Bill Text: TX SCR9 | 2017-2018 | 85th Legislature | Introduced

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Bill Title: Urging Congress to explore and negotiate the creation of a binational framework allowing the United States and Mexico to address the threat of communicable diseases.

Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2017-02-01 - Referred to Health & Human Services [SCR9 Detail]

Download: Texas-2017-SCR9-Introduced.html

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85R6960 BPG-D
By: Lucio S.C.R. No. 9

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, Zika and other communicable diseases do not stop at
international borders, but by working together, the United States
and Mexico can establish an effective framework to provide the
necessary resources, personnel, and funding to improve the response
to threats such as the Zika virus at the local, state, national, and
binational level; and
WHEREAS, A template for successful binational cooperation is
offered by the North American Development Bank and its sister
institution, the Border Environmental Cooperation Commission,
launched in 1994 by the federal governments of the United States and
Mexico to fund and certify environmental infrastructure projects in
the border region; the NADB and BECC are governed jointly by the two
countries via a 10-member board of directors composed of
high-ranking officials from each nation, a border state
representative, and a border resident representative; and
WHEREAS, Cooperation at the highest levels of the U.S. and
Mexican governments is key to protecting the health and well-being
of people in border communities and throughout the Northern
Hemisphere from Zika and other communicable diseases; now,
therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the 85th Legislature of the State of Texas
hereby urge the United States Congress to work with the U.S.
president, the U.S. ambassador to Mexico, and their counterparts in
Mexico to explore and negotiate the creation of a binational
framework to address the threat of communicable diseases; and, be
it further
RESOLVED, That consideration be given to expanding the
mission of the NADB and BECC or building on that example to
establish new institutions; Congress is also urged to consider
entrusting governance of these endeavors to the members of the NADB
and BECC board along with the secretary of the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services, the director of the U.S. Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention, and their Mexican counterparts;
and, be it further
RESOLVED, That the Texas Legislature urge that such new
institutions provide essential support to enhance conditions,
improve drainage and other infrastructure, and advance measures
that directly or indirectly promote the prevention of communicable
diseases in the border region; and, be it further
RESOLVED, That the Texas Legislature urge that such
institutions provide assistance in the form of loans, grants, and
in-kind resources to allow local communities, federal entities, and
stakeholders to undertake research, surveillance, outreach
campaigns, detection, and data exchange and assessment to educate
border residents about the spread of communicable disease and to
aid areas where disease is being transmitted; 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.