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CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
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WHEREAS, Climate change is a complex issue with important |
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implications for economic stability, national security, and public |
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health for future generations of Texans; and |
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WHEREAS, In February 2017, the Climate Leadership Council |
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released a compelling report outlining the conservative case for |
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addressing climate change; the international research and advocacy |
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group's members include one of the Lone Star State's most respected |
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native sons, former U.S. secretary of state James Baker, as well as |
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members of the Ronald Reagan administration and both Bush |
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administrations, namely Martin Feldstein and N. Gregory Mankiw, |
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former chairs of the President's Council of Economic Advisers, |
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Henry M. Paulson Jr., former secretary of the treasury, George |
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P. Shultz, former secretary of state, and Thomas Stephenson, former |
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ambassador to Portugal and now a partner at Sequoia Capital; the |
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organization's other members are Rob Walton, longtime chair of |
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Walmart, and Ted Halstead, founder, president, and CEO of the |
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Climate Leadership Council and founder of the New America think |
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tank; and |
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WHEREAS, The council's report states that evidence of climate |
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change is too powerful to ignore; although the extent of human |
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influence on climate is debated, the risks posed are such that the |
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world needs a kind of "insurance policy," the authors warn; climate |
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solutions based on sound economic analysis would build prosperity, |
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benefit working Americans, reduce regulations, and protect our |
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natural heritage; and |
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WHEREAS, In the Reagan era, economists conducted a |
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cost-benefit analysis to assess the risks of the growing hole in the |
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ozone layer, and the president then threw his weight behind a |
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landmark treaty, the Montreal Protocol, which implemented a |
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pragmatic, market-based solution to the environmental problem; |
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Mr. Baker, Mr. Shultz, and the other members of the Climate |
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Leadership Council support a similar conservative, |
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limited-government approach to climate change, and economists of |
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diverse viewpoints today concur that the economic benefits of |
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grappling with climate change greatly outweigh the costs; for |
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instance, while no single natural disaster can be attributed to |
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climate change, it has increased the risk of catastrophic events |
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such as Superstorm Sandy and Hurricanes Ike, Rita, Katrina, and |
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Harvey; in 2017, the National Centers for Environmental Information |
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recorded 16 weather and climate disaster events that each exceeded |
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$1 billion in costs, with a cumulative cost of more than $300 |
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billion; and |
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WHEREAS, Many of the nation's leaders have spoken out about |
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the need to address climate change, including former vice president |
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Al Gore, who said, "Solutions to the climate crisis are within |
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reach, but in order to capture them we must take urgent action today |
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across every level of society"; former president Barack Obama |
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stated that "the shift to a cleaner energy economy won't happen |
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overnight, and it will require tough choices along the way. But the |
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debate is settled. Climate change is a fact. And when our children's |
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children look us in the eye and ask if we did all we could to leave |
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them a safer, more stable world, with new sources of energy, I want |
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us to be able to say yes, we did"; another former president, Bill |
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Clinton, explained that "climate change is more remote than terror |
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but a more profound threat to the future of the children and the |
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grandchildren and the great-grandchildren I hope all of you |
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have. . . . It's the only thing we face today that has the power to |
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remove the preconditions of civilized society"; and |
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WHEREAS, Climate change will negatively impact agriculture, |
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coastal cities, and political stability in already-volatile |
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regions of the world, and such developments could imperil our |
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American way of life; leaders in Washington, D.C., should |
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investigate how best to mitigate the dangers to ensure a stable, |
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prosperous future for the generations to come, for as the current |
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U.S. secretary of defense, General James Mattis, declared, |
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"Climate change is impacting stability in areas of the world where |
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our troops are operating today"; now, therefore, be it |
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RESOLVED, That the 86th Legislature of the State of Texas |
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hereby respectfully urge the United States Congress to conduct a |
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cost-benefit analysis regarding the risks of climate change and |
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appropriate measures to address those risks; and, be it further |
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RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official |
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copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to |
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the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of |
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Representatives of the United States Congress, and to all the |
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members of the Texas delegation to Congress with the request that |
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this resolution be entered in the Congressional Record as a |
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memorial to the Congress of the United States of America. |