BILL NUMBER: SJR 9 CHAPTERED
BILL TEXT
RESOLUTION CHAPTER 117
FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE SEPTEMBER 10, 2013
ADOPTED IN SENATE SEPTEMBER 6, 2013
ADOPTED IN ASSEMBLY SEPTEMBER 3, 2013
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY SEPTEMBER 3, 2013
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY AUGUST 29, 2013
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY AUGUST 5, 2013
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 25, 2013
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, Wilk, Ammiano,
Atkins, Bloom, Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Buchanan,
Ian Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chesbro, Cooley, Dickinson, Eggman,
Fong, Fox, Frazier, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gordon, Gorell, Gray,
Grove, Roger Hernández, Holden, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Logue,
Lowenthal, Medina, Morrell, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Pan, Perea, John A.
Pérez, V. Manuel Pérez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Salas, Skinner,
Stone, Ting, Waldron, Weber, Wieckowski, Williams, and Yamada)
MARCH 21, 2013
Relative to the Startup Act 3.0.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SJR 9, Huff. Startup Act 3.0.
This measure would urge the United States Congress and the
President to establish new entrepreneur and science, technology,
engineering, or mathematics-related visa categories for legal
immigrants as part of comprehensive federal immigration reform, 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.
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, United States Senators Jerry Moran (R-Kansas), Mark
Warner (D-Virginia), Chris Coons (D-Delaware), and Roy Blunt
(R-Missouri) have introduced S. 310, and United States House
Representatives Michael Grimm (R-New York), Loretta Sanchez
(D-California), and others have introduced H.R. 714 in the 113th
Congress of the United States, and this legislation is known as the
Startup Act 3.0; and
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
WHEREAS, There has been bipartisan support in Congress for
proposed changes to immigration law seeking to create new jobs and
drive economic growth, such as:
(1) Creation of an Entrepreneur's Visa for up to 75,000 legal
immigrants who start up new businesses to create jobs in the United
States with a path to permanent residency if their businesses
continue to hire more workers.
(2) 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
American 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.
(3) Elimination of per-country caps for employment-based immigrant
visas; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate and the Assembly of the State of
California, jointly, That the Legislature urge the United States
Congress and the President to establish new entrepreneur and
STEM-related visa categories for legal immigrants as part of
comprehensive federal immigration reform; 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.