Amended in Assembly August 29, 2013

Amended in Assembly August 5, 2013

Amended in Senate April 25, 2013

Senate Joint Resolution No. 9

Introduced by Senators Huff, Anderson, Berryhill, Cannella, Emmerson, Fuller, Gaines, Knight, Nielsen, Walters, and Wyland

(Coauthors: Assembly Members Achadjian, Allen, Bigelow, Chávez, Conway, Dahle, Beth Gaines, Hagman, Harkey, Linder, Maienschein, Mansoor, Melendez, Nestande, Olsen, Patterson, Wagner, and Wilk)

March 21, 2013

Senate Joint Resolution No. 9—Relative to the Startup Act 3.0.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SJR 9, as amended, Huff. Startup Act 3.0.

This measure would begin delete call on end delete begin insert urge end insert the United States Congress begin delete to pass end delete and the President to begin delete sign the Startup Act 3.0, introduced as S. 310 in the 113th Congress of the United States, end delete begin insert establish new entrepreneur and science, technology, engineering, or mathematics-related visa categories for legal immigrants as part of comprehensive federal immigration reform, end insert 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 admitted for permanent residence, and eliminate per-country caps for employment-based immigrant 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

begin delete

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

end delete

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 begin insert , and United States
House Representatives Michael Grimm (R-New York), Loretta
Sanchez (D-California), and others have introduced H.R. 714 end insert in
the 113th Congress of the United States, begin insert and this legislation is end insert
known as the Startup Act begin delete 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 end delete begin insert 3.0 end insert ; and

begin insert

WHEREAS, Entrepreneurs and highly skilled workers can
contribute to the continued success of the nation and further the
development of an innovation-based economy that will help future
generations compete in the global marketplace; and

end insert

WHEREAS, begin delete The Startup Act 3.0 includes, among other things,
the following important provisions to stem the reverse brain drain: end delete
begin insert There has been bipartisan support in Congress for proposed
changes to immigration law seeking to create new jobs and drive
economic growth, such as: end insert

(1)  begin delete Creates end delete begin insert Creation of end insert an Entrepreneur’s Visa for begin insert up to 75,000 end insert
legal begin delete immigrants, so they can remain end delete begin insert immigrants who start up new
businesses to create jobs end insert in the United States begin delete and launch businesses
to create jobs end delete begin insert with a path to permanent residency if their businesses
continue to hire more workers end insert .

(2)  begin delete Provides authorization end delete begin insert Authorization end insert to adjust the status of
not more than 50,000 aliens who have earned a master’s degree
or a doctorate degree at an begin insert American end insert 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 begin delete where their talents and ideas can fuel
growth and create jobs end delete .

(3)  begin delete Eliminates the end delete begin insert Elimination of end insert per-country caps for
employment-based immigrant begin delete visas, which hinder United States
employers from recruiting top-tier talent end delete begin insert visas end insert ; now, therefore, be
it

Resolved by the Senate and the Assembly of the State of
California, jointly, That the Legislature begin delete memorialize end delete begin insert urge end insert the
United States Congress begin delete to pass end delete and the President to begin delete sign the Startup
Act 3.0 into law end delete begin insert establish new entrepreneur and STEM-related
visa categories for legal immigrants as part of comprehensive
federal immigration reform end insert ; 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.