Hawaii-2022-HR148-Introduced

WHEREAS, Hawaii is a place of peace in the Pacific and the people of Hawaii believe in a better world for all; and

WHEREAS, Hawaii supports the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and recognizes the interconnectedness of all goals to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development; and

WHEREAS, since the height of the Cold War, the United States and Russia have dismantled more than fifty thousand nuclear warheads, but approximately fourteen thousand five hundred of these weapons still exist and pose an intolerable risk to human survival; and

WHEREAS, over ninety percent of these weapons are in the hands of the United States and Russia, and the rest are held by China, France, Israel, India, North Korea, Pakistan, and the United Kingdom; and

WHEREAS, on January 13, 2018, Hawaii witnessed the chaos and harm caused by only the threat of a missile impacting the State; and

WHEREAS, the use of even a tiny fraction of these weapons could cause worldwide climate disruption and famine; for example, as few as one hundred Hiroshima-sized bombs, small by modern standards, would put at least five million tons of soot into the upper atmosphere and cause climate disruption across the planet, reducing food production and putting two billion people at risk of starvation; and

WHEREAS, a large-scale nuclear war would kill hundreds of millions of people directly and cause unimaginable environmental damage and catastrophic climate disruption by lowering temperatures across the planet to levels not seen since the last ice age; under these conditions the vast majority of the human race would starve and it is possible humans would go extinct; and

WHEREAS, despite assurances that these arsenals exist solely to guarantee that they are never used, there have been many occasions when nuclear armed states have prepared to use these weapons, and war has been averted only at the last minute; and

WHEREAS, former United States Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara said, speaking about the Cuban missile crisis, "it was luck that prevented nuclear war", yet nuclear policy cannot be the hope that luck will continue; and

WHEREAS, as the effects of climate change place increased stress on communities around the world and intensify the likelihood of conflict, the danger of nuclear war will grow; and

WHEREAS, Hawaii is home to a significant population of Marshall Islanders, whose homeland was the site of sixty-seven atmospheric nuclear weapons tests during the Cold War, and who have not been adequately compensated for the catastrophic environmental and health consequences of such horrific testing; and

WHEREAS, the planned expenditure of more than $1,000,000,000,000 to enhance the United States' nuclear arsenal will not only increase the risk of nuclear disaster but also fuel a global arms race and divert crucial resources needed to assure the well-being of the American people and people all over the world; and

WHEREAS, there is an alternative to the march toward nuclear war: in July 2017, one hundred twenty-two nations called for the elimination of all nuclear weapons by adopting the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Thirty-first Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2022, that this body engages, endorses, accepts, and adopts the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this body urges federal leaders and the nation to embrace the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and make nuclear disarmament the centerpiece of the United States' national security policy; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this body calls upon federal leaders and the nation to spearhead a global effort to prevent nuclear war by renouncing the option of using nuclear weapons first; ending the President's sole, unchecked authority to launch a nuclear attack; taking United States nuclear weapons off hair-trigger alert; cancelling the plan to replace its entire arsenal with enhanced weapons; and actively pursuing a verifiable agreement among nuclear-armed states to eliminate their nuclear arsenals; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, High Commissioner for Human Rights of the United Nations, President of the United States, President Pro Tempore of the United States Senate, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Minority Leader of the United States Senate, all members of the Hawaii congressional delegation, Governor, and Mayors of each county.

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title:

Nuclear Weapons; Nuclear War; Treaty; Prohibition

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.R. NO.	148
THIRTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2022
STATE OF HAWAII