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79R10405 CCK-D
By: Martinez, Chavez H.C.R. No. 137
HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, Since adoption of the North American Free Trade
Agreement (NAFTA), the U.S. trade surplus in agricultural products
has declined, and deficits in the fruit and vegetable portion of
that trade have worsened significantly as this nation has
experienced a flood of NAFTA imports; and
WHEREAS, The South Texas produce industry--including growers
of commodities such as melons, onions, cabbage, carrots, green
peppers, and cucumbers--has steadily lost market share due to
Mexican competition, with sometimes devastating consequences, and
the Lower Rio Grande Valley has seen a number of its produce growers
and vegetable houses go out of business; and
WHEREAS, The ability of the South Texas produce industry to
engage in international competition has not been helped by a Rio
Grande treaty debt that has left South Texas irrigators devastated
and short of water supplies even while irrigation has expanded in
acreage and intensity in nearby areas of northern Mexico; and
WHEREAS, For U.S. producers, regulatory and farming
practices are in place that, while expensive, help to ensure the
safety of consumers, but put them at an additional competitive
disadvantage against growers in Mexico, where farming practices and
enforcement of regulatory standards are less rigorous; and
WHEREAS, The consequences of these competitive disadvantages
are particularly devastating in the South Texas region, where
Mexican produce can be dumped at particularly low prices because
transportation costs are minimal; and
WHEREAS, NAFTA was intended to raise economic prosperity
generally, not selectively, and to promote the interests of both
consumers and sellers; its failure to accomplish these goals with
respect to fruit and vegetable marketing warrants changes in
related treaty provisions; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the 79th Legislature of the State of Texas
hereby respectfully urge the Congress of the United States, and the
Texas delegation to that congress, to press executive branch and
binational trade officials for NAFTA reforms that would establish
protections for produce grown in the South Texas region, defined to
include San Antonio and areas of the state located to the south of
that city, and marketed within that same local region; and, be it
further
RESOLVED, 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.