79R10405 CCK-D

By:  Martinez                                                   H.C.R. No. 137


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.