HLS 15RS-4364 ORIGINAL
2015 Regular Session
HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOL UTION NO. 225
BY REPRESENTATIVES LEOPOLD, CONNICK, GAROFALO, GISCLAIR,
HARRISON, AND ST. GERMAIN
CONGRESS: Memorializes Congress and the Louisiana congressional delegation to work
to adopt policies that will help with the stability and the viability of the domestic
shrimp industry
1 A CONCURRENT RESOL UTION
2To memorialize the United States Congress to take such actions as are necessary to work to
3 adopt policies that will help with the stability and the viability of the domestic
4 shrimp industry, including support for the Imported Seafood Safety Standards Act.
5 WHEREAS, consumption of seafood is one of the fastest growing areas of our
6nation's food supply with shrimp being one of the most consumed seafood products in the
7United States; and
8 WHEREAS, over three-fourths of the seafood consumed in the United States is
9imported from other countries around the world with shrimp as the leading fresh or frozen
10product imported into the United States accounting for about twenty-eight percent of all
11seafood imports by weight; and
12 WHEREAS, most of the shrimp consumed in the United States is grown in
13man-made ponds along the coasts of Thailand, Vietnam, Ecuador, and other tropical
14countries rather than being harvested from the waters of the Gulf of Mexico; and
15 WHEREAS, the countries that produce most of the shrimp consumed worldwide
16support their shrimp hatcheries with large state subsidies to keep the price of their shrimp
17lower than the prices that our domestic Gulf of Mexico shrimpers need to charge in order
18to just break even; and
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HCR NO. 225
1 WHEREAS, the Tariff Act of 1930, a law originally introduced to protect farmers
2from imports, allows United States industries to “petition the government for relief from
3imports that benefit from subsidies provided through foreign government programs”; and
4 WHEREAS, the United States Department of Commerce launched an investigation
5in 2013 to determine whether there was sufficient evidence to support the claim that the
6seven largest shrimp-producing countries were subsidizing their shrimp industries, an
7investigation that will run concurrently with the International Trade Commission's (ITC)
8examination of whether the subsidies are causing significant injury to United States
9producers with both investigations needing to call for countervailing duties before any
10penalties could be applied; and
11 WHEREAS, in September 2013, the ITC voted to throw out the shrimp
12countervailing duty case based on the fact that injury to the domestic industry was not
13proven, thus removing the possibility of a countervailing duty and terminating the shrimp
14subsidy investigation against Ecuador, China, India, Malaysia, and Vietnam; and
15 WHEREAS, the ITC's decision has had a devastating impact on the domestic shrimp
16industry, including the shrimpers trawling the Gulf of Mexico and landing their shrimp at
17Louisiana docks; and
18 WHEREAS, without relief from the unfair foreign competition undercutting the
19domestic shrimp prices, the prices that shrimpers are getting at the dock have dropped over
20fifty percent from last year making it almost impossible for shrimpers to earn enough money
21to provide for their families; and
22 WHEREAS, the Imported Seafood Safety Standards Act introduced in the United
23States Senate by Louisiana Senator David Vitter is being supported by the American Shrimp
24Processors Association and it specifically targets foreign food imported into the United
25States with hopes of tightening testing standards, increasing inspection standards on foreign
26imported seafood, requiring placement of United States safety standards for foreign
27exporters, and increasing severe penalties for exporters who fail food safety inspections,
28ultimately benefitting the American shrimp industry.
29 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby
30memorialize the United States Congress to take such actions as are necessary to work to
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HCR NO. 225
1adopt policies that will help with the stability and the viability of the domestic shrimp
2industry including support for the Imported Seafood Safety Standards Act.
3 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the
4presiding officers of the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Congress of the
5United States of America and to each member of the Louisiana congressional delegation.
DIGEST
The digest printed below was prepared by House Legislative Services. It constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument. The keyword, one-liner, abstract, and digest do not constitute
part of the law or proof or indicia of legislative intent. [R.S. 1:13(B) and 24:177(E)]
HCR 225 Original 2015 Regular Session Leopold
Memorializes the U.S. Congress to take such actions as are necessary to work to adopt
policies that will help with the stability and the viability of the domestic shrimp industry
including support for the Imported Seafood Safety Standards Act.
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