Amended in Assembly June 28, 2016

Amended in Assembly May 19, 2016

California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Joint Resolution No. 3

Introduced by Assembly Member Alejo

January 5, 2015

Assembly Joint Resolution No. 3—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 help increase trade with Cuba.

Fiscal committee: no.

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 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 United States exporters, particularly for American farm
producers. Currently, 84 percent of all food consumed in Cuba is
imported; and

WHEREAS, The United States and Cuba are natural trading
partners, 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 United States economy is $1.2 billion, and the embargo
disproportionately affects United States small businesses that lack
the transportation and financial infrastructure to skirt the embargo;
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 United States
goods and services; and

WHEREAS, California is currently the begin delete eighth end delete begin insert sixth end insert 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

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WHEREAS, California is the main producer in the United States
of delicate fresh fruits and vegetables such as strawberries,
raspberries, lettuce, broccoli, artichokes, and cauliflower, which
contain essential vitamins and minerals needed for daily nutrition
that Cuba’s population could benefit from; and

end insert

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 health care providers can benefit
immensely from renewed Cuban relationships; and

begin insert

WHEREAS, California would benefit from Cuba’s medical
advances in lung cancer, diabetic foot ulcer, and advanced head
and neck tumor treatment and the opportunity to conduct further
research on Cuba’s medical accomplishments; and

end insert

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 increase in trade with
Cuba will better serve California’s interests and improve the lives
of Cubans and their families; and

WHEREAS, California can benefit economically and culturally
from direct air travel from the United States to Cuba, including
direct flights from California; begin delete now, therefore, be it end delete begin insert and end insert

begin insert

WHEREAS, California’s 89,000 Cuban Americans would benefit
from normalizing trade relations with Cuba by permitting air travel
to and from Cuba and for remittance practice purposes; and

end insert begin insert

WHEREAS, Normalizing trade relations would enable California
and the Cuban government and its people to exchange dialogue,
giving them a better opportunity to influence one another regarding
human rights practices; now therefore, be it

end insert

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
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.