BILL NUMBER: SJR 36	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Senator Cedillo
   (Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Tom Berryhill)
   (Coauthors: Senators Aanestad, Alquist, Ashburn, DeSaulnier,
Ducheny, Dutton, Emmerson, Hancock, Huff, Leno, Pavley, Romero,
Steinberg, and Wright)
   (Coauthors: Assembly Members Arambula, Evans, Saldana, and Smyth)

                        AUGUST 9, 2010

   Relative to trade and food supply with Cuba.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SJR 36, as introduced, Cedillo. Removal of restrictions relating
to agricultural sales to Cuba.
   This measure would urge the President and the Congress of the
United States to consider the removal of commercial, economic, and
financial restrictions relating to agricultural sales to Cuba.
   Fiscal committee: no.



   WHEREAS, The trade relationship between the United States and Cuba
has long been marked by tension; and
   WHEREAS, Further heightening this conflict is the 50-year-old
United States trade embargo against the island nation, which remains
the most restrictive in modern history; and
   WHEREAS, In the last 10 years, Cuba has experienced an evolution
of its foreign trade, and the most outstanding feature is the
divergence between the exports of goods, whose value increased
approximately two and one-half times in that period, and the imports,
which more than tripled; and
   WHEREAS, In 2000, Congress passed the federal Trade Sanctions
Reform and Export Enhancement Act (22 U.S.C. Sec. 7201 et seq.),
which allows the Cuban government to buy United States food and
agricultural products with direct cash payments; and
   WHEREAS, Despite the trade embargo, the United States is the fifth
largest exporter to Cuba, even though businesses wishing to sell
their products in Cuba have to be approved on a case-by-case basis;
and
   WHEREAS, Cuba's reliance on United States agriculture is now in
jeopardy because Cuba witnessed significant economic growth in 2003
and averaged 6.3 percent for the period 2001 to 2006, inclusive, but
now Cuba is struggling economically with the Cuban government
forecasting a modest 1.9 percent growth in 2010, and the value of the
food imported into Cuba from the United States that totaled
$712,000,000 in 2008 declined to $533,000,000 in 2009; and
   WHEREAS, Cuba's current economic struggles and the United States'
cumbersome trade process that requires Cuba to pay cash for all
imports, as credit is not allowed, before their shipments leave
United States ports put American farmers at risk and discourage many
companies from doing business with Cuba; and
   WHEREAS, California is the top agricultural producer and exporter
in the nation, a position it has held for 50 years, due to its
enormous variety of crops and great growing conditions; and
   WHEREAS, Removal of the trade and financial restrictions related
to the sale of agricultural products to Cuba would increase sales and
business opportunities for the California agriculture industry; and
   WHEREAS, California's economy is the largest of any state in the
United States and is one of the 10 largest economies in the world
and, as of 2008, the gross state product (GSP) in California was
approximately $1.85 trillion, which was 13 percent of the United
States gross domestic product (GDP); and
   WHEREAS, California is, therefore, ideally positioned to benefit
from a modification to the financial, investment, and commercial
restrictions related to agricultural sales to Cuba, which would
encourage United States workers, farmers, and businesses to expand to
the Cuban market and decide for themselves what level of risk they
are willing to take in trading with and loaning to Cuba; and
   WHEREAS, Rather than limiting Cuba of access to foreign investors,
the United States embargo succeeds only in driving investments and
food supply to competitors in other countries that have no such
restrictions; and
   WHEREAS, The United States' financial restrictions related to
agricultural sales to Cuba threaten the United States exporters'
advantage in the Cuban food market and obstruct economic growth and
job creation; 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
hereby respectfully urges the President and the Congress of the
United States to consider the removal of commercial, economic, and
financial restrictions relating to agricultural sales to Cuba; 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,
the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and to each Senator and
Representative from California in the Congress of the United States.