BILL ANALYSIS
AJR 27
Page 1
CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AJR 27 (Torrico)
As Amended August 20, 2010
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |47-27|(June 21, 2010) |SENATE: |22-14|(August 24, |
| | | | | |2010) |
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Original Committee Reference: J.,E.D.&E
SUMMARY : Memorializes Congress that the California Legislature
opposes the United States-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement (CTPA),
which was signed on November 22, 2006, and is currently being
reviewed by the Office of the United States Trade Representative
(USTR).
The Senate amendments update the findings in the resolution including
increasing the number of trade unionists who were murdered during
2009 from 44 to 48.
AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY , this bill memorialized Congress that the
California Legislature opposes the United States CTPA. Among other
things, the resolution declares that:
1)Violence against trade unionists persists to this day, with over
500 unionists having been murdered during the administration of
current Colombian President Alvaro Uribe.
2)The Office of the Attorney General of Colombia has secured
convictions in only about 5% of the over 2,700 cases of murder of
trade unionists, and in the vast majority of cases, the person
convicted of the crime is not the originator of the crime, but
rather carried out the order to kill.
3)Defamatory remarks regarding trade unionists and human rights
defenders in Colombia delegitimize the important and valued work of
human rights defenders and place individuals and entire
organizations at the grave risk of physical retaliation.
4)According to a 2008 Human Rights Watch report, numerous
politicians, including members of the Colombian Congress, have come
under criminal investigation for collaborating with
paramilitaries--the groups responsible for the majority of crimes
against trade unionists.
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5)According to Human Rights Watch, there is overwhelming evidence of
broad, systematic, and illegal surveillance conducted by the
government of Colombia against hundreds of members of human rights
organizations, political opposition parties and unions, as well as
journalists, and even clergy.
6)The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Executions,
Phillip Alston, recently found that killings of innocent civilians
by the armed forces have occurred throughout the country.
FISCAL EFFECT : None
COMMENTS:
1)Author's purpose: "Across the globe there continue to be civil
struggles that impact our daily lives in the United States. This
resolution is about fundamental workers' rights. It's about
international trade and the excessive power of corporations and
about justice.
"In Colombia, those who advocate for worker rights must fear for
their lives. Over 500 unionists have been murdered during the
administration of current Colombian President Alvaro Uribe. The
Office of the Attorney General of Colombia has secured convictions
in just 5% percent of the murder cases involving trade unionists
and only after international pressure to do so.
"Paramilitary organizations associated with powerful local and
regional economic and political interests make the threat of death
all too real for workers who are simply exercising their right to
organize, bargain collectively, and, if necessary, to strike.
"Human rights violations frequently occur and there is widespread,
systematic, illegal surveillance conducted by the national
intelligence of Colombia. The International Labor Organization
says Colombia's labor laws fall far short of minimum labor
standards.
"The Colombia Free Trade agreement was signed on Nov. 22, 2006 and
is currently under review by the USTR. Those of us who are friends
of labor must unite and urge Congress to oppose this trade
agreement. It is the right and just thing to do. It is imperative
that we send a message to Congress and other countries that we do
not support doing business with a country who commit unjust
crimes."
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2)U.S. trade policy: The U.S. Constitution grants the federal
government the power to enter into treaties and trade agreements.
The power, however, is vested in the U.S. Congress to ratify trade
agreements with a two-thirds vote of approval. The U.S. has trade
agreements in force with 17 countries including Australia, Bahrain,
Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador,
Guatemala, Honduras, Israel, Jordan, Mexico, Morocco, Nicaragua,
Oman, Peru, and Singapore. Congressional approval has not been
provided for trade agreements with Colombia , Korea, and Panama.
Canada has also negotiated, but not ratified, a trade agreement
with Colombia.
Besides trade agreements, the U.S. has a number of trade preference
programs that allow special access to U.S. markets for countries
that are considered developing markets and/or where the U.S. wants
to develop a stronger relationship. Colombia currently has access
to U.S. markets through the nation's general preference provisions
and the Andean Trade Preference Act (ATPA). The ATPA (enacted in
1991) is designed to assist Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru in
their fight against drug production and trafficking by expanding
their economic alternatives.
In addition to trade support, the U.S. funds Plan Colombia, a
multi-year initiative to reduce drug trafficking and promote
development. According to the Congressional Research Bureau, more
than $7 billion has been provided to Colombia (2000 to 2009)
pursuant to this initiative.
3)Policy issue: The Colombian government states, and it is
generally corroborated by such groups as the World Trade
Organization, that Colombia has made meaningful progress in
reducing violence and improving the economy since President Uribe
took office in 2002. The policy question is, however, whether
progress is sufficient or are there certain basic standards of
civil society and human rights that must be achieved in order for
the U.S. to fully embrace a nation as a free trade partner.
Opponents of the resolution, including the Government of Colombia,
believe that demonstrated progress is sufficient. International
trade organization leaders, such as Christy Thornton, executive
director of the North American Congress on Latin America, have been
quoted as saying that the CTPA represents not just a more open
market for U.S. goods but a reward offered by the Bush
Administration to one of the U.S.'s last allies in Latin America.
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The supporters of AJR 27, however, believe that while progress
should be commended, civil society in Colombia has not yet achieved
the conditions under which the U.S. should move forward on a trade
agreement. The AFL-CIO, in its formal comments to the USTR on
CTPA, in September 2009, state that many of the roots of the
political, economic and social crisis in Colombia remain, that a
country needs to first meet some set of minimum standards prior to
the U.S. entering into an agreement, and offers a suggestion for
moving forward. The recommendation is to have the U.S. commit to
closely monitor Colombia's efforts over the next three years. At
the close of that time period, if Colombia has met the benchmarks
on human rights and labor laws, then the U.S. Congress could review
the agreement to determine whether it is a fair agreement in
interest of the people of the U.S. while promoting economic
development in Colombia. If Colombia has not met the objectives in
both law and in practice, the U.S. could still agree to annually
review its progress and move forward once standards are met.
4)Background on Columbia: Colombia has a population of over 43.6
million who helped to generate $400 billion in gross domestic
product in 2009. CIA Fact Book, which provides national profiles
on countries, reports that Colombia's economy has experienced
positive growth over the past five years despite the ongoing armed
conflict. While violence has been decreasing since about 2002, the
CIA Fact Book states that there are still attacks against civilians
and large swaths of the countryside are under guerrilla influence
or contested by security forces.
Foreign direct investment hit a record $10 billion in 2008 due to,
according to the CIA Fact Book, a series of pro-business and open
market reforms advanced by President Uribe and the opportunities
provided by the Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act.
5)Human rights violations: The United Nations' Office of the High
Commisioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has had an official presence
in Colombia since 1997. The Colombia OHCHR office plays a number
of roles, including serving as an observer and reporter on human
rights and international humanitarian law violations. In addition
to the country level-efforts of the OHCHR, the Human Rights Council
of the General Assembly of the United Nations has sent
representatives to Colombia to assess conditions.
Most recently, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human
rights defenders, i.e. people who advocate for human rights,
released a summary report on her September 2009 onsite review.
During the trip, she met with senior government officials, human
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rights defenders and people in the communities. In her findings,
she acknowledges that Colombia has made significant progress in
improving the overall security of the country between 2002, when
President Uribe took office, and 2008, including having a
measurable decrease in the number of homicides.
She also states, however, that she is deeply concerned about the
widespread phenomenon of threats being made against human rights
defenders (including unionists) and their families, often through
pamphlets, obituaries, emails, phone calls and text messages. She
states that she received numerous accounts of threats in all places
she visited in the country. This phenomenon has reportedly worsened
since the beginning of 2009 and this fact was corroborated to her
by the Head of the National Police.
The report specially addresses the plight of trade unionists and
the increased threats and especially the continued practice of
"enforced disappearance and execution." Also included in the
report are concerns raised about the treatment of indigenous
leaders; Afro-Colombian leaders; activists for displaced persons;
women human rights defenders; journalists; youth activists; church
workers; lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender; and magistrates.
Her report concludes with 25 recommendations for improving the
safety of human rights defenders, including such things as "the
Government should fully guarantee that personnel assigned to the
protection of human rights defenders do not gather information for
intelligence purposes" and "the Attorney-General's Office should
review all criminal investigations against human rights defenders,
close immediately all cases found to be baseless, and prosecute
State officials, including prosecutors, who maliciously
investigated defenders."
Her recommendation to the international community is that it should
continue monitoring the situation of human rights defenders, in
particular the most targeted and vulnerable ones, and to express
support for the work of the human rights defenders, among other
venues, before international and regional human rights compliance
mechanisms.
6)Concern for Colombian workers: International labor leaders and
those in the U.S. and California have repeatedly raised concerns
that the Colombian government does not have sufficient laws, nor
does it systematically enforce the laws it does have, in order to
protect the rights and lives of trade unionists.
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In addition to the 48 trade unionists that have been murdered in
2009, the labor leaders have stated that the Colombian government
has been extremely slow to arrest and bring to trial the people who
were responsible for the more than 2,700 murders of Colombian trade
unionists since 1986. Many of those that have been tried have been
tried in abstentia, resulting in no real justice for those who have
suffered at their hands.
Labor organizations say they can support trade if the terms of the
agreement are fair and create good opportunities for workers in
both countries. However, they believe that the U.S. should not
commit to deep and more permanent economic integration, by way of a
comprehensive trade agreement, with a country with such a poor
record on trade union and human rights. These matters must be
addressed as a precondition to evaluating the trade agreement on
its own merits. Union leaders in the U.S. are strongly opposed to
an affirmative vote on the Colombia FTA.
7)California's trade-based economy: International trade is a very
important component of California's $1.8 trillion economy,
exporting $120 billion in goods in 2009 to over 200 counties. If
California were a country, it would be the 11th largest exporter in
the world.
By comparison, Colombia's $400 billion economy supported the
importation of $11.3 billion of U.S. products in 2008. Top imports
from all countries to Colombia include industrial equipment,
transportation equipment, consumer goods, chemicals, paper, and
fuels. In 2009, $319.8 million in goods from California were
exported to Colombia.
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| California Exports to Colombia in 2009 |
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|------------------------+------------------+--------------|
| Product | Value ($) | Percent |
|------------------------+------------------+--------------|
|334 _Computers & | | 30.3%|
|Electronic Prod. | | |
| |96,813,070 | |
|------------------------+------------------+--------------|
|325 _Chemical | 41,425,146| 13%|
|Manufactures | | |
|------------------------+------------------+--------------|
|336 _Transportation | 38,276,120| 12%|
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|Equipment | | |
|------------------------+------------------+--------------|
|324 Petroleum & Coal | 31,884,175| 10%|
|Products | | |
|------------------------+------------------+--------------|
|All Others | 111,402,388| 34%|
|------------------------+------------------+--------------|
|Total | 319,800,899| 100%|
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|Source: TradeStats Express |
| |
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Supporters of the CTPA state that the agreement offers tremendous
opportunities for California exporters. Most significantly, they
cite a number of tariffs, which will be immediately eliminated
(80%); the remaining tariffs will be phased out over 10 years.
Based on information from the U.S. Department of Commerce, the
following are examples of current tariffs and their proposed
reductions under CTPA:
a) Computers and electronic products : Current tariffs are
between 8 and 15%. The CTPA covers 100% of U.S. exports under
the Information Technology Agreement, which will receive 100%
duty free treatment immediately upon the effective date of the
CTPA.
b) Chemical manufacturers : Current tariffs are between 8 and
20%. Upon the effective date of the CTPA, 82% of U.S. chemical
exports will receive duty free treatment, with the remaining
tariffs being phased out over 10 years. Examples of chemical
and related products include pharmaceuticals, cosmetics,
fertilizers, and agrochemicals. Strong economic opportunities
cited in the literature include chloride, styrene, and
polyethylene.
c) Agricultural products : Upon the effective date of the CTPA,
53% of tariffs on agricultural products will receive duty free
treatment. As an example, this includes 100% elimination of the
price band system that results in tariffs as high as 159% on
U.S. dairy products. All Colombian duties on U.S. dairy
products will be eliminated in 15 years.
8)Additional information: The policy committee analysis includes
additional background and analysis of AJR 27.
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Analysis Prepared by : Toni Symonds / J., E.D. & E. / (916)
319-2090
FN: 0006738