BILL NUMBER: AJR 40INTRODUCED BILL TEXT INTRODUCED BY Assembly Members Nazarian and Levine (Coauthors: Assembly Members Alejo, Atkins, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Dodd, Eggman, Cristina Garcia, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gray, Roger Hernndez, Holden, Jones-Sawyer, Lopez, Low, Medina, Mullin, Quirk, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago, Mark Stone, Ting, Weber, and Wood) (Coauthor: Senator Allen) MAY 19, 2016 Relative to the United States-Mexico border. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AJR 40, as introduced, Nazarian. United States-Mexico border. The measure would urge the Members of Congress to work to recognize Mexican American families' needs to visit family members in Mexico and increase commerce between our nations by reducing border delays through a more open border and to speak out against and to reject efforts to build a wall along the United States-Mexico border. Fiscal committee: no. WHEREAS, California and Mexico share more than 130 miles of an international border that is 1,954 miles long. The border region is home to tremendous cultural history and economic commerce between the United States and Mexico; and WHEREAS, In California, 12 million (32 percent) of the 38 million residents are of Mexican descent. California has one of the highest concentrations of Spanish speakers in the United States. In Southern California, between Los Angeles and the Mexican border, 40 percent of the population speaks Spanish. If the City of Los Angeles were in Mexico, its five million Mexican residents would make it the fourth largest city in Mexico (after Mexico City, Guadalajara, and Monterrey). Mexican Americans frequently find it challenging to travel back and forth between Mexico and California, thereby making family visits to Mexico difficult; and WHEREAS, Achievements by Latinos in America and California include contributions to all facets of our community; and WHEREAS, Latino voters continue to go to the polls in record numbers and influence the entrance of newly elected Latino public officials in both the Democratic and Republican parties and influence issues that encompass providing affordable housing, investing in our children, ensuring that higher education is affordable and accessible, creating good paying jobs for working families, and improving the overall quality of life for all Californians; and WHEREAS, California's Latinos have contributed to the state's culture and society through their many achievements in music, food, dance, poetry, literature, architecture, entertainment, sports, and a broad spectrum of artistic expression; and WHEREAS, Latinos in California have challenged the frontiers of social and economic justice, thereby improving the working conditions and lives of countless Californians; and WHEREAS, Mexico has the largest network of free trade agreements in the world, with a total of 12 free trade agreements involving 44 countries, on three different continents. United States trade with Mexico and Canada has more than tripled since 1994. United States exports to Mexico increased from $54.8 billion in 1994 to $226.2 billion in 2013. Imports from Mexico increased from $51.6 billion in 1994 to $280.5 billion in 2013. Mexico's economy has increasingly become oriented toward manufacturing. The United States has free trade agreements in force with 20 markets around the world, including Mexico. In 2014, 47 percent ($765.2 billion) of United States goods were exported to free trade agreement countries; and WHEREAS, In 2014, California exported $174.1 billion to 229 foreign economies and accounted for 10.7 percent of total United States exports. In 2015, California's largest export market was Mexico, which purchased $26.8 billion (17.4 percent) of all the states exports in 2015; and WHEREAS, Approximately 177,000 California jobs (17 percent of all export-supported jobs in California) are related to the commercial relationship with Mexico. Commerce, tourism, and foreign direct investment from Mexico support more than 200,000 jobs in California (1.5 percent of the total number of payroll jobs in California); and WHEREAS, Border crossing delays at the United States-Mexico border accounted for an estimated output loss of $3.9 billion and a 30,000 national job loss due to reduced output in 2008. In California, losses were estimated at $3.2 billion and a 25,000 job loss. Research shows that if border delays continue to grow, economic losses will continue to increase significantly by 2017 and could cost the United States economy nearly 54,000 jobs and $12 billion in output annually resulting in an estimated cumulative loss of $86 billion. California' s cumulative economic loss in output due to in-state border delays over the next 10 years is estimated to be $4.5 billion; and WHEREAS, Some American political figures have proposed or publicly supported building a wall between the United States and Mexico. Using precast cement wall panels, it is estimated that it would take four years, 339 million cubic feet of concrete and 5 billion pounds of reinforced steel to build the wall at a cost of approximately $10.6 billion; now, therefore, be it Resolved by the Assembly and the Senate of the State of California, jointly, That the Legislature respectfully requests that the Members of Congress work to recognize Mexican American families' needs to visit family members in Mexico and increase commerce between our nations by reducing border delays through a more open border and to speak out against and to reject efforts to build a wall along the United States-Mexico border; and be it further Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.