BILL NUMBER: AJR 3 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 19, 2016
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Alejo
JANUARY 5, 2015
Relative to the Cuban embargo.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AJR 3, as amended, Alejo. Cuban embargo.
This measure would urge the Congress of the United States to
support President Obama's initiative to normalize diplomatic
relations with Cuba and to move forward with legislation to
lift the economic embargo on help increase trade with
Cuba.
Fiscal committee: no.
WHEREAS, The ability of American companies to do business with
Cuba is curtailed by the Cuban Assets Control Regulations (31 C.F.R.
515), which were issued in 1963, that lay out a comprehensive set of
economic sanctions, including a prohibition on most financial
transactions with the island; and
WHEREAS, These sanctions were made stronger with the Cuban
Democracy Act of 1992 (22 U.S.C. sec. 6001 et seq.) and the Cuban
Liberty and Democratic Solidarity (LIBERTAD) Act of 1996, which is
commonly referred to as the Helms-Burton Act. Most significantly, the
Helms-Burton Act codified the embargo and has had a lasting impact
on U.S. policy options toward Cuba by imposing economic sanctions,
travel restrictions, and international legal penalties; and
WHEREAS, The Obama administration announced new United States
Department of the Treasury and United States Department of Commerce
regulations allowing more exports of certain products to Cuba; and
WHEREAS, The United States and Cuba recently signed an agreement
to restore commercial airline service between both countries, which
could potentially result in 110 daily flights to and from Cuba.
According to the United States Embassy in Havana, authorized travel
to Cuba by United States citizens increased by over 50 percent since
travel restrictions were eased in December 2014; and
WHEREAS, Prior to the embargo, embargo the
United States placed on Cuba in 1960, the United States
accounted for nearly 70 percent of Cuba's international trade. Cuba
was the seventh largest market for U.S. exporters
United States exporters, particularly for American farm
producers, and producers. Currently, 84
percent of all food consumed in Cuba was imported from the
United States; is imported; and
WHEREAS, Despite the fact that the The
United States and Cuba are natural trading partners,
the embargo forced Cuba to seek out new sources for its domestic
consumption at the expense of U.S. and California
stands ready to be a major source for Cuba's domestic consumption,
which will result in significant growth in the United States
exports and the creation of more American jobs; and
WHEREAS, A United States International Trade Commission report
states that small exporters currently avoid the Cuban market because
of the complexity of the regulations in the Trade Sanctions Reform
and Export Enhancement Act (TSRA); and
WHEREAS, Removing the embargo would provide small- and
medium-sized enterprises with access to a much needed market; and
WHEREAS, Studies on lifting the embargo show a possible economic
spark of $1.1 billion, $365 million from sales of United States
goods, and a creation of up to 6,000 American jobs, predominantly in
agriculture and telecommunications; and
WHEREAS, In 2000, under the TSRA, Congress began to allow the sale
of agricultural and medical products to Cuba. In four short years,
United States exports to Cuba rose from less than $1 million to $392
million by 2004, with United States agricultural products capturing
42 percent of the Cuban market; and
WHEREAS, According to a 2001 study sponsored by the Cuba
Policy Foundation, the estimated economic impact of expanded
agricultural exports under the TSRA is $3.6 billion. According
to the United States Chamber of Commerce, the embargo's annual cost
to the U.S. United States economy
ranges from is $1.2 to $3.6
billion and billion, and the embargo
disproportionately affects U.S. United States
small businesses who that lack
the transportation and financial infrastructure to skirt the embargo;
and
WHEREAS, These restrictions result in real reductions in income
and employment, negatively impacting U.S. small businesses; and
WHEREAS, Since 2008, Cuba has undertaken more than 300 economic
reforms designed to encourage enterprise with small businesses, and,
in 2008, United States exports to Cuba reached $718 million, with
corn exports estimated at $198 million, followed by meat and poultry
at $152.6 million and wheat at $135 million; and
WHEREAS, Allies of the United States have taken a disproportionate
share of the market of an island that is only 90 miles from our
shores and is a natural market for U.S.
United States goods and services; and
WHEREAS, California is currently the eighth largest economy in the
world but exported only $122,000 in agricultural products to Cuba in
2013, approximately .00068 percent of the $18 billion of
agricultural products exported from California each year; and
WHEREAS, According to the United States Department of Agriculture'
s Economic Research Service data for 2013, each dollar of
agricultural exports stimulated an additional $1.22 in business
activity, thereby further highlighting the potential for creating
American jobs through California agricultural exports; and
WHEREAS, California's agricultural growers face great
opportunities by moving to Cuba to aid in the development of
agricultural technology, innovation, and investment; and
WHEREAS, As Cuba raises its agricultural profile, Cuba will need
food manufacturing technology and education on effective practices
that Californian expertise can provide; and
WHEREAS, California agricultural products will support economic
mobility by exporting products for middle and rising middle classes
in Cuba to consume; and
WHEREAS, As a growing middle class rises, Cuba's crumbling
infrastructure will no longer support these communities, and Cuba
will look to California for construction expertise and equipment,
which could lead to job growth in these California industries; and
WHEREAS, The expected growth of infrastructure will allow for the
spread of telecommunication technology to advance in Cuba, where only
5 percent of Cubans have Internet access; and
WHEREAS, California is the high-tech capital of the nation and is
well positioned to export telecommunications infrastructure to Cuba;
and
WHEREAS, California pharmaceutical companies and medical
devicemakers will be able to sell their products in Cuba, a new
market hungry for its products; and
WHEREAS, Biotechnology firms will be able to partner with
California companies on key ventures such as research and medical
product development in areas focusing on diabetes and cancer
treatment; and
WHEREAS, Cuba has already become a leader in the biopharmaceutical
arena, and its vaccine industry will be able to ship more of its
high-quality products to California to be distributed to underserved
populations at lower costs; and
WHEREAS, California healthcare health care
providers can benefit immensely from renewed Cuban
relationships; and
WHEREAS, California Latinos are an increasing part of the
electorate, and increasing economic integration with Latin American
countries is a natural evolution of who America is becoming; and
WHEREAS, Acknowledging that the embargo has not produced
any positive economic or political outcomes in
increase in trade with Cuba or the United States, and
that lifting the embargo will better serve California's
interests and improve the lives of Cubans and their families;
now, therefore, be it and
WHEREAS, California can benefit economically and culturally from
direct air travel from the United States to Cuba, including direct
flights from California; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Assembly and the Senate of the State of
California, jointly, That the Legislature of the State of California
urges the Congress of the United States to support President Obama's
initiative to normalize diplomatic relations with Cuba and to, with
all deliberate speed, move forward with legislation to lift
the economic embargo on help increase trade with
Cuba; and be it further
Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly 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
Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, to the Majority
Leader of the Senate, to the Minority Leader of the
Senate, and to each Senator and Representative from California in the
Congress of the United States.