Bill Text: TX HCR127 | 2017-2018 | 85th Legislature | 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.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
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 |
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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. |