Texas 2013 - 83rd Regular

Texas House Bill HCR106 Compare Versions

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1	1	83R19794 BPG-D
2	2	By: Nevarez H.C.R. No. 106
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4	4
5	5	CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
6	6	WHEREAS, Inadequate staffing and outdated infrastructure and
7	7	technology at land ports of entry on the southwestern border harm
8	8	the nation's economy and undermine the ability of United States
9	9	Customs and Border Protection to fulfill its mission; and
10	10	WHEREAS, For the past two decades, the federal government has
11	11	concentrated funding for the security of the United States-Mexico
12	12	border on deterrence in the regions between land ports, at the
13	13	expense of land ports of entry; as a result, the average land port
14	14	of entry is now more than 40 years old and in dire need of
15	15	modernization, as reported at the December 2008 U.S.-Mexico Joint
16	16	Working Committee by the head of the Customs and Border Protection
17	17	Land Ports of Entry Modernization Program, who estimated capital
18	18	costs for necessary upgrades at $6 billion; and
19	19	WHEREAS, Since 1993, the number of border patrol agents
20	20	stationed between land ports of entry has more than quintupled, and
21	21	the budget has increased ninefold, from $400 million to $3.5
22	22	billion; in the same time period, funding for enforcement at land
23	23	ports of entry increased only 68 percent, from $1.6 billion to $2.7
24	24	billion; and
25	25	WHEREAS, While funding for land ports of entry has lagged,
26	26	traffic passing through them has increased dramatically, as has the
27	27	value of goods traded; the value of imports carried by truck was
28	28	26.5 percent higher in 2010 than in 2009, and the value of exports
29	29	carried by truck was 24.3 percent higher, according to the U.S.
30	30	Department of Transportation Bureau of Transportation Statistics;
31	31	according to the Mexican Secretaria de Economia, in 2011, more than
32	32	$250 billion worth of goods were traded between Mexico and the four
33	33	southern border states of California, Arizona, New Mexico, and
34	34	Texas; and
35	35	WHEREAS, This increased traffic places a great strain on
36	36	aging infrastructure and technology and requires massive amounts of
37	37	overtime for inspectors charged with screening cars and trucks;
38	38	these pressures cause serious and costly slowdowns; according to a
39	39	March 2008 draft report for the U.S. Department of Commerce
40	40	entitled "Improving Economic Outcomes by Reducing Border Delays,"
41	41	wait times averaging one hour at the five busiest land ports of
42	42	entry on the southern border resulted in an average economic output
43	43	loss of $116 million per minute of delay; in 2008, these delays cost
44	44	the U.S. economy nearly 26,000 jobs and $6 billion in output, $1.4
45	45	billion in wages, and $600 million in tax revenues annually; by
46	46	2017, average wait times could increase to nearly 100 minutes,
47	47	costing more than 54,000 jobs and $12 billion in output, $3 billion
48	48	in wages, and $1.2 billion in tax revenues each year; the cumulative
49	49	loss in output due to border delays over the next 10 years is
50	50	estimated to be $86 billion; and
51	51	WHEREAS, The federal government provided $720 million for
52	52	land ports in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009,
53	53	but most of those funds were allocated to the small, low-traffic
54	54	crossings on the Canadian border; although smaller Texas ports at
55	55	Los Ebanos, Falcon Dam, and Amistad Dam received some stimulus
56	56	funding, none of the larger Texas ports of entry received funds for
57	57	urgently needed improvements; and
58	58	WHEREAS, Reports by the U.S. Government Accountability
59	59	Office have found that infrastructure and technology at land ports
60	60	of entry are inadequate; in order to maintain national security
61	61	while expediting the flow of trade, it is imperative that our nation
62	62	modernize its land ports of entry and ensure that staffing levels
63	63	are adequate to manage an increasingly high volume of international
64	64	traffic; now, therefore, be it
65	65	RESOLVED, That the 83rd Legislature of the State of Texas
66	66	hereby respectfully urge the Congress of the United States to enact
67	67	legislation to provide sufficient manpower, infrastructure, and
68	68	technology to ensure the security and efficiency of land ports of
69	69	entry on the southwestern border; and, be it further
70	70	RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official
71	71	copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to
72	72	the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of
73	73	Representatives of the United States Congress, and to all the
74	74	members of the Texas delegation to Congress with the request that
75	75	this resolution be entered in the Congressional Record as a
76	76	memorial to the Congress of the United States of America.