.4 billion in border region improvements, a substantial
return on the bank's $494 million investment.  NADB established the Border
Environment Infrastructure Fund (BEIF) in 1997 to receive and administer
grants from other institutions, such as the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA), that can be combined with loans and guaranties to facilitate
project financing.  To date, BEIF has received $336 million from EPA's
Border Fund, which is vital to making water and wastewater projects
affordable, especially for the smallest and poorest communities. Congress
increased the Border Fund to $75 million in fiscal year 2000, and this
level of funding was again recommended for fiscal year 2003; however, the
Border Fund received a congressional appropriation of only $50 million.
Reductions in the Border Fund and subsequent revenue losses to BEIF
seriously undercut NADB's ability to finance water and wastewater
infrastructure projects that are essential to environmental quality and
the well-being of residents on both sides of the border. 

PURPOSE

H.C.R. 204 submits the following resolutions:

That the 78th Legislature of the State of Texas hereby respectfully urge
the Congress of the United States to reinstate funding for the EPA Border
Fund to $75 million for fiscal year 2004 and to appropriate sufficient
funds in subsequent years to address environmental infrastructure needs in
the border region.  That the Texas secretary of state forward official
copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to the
speaker of the house of representatives and the president of the senate of
the United States Congress, and to all the members of the Texas delegation
to the congress with the request that this resolution be officially
entered in the Congressional Record as a memorial to the Congress of the
United States of America.