[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 43 (Tuesday, April 19, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: April 19, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                        PETITIONS AND MEMORIALS

  The following petitions and memorials were laid before the Senate and 
were referred or ordered to lie on the table as indicated:

       POM-440. A joint resolution adopted by the Legislature of 
     the State of Idaho; to the Committee on Agriculture, 
     Nutrition, and Forestry.

                     ``House Joint Memorial No. 14

       ``Whereas, the Congress of the United States has passed 
     laws to implement programs to control production of surplus 
     crops and to retire lands marginally suited for production of 
     these crops; and
       ``Whereas, some of the lands involved in the federal 
     programs setting aside cropland have been irrigated and have 
     an appurtenant ground water right obtained under state law; 
     and
       ``Whereas, Idaho law and some other state laws protect 
     these rights from forfeiture while the land is contracted in 
     the federal cropland set-aside program; and
       ``Whereas, Idaho law and other state laws allow the holder 
     of ground water rights to seek the transfer of the ground 
     water rights if the requirements of state laws are met, and 
     some of those holders of the water right have changed the 
     place of use of the water right to other agricultural land 
     thereby circumventing the intent and purpose of the federal 
     law as additional crops are being grown on land that is not 
     in the federal set-aside program; and
       ``Whereas, transfer of ground water rights from lands 
     contracted in a federal cropland set-aside program to 
     irrigate other lands capable of producing surplus crops can 
     have a deleterious effect to the aquifer, to surrounding 
     wells and to entire communities.
       ``Now, Therefore, Be It Resolved, By the members of the 
     Second Regular Session of the Fifty-second Idaho Legislature, 
     the House of Representatives and the Senate concurring 
     therein, that when Congress reauthorizes the federal cropland 
     set-aside program that it include a provision prohibiting 
     participants in the program from transferring water rights to 
     irrigate other lands capable of producing surplus crops.
       ``Be It Further Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the House 
     of Representatives be, and she is hereby authorized and 
     directed to forward a copy of this Memorial to the President 
     of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives 
     of Congress, and the congressional delegation representing 
     the State of Idaho in the Congress of the United States.''
                                  ____

       POM-441. A joint resolution adopted by the Legislation of 
     the State of Washington; to the Committee on Armed Services.

                      ``Senate Joint Memorial 8013

       ``Whereas, the recent conflict in the Persian Gulf has 
     brought to our attention once again the valuable contribution 
     of our servicemen and servicewomen; and
       ``Whereas, citizens who choose to make a career of military 
     service and who have served their country for at least twenty 
     years receive military retirement pay based on the longevity 
     of their service; and
       ``Whereas, veterans who have a service-connected disability 
     have made a very personal sacrifice for their country and 
     receive compensation in proportion to the severity of their 
     disabilities; and
       ``Whereas, under current federal law, those individuals who 
     have a service-connected disability and who have chosen to 
     devote twenty or more years of service to the military are 
     prohibited from receiving concurrently their full retirement 
     pay and their full disability compensation. Instead these 
     individuals may receive their retirement pay or their 
     disability compensation, or they must waive an amount of 
     retirement pay equal to the amount of their disability 
     compensation; and
       ``Whereas, this is an inequitable situation which 
     effectively requires disabled military retirees to pay for 
     their own disability compensation benefits out of their 
     retirement pay earned through years of dedicated service; and
       ``Whereas, there are a number of measures that have been 
     introduced in the United States Congress which would reduce 
     or eliminate this inequity by allowing disabled military 
     retirees to receive concurrently their retirement pay and 
     their disability compensation benefits;
       ``Now, therefore, your Memorialists respectfully pray that 
     the United States Congress amend existing federal law to 
     permit career military retirees with service-connected 
     disabilities to receive concurrently their full retirement 
     pay and their full disability compensation.
       ``Be it Resolved, That copies of this Memorial be 
     immediately transmitted to the Honorable Bill Clinton, 
     President of the United States, the President of the United 
     States Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, 
     and to each member of Congress from the State of 
     Washington.''
                                  ____

       POM-442. A joint resolution adopted by the Legislature of 
     the Commonwealth of Virginia; to the Committee on Commerce, 
     Science, and Transportation.

                    ``Senate Joint Resolution No. 25

       ``Whereas, the safety and convenience of the motoring 
     public requires the installation and maintenance of numerous 
     highway signs; and
       ``Whereas, these signs inform motorists of distances to 
     various destinations, advise them of maximum safe speeds, and 
     warn them of weight, height, and width limitations of bridges 
     and tunnels; and
       ``Whereas, in order to be effective, the messages on these 
     signs must be simple, clear, and understandable by passing 
     motorists at a glance; and
       ``Whereas, it is particularly important that the 
     measurements of distance, speed, size, and weight used on 
     highway signs be uniform and familiar to the vast majority of 
     motorists; and
       ``Whereas, it has been proposed that measurements of 
     distance, speed, size, and weight presently used on highway 
     signs throughout the United States be replaced with metric 
     measurements or shown in both English and metric units; and
       ``Whereas, very many motorists in the United States have 
     little or no familiarity with metric measurements; and
       ``Whereas, this lack of familiarity would impair the 
     motoring public's ability to understand the meaning of 
     highway signs at a glance; and
       ``Whereas, the simultaneous use of both English and metric 
     measurements on highway signs would increase the number of 
     characters needed on the signs, possibly increase the size of 
     the signs, probably decrease the public's ability to 
     understand sign messages at a glance, and certainly increase 
     the cost of the signs; and
       ``Whereas, Virginia, like most states, already has more 
     transportation needs than its transportation revenues can 
     meet, without the additional expense of replacing existing 
     highway signs solely for the purpose of displaying metric 
     measurements; now, therefore, be it
       ``Resolved, By the Senate, the House of Delegates 
     concurring, That the Congress of the United States be hereby 
     memorialized to refrain from any requirement that otherwise 
     functional highway signs be replaced or reconfigured solely 
     for the purpose of replacing English measurements with metric 
     measurements or adding metric measurements to English 
     measurements; and, be it
       ``Resolved Further, That the Clerk of the Senate transmit a 
     copy of this resolution to the President of the United States 
     Senate, the Speaker of the United States House of 
     Representatives, and the members of the Virginia Delegation 
     to the Congress in order that they may be apprised of the 
     sense of the General Assembly of Virginia in this matter.''

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