Bill Text: TX HCR127 | 2017-2018 | 85th Legislature | Introduced

Texas House Concurrent Resolution 127 (Prior Session Legislation)

Introduced

Bill Title: Urging the United States Congress to conduct a cost-benefit analysis regarding the risks of climate change and appropriate measures to address them.

Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2017-04-19 - Referred to State & Federal Power & Responsibility, Select [HCR127 Detail]

Download: Texas-2017-HCR127-Introduced.html

	85R20032 BPG-D

	By: Raymond	H.C.R. No. 127



	CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
	WHEREAS, Climate change is a complex issue with important
	implications for economic stability, national security, and public
	health for future generations of Texans; and
	WHEREAS, United States Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, in
	his confirmation hearing, acknowledged the "complex issue" of
	climate change; he stated: "I came to my personal position over
	about 20 years as an engineer and a scientist, [and] understanding
	the evolution of the science, came to the conclusion a few years ago
	the risk of climate change does exist, and that the consequences
	could be serious enough that action should be taken"; and
	WHEREAS, In February 2017, the Climate Leadership Council
	released a compelling report outlining the conservative case for
	addressing climate change; the international research and advocacy
	group's members include one of the Lone Star State's most respected
	native sons, former U.S. secretary of state James Baker, as well as
	members of the Ronald Reagan administration and both Bush
	administrations, namely Martin Feldstein and N. Gregory Mankiw,
	former chairs of the President's Council of Economic Advisers,
	Henry M. Paulson Jr., former secretary of the treasury, George P.
	Shultz, former secretary of state, and Thomas Stephenson, former
	ambassador to Portugal and now a partner at Sequoia Capital; the
	organization's other members are Rob Walton, longtime chair of
	Walmart, and Ted Halstead, founder, president, and CEO of the
	Climate Leadership Council and founder of the New America think
	tank; and
	WHEREAS, The council's report states that evidence of climate
	change is too powerful to ignore; although the extent of human
	influence on climate is debated, the risks posed are such that the
	world needs a kind of "insurance policy," the authors warn; climate
	solutions based on sound economic analysis would build prosperity,
	benefit working Americans, reduce regulations, and protect our
	natural heritage; and
	WHEREAS, In the Reagan era, economists conducted a
	cost-benefit analysis to assess the risks of the growing hole in the
	ozone layer, and the president then threw his weight behind a
	landmark treaty, the Montreal Protocol, which implemented a
	pragmatic, market-based solution to the environmental problem;
	Mr. Baker, Mr. Shultz, and the other members of the Climate
	Leadership Council support a similar conservative,
	limited-government approach to climate change, and economists of
	diverse viewpoints today concur that the economic benefits of
	grappling with climate change greatly outweigh the costs; for
	instance, while no single natural disaster can be attributed to
	climate change, it has increased the risk of catastrophic events
	such as Superstorm Sandy, Hurricane Ike, Hurricane Rita, and
	Hurricane Katrina, which affected the entire Gulf Coast region; in
	2016, the National Centers for Environmental Information recorded
	15 weather and climate disaster events that each exceeded $1
	billion in costs, the largest being the Louisiana flooding and
	Hurricane Matthew, which both inflicted an estimated $10 billion in
	damage; and
	WHEREAS, Many of the nation's leaders have spoken out about
	the need to address climate change, including former vice president
	Al Gore, who said, "Solutions to the climate crisis are within
	reach, but in order to capture them we must take urgent action today
	across every level of society"; former president Barack Obama
	stated that "the shift to a cleaner energy economy won't happen
	overnight, and it will require tough choices along the way. But the
	debate is settled. Climate change is a fact. And when our
	children's children look us in the eye and ask if we did all we could
	to leave them a safer, more stable world, with new sources of
	energy, I want us to be able to say yes, we did"; another former
	president, Bill Clinton, explained that "climate change is more
	remote than terror but a more profound threat to the future of the
	children and the grandchildren and the great-grandchildren I hope
	all of you have. . . . It's the only thing we face today that has
	the power to remove the preconditions of civilized society"; and
	WHEREAS, Climate change will negatively impact agriculture,
	coastal cities, and political stability in already-volatile
	regions of the world, and such developments could imperil our
	American way of life; leaders in Washington, D.C., should
	investigate how best to mitigate the dangers to ensure a stable,
	prosperous future for the generations to come, for as the current
	U.S. secretary of defense, General James Mattis, declared, "Climate
	change is impacting stability in areas of the world where our troops
	are operating today"; now, therefore, be it
	RESOLVED, That the 85th Legislature of the State of Texas
	hereby respectfully urge the United States Congress to conduct a
	cost-benefit analysis regarding the risks of climate change and
	appropriate measures to address those risks; 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, and to all the
	members of the Texas delegation to Congress with the request that
	this resolution be entered in the Congressional Record as a
	memorial to the Congress of the United States of America.