Bill Text: TX SCR37 | 2017-2018 | 85th Legislature | Introduced
NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: Urging Congress to increase appropriations from the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund to properly maintain ship channels.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)
Status: (Passed) 2017-06-12 - Signed by the Governor [SCR37 Detail]
Download: Texas-2017-SCR37-Introduced.html
Bill Title: Urging Congress to increase appropriations from the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund to properly maintain ship channels.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)
Status: (Passed) 2017-06-12 - Signed by the Governor [SCR37 Detail]
Download: Texas-2017-SCR37-Introduced.html
85R5075 BPG-D | ||
By: Hinojosa | S.C.R. No. 37 |
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WHEREAS, Seaport activities generate more than $4 trillion in | ||
economic activity each year, representing more than a quarter of | ||
U.S. gross domestic product and yielding more than $41 billion in | ||
federal, state, and local tax revenue; and | ||
WHEREAS, To support this critical component of international | ||
trade, the United States Congress established the Harbor | ||
Maintenance Tax on shippers in 1986 as a means of funding the | ||
maintenance and improvement of vital harbor infrastructure; and | ||
WHEREAS, HMT revenues deposited into the Harbor Maintenance | ||
Trust Fund now total about $1.6 billion annually, but in recent | ||
years, Congress has appropriated less than half of those funds for | ||
the intended purpose, leading to a decline in dredging and | ||
maintenance by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; the consequence is | ||
an accumulation of sediment that leaves navigation channels | ||
narrower and shallower, and when silted channels constrain vessels | ||
from carrying full loads or force them to wait for high tide, the | ||
costs of imports and exports rise, as does the risk of vessel | ||
grounding and associated oil spills; the Corps of Engineers has | ||
estimated that the full depth and width of our coastal ports is | ||
available less than 35 percent of the time, costing the economy | ||
billions of dollars annually; and | ||
WHEREAS, Each year, the HMT provides an amount sufficient to | ||
meet all of the nation's authorized harbor maintenance needs, but | ||
as a result of lagging appropriations, the Harbor Maintenance Trust | ||
Fund had a balance of more than $9 billion at the start of 2016; in | ||
Texas alone, less than 25 percent of the HMT revenue collected in | ||
the state has been appropriated for harbor maintenance; and | ||
WHEREAS, Our nation's ports are vital to our economic | ||
prosperity and global competitiveness, and these funds, which were | ||
collected for the express purpose of the maintenance and | ||
improvement of the ports, should be put to work; now, therefore, be | ||
it | ||
RESOLVED, That the 85th Legislature of the State of Texas | ||
hereby respectfully urge the United States Congress to increase | ||
appropriations from the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund to ensure | ||
that the nation's ship channels are appropriately maintained and | ||
safe; 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. |