85R10332 BPG-D
By: Raymond H.C.R. No. 88
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, Laredo has taken on ever-increasing national
security responsibilities since the advent of the North American
Free Trade Agreement in 1994, but it is ineligible for federal
Targeted Infrastructure Capability grants because such grants are
based primarily on population criteria rather than threat
assessment; and
WHEREAS, The gateway for the nation's main NAFTA corridor,
Laredo has four international bridges and carries 50 percent of all
NAFTA-related trade through Texas; as of 2015, the city ranked as
the number one inland port in the country with over $284 billion in
trade, and hazardous materials constitute almost half of the cargo
that travels through the Laredo corridor by land and rail; the city
also has more than 5,000 acres of warehouse space, at least a
quarter of which contains hazardous materials vulnerable to
terrorism; and
WHEREAS, The volume of hazardous materials transiting
through Laredo presents enormous potential for a disaster, and
first responders must be prepared for a chemical spill or hazardous
materials release; moreover, 15,000 visitors cross into the city
every day, at a time when drug-related violence on the other side of
the border is increasing; frontline emergency personnel also
respond to incidents on the Rio Grande, which is the chief source of
drinking water for many border communities, and to any bomb threats
reported on the international bridges, as well as to an ever-rising
number of other emergency calls in a growing community; and
WHEREAS, The Department of Homeland Security currently
awards its Targeted Infrastructure Capability grants largely on the
basis of metropolitan population, and with an estimated population
of about 255,000, Laredo does not meet the criteria for grants such
as the Urban Area Strategic Initiative or Port Security awards; and
WHEREAS, Laredo is smaller than other major United States
ports, and it has a much more limited budget for local agencies;
federal funds are desperately needed to ensure that emergency
responders can manage international threats to critical
infrastructure safely and efficiently; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the 85th Legislature of the State of Texas
hereby respectfully urge the United States Congress to revise
Department of Homeland Security funding formulas for Targeted
Infrastructure Capability grants to emphasize threat assessment
for strategically located border communities, rather than
population; and, be it further
RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official
copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to
the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of
Representatives of the United States Congress, to the secretary of
the Department of Homeland Security, and to all the members of the
Texas delegation to Congress with the request that this resolution
be officially entered in the Congressional Record as a memorial to
the Congress of the United States of America.