Bill Text: TX HCR88 | 2017-2018 | 85th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Urging Congress to revise funding formulas for Targeted Infrastructure Capability grants to emphasize threat assessment rather than population.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2017-05-19 - Received from the House [HCR88 Detail]
Download: Texas-2017-HCR88-Introduced.html
85R10332 BPG-D | ||
By: Raymond | H.C.R. No. 88 |
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WHEREAS, Laredo has taken on ever-increasing national | ||
security responsibilities since the advent of the North American | ||
Free Trade Agreement in 1994, but it is ineligible for federal | ||
Targeted Infrastructure Capability grants because such grants are | ||
based primarily on population criteria rather than threat | ||
assessment; and | ||
WHEREAS, The gateway for the nation's main NAFTA corridor, | ||
Laredo has four international bridges and carries 50 percent of all | ||
NAFTA-related trade through Texas; as of 2015, the city ranked as | ||
the number one inland port in the country with over $284 billion in | ||
trade, and hazardous materials constitute almost half of the cargo | ||
that travels through the Laredo corridor by land and rail; the city | ||
also has more than 5,000 acres of warehouse space, at least a | ||
quarter of which contains hazardous materials vulnerable to | ||
terrorism; and | ||
WHEREAS, The volume of hazardous materials transiting | ||
through Laredo presents enormous potential for a disaster, and | ||
first responders must be prepared for a chemical spill or hazardous | ||
materials release; moreover, 15,000 visitors cross into the city | ||
every day, at a time when drug-related violence on the other side of | ||
the border is increasing; frontline emergency personnel also | ||
respond to incidents on the Rio Grande, which is the chief source of | ||
drinking water for many border communities, and to any bomb threats | ||
reported on the international bridges, as well as to an ever-rising | ||
number of other emergency calls in a growing community; and | ||
WHEREAS, The Department of Homeland Security currently | ||
awards its Targeted Infrastructure Capability grants largely on the | ||
basis of metropolitan population, and with an estimated population | ||
of about 255,000, Laredo does not meet the criteria for grants such | ||
as the Urban Area Strategic Initiative or Port Security awards; and | ||
WHEREAS, Laredo is smaller than other major United States | ||
ports, and it has a much more limited budget for local agencies; | ||
federal funds are desperately needed to ensure that emergency | ||
responders can manage international threats to critical | ||
infrastructure safely and efficiently; now, therefore, be it | ||
RESOLVED, That the 85th Legislature of the State of Texas | ||
hereby respectfully urge the United States Congress to revise | ||
Department of Homeland Security funding formulas for Targeted | ||
Infrastructure Capability grants to emphasize threat assessment | ||
for strategically located border communities, rather than | ||
population; 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, to the secretary of | ||
the Department of Homeland Security, and to all the members of the | ||
Texas delegation to Congress with the request that this resolution | ||
be officially entered in the Congressional Record as a memorial to | ||
the Congress of the United States of America. |