BILL NUMBER: SJR 36INTRODUCED BILL TEXT INTRODUCED BY Senator Cedillo (Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Tom Berryhill) (Coauthors: Senators Aanestad, Alquist, Ashburn, DeSaulnier, Ducheny, Dutton, Emmerson, Hancock, Huff, Leno, Pavley, Romero, Steinberg, and Wright) (Coauthors: Assembly Members Arambula, Evans, Saldana, and Smyth) AUGUST 9, 2010 Relative to trade and food supply with Cuba. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST SJR 36, as introduced, Cedillo. Removal of restrictions relating to agricultural sales to Cuba. This measure would urge the President and the Congress of the United States to consider the removal of commercial, economic, and financial restrictions relating to agricultural sales to Cuba. Fiscal committee: no. WHEREAS, The trade relationship between the United States and Cuba has long been marked by tension; and WHEREAS, Further heightening this conflict is the 50-year-old United States trade embargo against the island nation, which remains the most restrictive in modern history; and WHEREAS, In the last 10 years, Cuba has experienced an evolution of its foreign trade, and the most outstanding feature is the divergence between the exports of goods, whose value increased approximately two and one-half times in that period, and the imports, which more than tripled; and WHEREAS, In 2000, Congress passed the federal Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act (22 U.S.C. Sec. 7201 et seq.), which allows the Cuban government to buy United States food and agricultural products with direct cash payments; and WHEREAS, Despite the trade embargo, the United States is the fifth largest exporter to Cuba, even though businesses wishing to sell their products in Cuba have to be approved on a case-by-case basis; and WHEREAS, Cuba's reliance on United States agriculture is now in jeopardy because Cuba witnessed significant economic growth in 2003 and averaged 6.3 percent for the period 2001 to 2006, inclusive, but now Cuba is struggling economically with the Cuban government forecasting a modest 1.9 percent growth in 2010, and the value of the food imported into Cuba from the United States that totaled $712,000,000 in 2008 declined to $533,000,000 in 2009; and WHEREAS, Cuba's current economic struggles and the United States' cumbersome trade process that requires Cuba to pay cash for all imports, as credit is not allowed, before their shipments leave United States ports put American farmers at risk and discourage many companies from doing business with Cuba; and WHEREAS, California is the top agricultural producer and exporter in the nation, a position it has held for 50 years, due to its enormous variety of crops and great growing conditions; and WHEREAS, Removal of the trade and financial restrictions related to the sale of agricultural products to Cuba would increase sales and business opportunities for the California agriculture industry; and WHEREAS, California's economy is the largest of any state in the United States and is one of the 10 largest economies in the world and, as of 2008, the gross state product (GSP) in California was approximately $1.85 trillion, which was 13 percent of the United States gross domestic product (GDP); and WHEREAS, California is, therefore, ideally positioned to benefit from a modification to the financial, investment, and commercial restrictions related to agricultural sales to Cuba, which would encourage United States workers, farmers, and businesses to expand to the Cuban market and decide for themselves what level of risk they are willing to take in trading with and loaning to Cuba; and WHEREAS, Rather than limiting Cuba of access to foreign investors, the United States embargo succeeds only in driving investments and food supply to competitors in other countries that have no such restrictions; and WHEREAS, The United States' financial restrictions related to agricultural sales to Cuba threaten the United States exporters' advantage in the Cuban food market and obstruct economic growth and job creation; now, therefore, be it Resolved by the Senate and the Assembly of the State of California, jointly, That the Legislature of the State of California hereby respectfully urges the President and the Congress of the United States to consider the removal of commercial, economic, and financial restrictions relating to agricultural sales to Cuba; and be it further Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this resolution to the President and Vice President of the United States, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and to each Senator and Representative from California in the Congress of the United States.