Senate Joint Resolution No. 22

RESOLUTION CHAPTER 102

Senate Joint Resolution No. 22—Relative to Calexico West Land Port of Entry project.

[Filed with Secretary of State August 16, 2016.]

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SJR 22, Hueso. Calexico West Land Port of Entry project: funding.

This measure would respectfully urge Congress to appropriate $248 million in funding to complete Phase 2 of the Calexico West Land Port of Entry reconfiguration and expansion project in order to realize the benefits the improvements of this project will have on the nation’s economy.

WHEREAS, The inclusion of $248 million in funding for Phase 2 of the Calexico West Land Port of Entry reconfiguration and expansion project in the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations bill is proposed by the President’s Fiscal Year 2017 Budget; and

WHEREAS, This funding will ensure completion of the project, which will improve domestic supply chains, strengthen our national security, reduce the port’s carbon footprint, and facilitate economic growth, not only for the County of Imperial and for California, but for the entire nation; and

WHEREAS, The Obama Administration’s 2015 budget included a $98,062,000 investment in Calexico West Land Port of Entry Phase 1. This first phase of the expansion project is currently underway and is expected to be completed in 2018. Phase 2 will consist of the balance of the project, including additional sitework, an expanded pedestrian processing facility, administrative offices, and six additional northbound privately owned vehicle inspection lanes; and

WHEREAS, The completion of this project guarantees the economic activity of the border will not be lost. On an average day, more than 15,000 to 20,000 privately operated vehicles and nearly 20,000 pedestrians enter the United States through the Calexico Land Port of Entry; and

WHEREAS, The United States’ goods and private services trade with Mexico totaled an estimated $583.6 billion in 2015, with exports totaling $267.2 billion and imports totaling $316.4 billion; and

WHEREAS, Mexico is currently our second largest goods trading partner with almost $72 billion in two-way trade of goods during 2015, with goods exports that totaled $26.8 billion and goods imports that totaled $45 billion; and

WHEREAS, Ninety-nine percent of trade between California and Mexico is carried by trucks, and the Calexico East Port of Entry serves nearly all of the international truck traffic crossings in the County of Imperial, with a total trade value of over $12 billion in 2012; and

WHEREAS, The San Diego Association of Governments 2050 Comprehensive Freight Gateway Study projects that the nearly two million trucks that crossed the California-Mexico border in 2007 will increase to nearly five million trucks in 2050; and

WHEREAS, Traffic congestion and delays at the borders of the Counties of San Diego and Imperial cost the economies of the United States and Mexico an estimated $8.63 billion in gross output and more than 73,900 jobs in 2007; and

WHEREAS, The collaboration between federal, state, and local agencies is essential for the development of border infrastructure projects and security; and

WHEREAS, The United States General Accountability Office and the United States Department of Homeland Security estimate that $6 billion in border infrastructure is needed to fulfill their mission of preventing unlawful entry and smuggling while facilitating legitimate trade and tourism; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Senate and the Assembly of the State of California, jointly, That the Legislature of the State of California respectfully urges Congress to appropriate $248 million in funding to complete Phase 2 of the Calexico West Land Port of Entry reconfiguration and expansion project in order to realize the benefits the improvements of this project will have on the nation’s economy; 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.



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