BILL NUMBER: SJR 9 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 25, 2013
INTRODUCED BY Senators Huff, Anderson, Berryhill, Cannella,
Emmerson, Fuller, Gaines, Knight, Nielsen, Walters, and Wyland
MARCH 21, 2013
Relative to the Startup Act 3.0.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SJR 9, as amended, Huff. Startup Act 3.0.
This measure would call on the United States Congress to pass and
the President to sign the Startup Act 3.0, introduced as S. 310 in
the 113th Congress of the United States , that would,
among other things, create an Entrepreneur's Visa for legal
immigrants, provide authorization to adjust the status of not
more than 50,000 aliens who have earned a master's degree or a
doctorate degree, as specified, to that of aliens conditionally
admitte d for permanent residence, and eliminate
per-country caps for employment-based immigrant visas, and
create a limited research tax credit in order to ensure the United
States has the chance to build an innovation-based economy
visas .
Fiscal committee: no.
WHEREAS, The United States is a nation of immigrants, with a long
history of welcoming indigents from other nations and giving them a
chance at achieving the American Dream; and
WHEREAS, Immigrants have formed the backbone of the nation's
economy; and
WHEREAS, Open economies grow faster than closed ones, and as a
beacon of hope, America has historically had an unbeatable advantage
over societies that shut immigrants out, or stifled their creative
and innovative spirit; and
WHEREAS, The United States economy has been enriched by the
innovative and entrepreneurial spirit of immigrants from around the
world; and
WHEREAS, According to the Kauffman Foundation on Entrepreneurship,
of the current Fortune 500 companies, including Apple, Google, and
eBay, more than 40 percent were founded by first- or
second-generation Americans, and these companies employ more than 10
million people; and
WHEREAS, Foreign nationals residing in the United States were
named as inventors or coinventors in one-quarter of all patent
applications filed in 2006; and
WHEREAS, Fifty-two percent of Silicon Valley startups between 1995
and 2005 were founded or cofounded by immigrants, generating $52
billion in revenues and employing 450,000 workers; and
WHEREAS, In the past seven years, the national rate of startups by
immigrants has dropped to 42 percent according to scholars at
Harvard and Duke Universities; and
WHEREAS, The number of foreign nationals with advanced degrees
awaiting permanent-resident status in the United States has grown to
over one million in the past several years; and
WHEREAS, Under current law, only around 120,000 visas are
available annually for skilled workers in key employment categories
and only 7 percent of these visas can be allocated to immigrants from
any one country. So immigrants from countries with large
populations, like India and China, which are the source of the vast
majority of startups in the United States, have access to only 8,400
visas per year; and
WHEREAS, The result of this policy is that many of these highly
skilled immigrants must wait more than a decade for visas; and
WHEREAS, Many of these highly skilled innovators are deciding
instead to return home, or immigrate to other countries that welcome
them with open arms, such as Singapore, Canada, Dubai, Australia, the
United Kingdom, and Chile. As a result, these innovators are
founding companies in these other countries and competing with
American companies for market share; and
WHEREAS, The issue of illegal immigration has taken on national
prominence in recent years and the resolution of the broader issue
should be the result of bipartisan efforts; and
WHEREAS, The resolution of the broader issue should not get in the
way of resolving legal immigration issues as they relate to highly
skilled workers who are critical to the continued success of the
nation; and
WHEREAS, United States Senators Jerry Moran (R-Kansas), Mark
Warner (D-Virginia), Chris Coons (D-Delaware), and Roy Blunt
(R-Missouri) have introduced S. 310 in the 113th Congress of the
United States, known as the Startup Act 3.0, to ensure that the
United States has the chance to look forward and build the kind of
innovation-based economy that will help future generations compete in
the global marketplace; and
WHEREAS, The Startup Act 3.0 includes, among others, the following
important provisions to stem the reverse brain drain:
(1) Creates an Entrepreneur's Visa for legal immigrants, so they
can remain in the United States and launch businesses to create jobs.
(2) Provides authorization to adjust the status of not more than
50,000 aliens who have earned a master's degree or a doctorate degree
at an institution of higher education in a STEM field (science,
technology, engineering, or mathematics) to that of aliens
conditionally admitted for permanent residence to remain in this
country where their talents and ideas can fuel growth and create
jobs.
(3) Eliminates the per-country caps for employment-based immigrant
visas, which hinder United States employers from recruiting top-tier
talent. talent; now, therefore, be it
(4) Makes permanent the exemption of capital gains taxes on the
sale of startup stock held for at least five years, so investors can
provide financial stability at a critical juncture of firm growth.
(5) Creates a limited research tax credit for young startups less
than five years old and with less than $5 million in annual receipts
to allow these small companies to offset employee taxes and free up
resources to create jobs; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate and the Assembly of the State of
California, jointly, That the Legislature memorialize the United
States Congress to pass and the President to sign the Startup Act 3.0
into law; and be it further
Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this
resolution to the President and Vice President of the United States,
to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, to the Majority
Leader of the Senate, and to each Senator and Representative from
California in the Congress of the United States.