Bill Text: HI SCR111 | 2020 | Regular Session | Introduced

Hawaii Senate Concurrent Resolution 111 (Prior Session Legislation)

Introduced

Bill Title: Urging The United States To Endorse The Treaty On The Prohibition Of Nuclear Weapons To Support United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal 16 Calling For Peace, Justice, And Strong Institutions.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 11-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-03-16 - The hearing on this measure has been cancelled until further notice. [SCR111 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2020-SCR111-Introduced.html

THE SENATE	S.C.R. NO.	111
THIRTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2020
STATE OF HAWAII

SENATE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

URGING THE UNITED STATES TO ENDORSE THE TREATY ON THE PROHIBITION OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS TO SUPPORT UNITED NATIONS' SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOAL 16 CALLING FOR PEACE, JUSTICE, AND STRONG INSTITUTIONS.

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

WHEREAS, Goal 16 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is to promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels; and

WHEREAS, one of the targets of Goal 16 is to significantly reduce illicit financial and arms flows, strengthen the recovery and return of stolen assets and combat all forms of organized crime; and

WHEREAS, in July 2017, one hundred twenty-two nations moved to reach this target through practical disarmament measures, specifically adopting the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which calls for the elimination of all nuclear weapons; and

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

WHEREAS, over ninety percent of the remaining nuclear weapons are in the possession of the United States and Russia and the rest are held by seven other countries: France, China, the United Kingdom, Pakistan, India, Israel, and North Korea; and

WHEREAS, in 2018, Hawaii witnessed how the chaos and harm of even a missile threat lasting for only thirty minutes can impact the islands; and

WHEREAS, the use of even a tiny fraction of these weapons could cause worldwide climate disruption and global 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, cutting 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 dropping temperatures across the planet to levels not seen since the last ice age; these conditions could lead to human extinction; and

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

WHEREAS, former Defense Secretary Robert McNamara said, "[i]t was luck that prevented nuclear war [during the Cuban Missile Crisis]"; and

WHEREAS, the effect of climate change, coupled with the United States' nuclear weapons policy, places increased stress on communities worldwide and intensifies the likelihood of conflict, which leads to the reasonable conclusion that this luck will not continue; and

WHEREAS, the planned expenditure of over one trillion 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 worldwide; 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 whom have yet to be adequately compensated for the catastrophic environmental and health consequences of such horrific testing; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Thirtieth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2020, the House of Representatives concurring, that this body endorses and adopts the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons to support United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal 16 for peace, justice, and strong institutions; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the United States is urged to endorse 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; canceling 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 Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the President of the United States, President Pro Tempore of the United States Senate, Majority Leader of the United States Senate, Minority Leader of the United States Senate, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Minority Leader of the United States House of Representatives, Secretary-General of the United

Nations, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, members of Hawaii's congressional delegation, Governor of the State of Hawaii, and each mayor of our State's counties.