Bill Text: TX HCR146 | 2011-2012 | 82nd Legislature | Comm Sub


Bill Title: Urging Congress to enact legislation to provide sufficient manpower, infrastructure, and technology to ensure the security and efficiency of land ports of entry on the southwestern border.

Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2011-05-16 - Committee report sent to Calendars [HCR146 Detail]

Download: Texas-2011-HCR146-Comm_Sub.html
  82R26492 CBE-D
 
  By: Gonzales of Hidalgo, Farrar, Hardcastle, H.C.R. No. 146
      Alonzo, et al.
 
 
 
HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
         WHEREAS, Inadequate staffing and outdated infrastructure and
  technology at land ports of entry on the southwestern border harm
  the nation's economy and undermine the ability of United States
  Customs and Border Protection to fulfill its mission; and
         WHEREAS, For the past two decades, the federal government has
  concentrated funding for the security of the United States-Mexico
  border on deterrence in the regions between land ports, at the
  expense of land ports of entry; as a result, the average land port
  of entry is now more than 40 years old and in dire need of
  modernization, as reported at the December 2008 U.S.-Mexico Joint
  Working Committee by the head of the Customs and Border Protection
  Land Ports of Entry Modernization Program, who estimated capital
  costs for necessary upgrades at $6 billion; and
         WHEREAS, While funding for land ports of entry has lagged,
  traffic passing through them has increased dramatically, as has the
  value of goods traded; the value of imports carried by truck was
  26.5 percent higher in 2010 than in 2009, and the value of exports
  carried by truck was 24.3 percent higher, according to the U.S.
  Department of Transportation Bureau of Transportation Statistics;
  in 2010, Texas not only led the country in surface trade with Mexico
  with $114.5 billion, but it became the first state to ever have more
  than $100 billion in trade with Mexico by surface modes of
  transportation in a single calendar year; and
         WHEREAS, This increased traffic places a great strain on
  aging infrastructure and technology and requires massive amounts of
  overtime for inspectors charged with screening cars and trucks;
  these pressures cause serious and costly slowdowns; according to a
  March 2008 draft report for the U.S. Department of Commerce
  entitled "Improving Economic Outcomes by Reducing Border Delays,"
  wait times averaging one hour at the five busiest land ports of
  entry on the southern border resulted in an average economic output
  loss of $116 million per minute of delay; in 2008, the average
  annual cost of these delays to the U.S. economy was nearly 26,000
  jobs and $6 billion in output, $1.4 billion in wages, and $600
  million in tax revenues; by 2017, average wait times could increase
  to nearly 100 minutes, costing more than 54,000 jobs and $12 billion
  in output, $3 billion in wages, and $1.2 billion in tax revenues
  each year; the cumulative loss in output due to border delays over
  the next 10 years is estimated to be $86 billion; and
         WHEREAS, With increased funding for enforcement in the
  terrain between land ports, drug cartels and others have shifted
  their trafficking operations; the probability of apprehending an
  individual attempting an illegal crossing in these areas is now
  about 70 percent, according to a report by Scott Borger of the
  Center for Comparative Immigration Studies at the University of
  California-San Diego entitled "Estimates of the Cyclical Inflow of
  Undocumented Migrants to the United States"; by contrast, at land
  ports of entry, enforcement officers apprehend only about 30
  percent of those engaged in major crimes, such as human
  trafficking, drug smuggling, and possession of illegal weapons,
  according to the Department of Homeland Security's Annual
  Performance Report for Fiscal Years 2008-2010; and
         WHEREAS, Reports by the U.S. Government Accountability
  Office have found that infrastructure and technology at land ports
  of entry are inadequate; in order to maintain national security
  while expediting the flow of trade, it is imperative that our nation
  modernize its land ports of entry and ensure that staffing levels
  are adequate to manage an increasingly high volume of international
  traffic; now, therefore, be it
         RESOLVED, That the 82nd Legislature of the State of Texas
  hereby respectfully urge the Congress of the United States to enact
  legislation to provide sufficient manpower, infrastructure, and
  technology to ensure the security and efficiency of land ports of
  entry on the southwestern border; 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.
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