[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 109 (Tuesday, July 31, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8463-S8464]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.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-165. A concurrent resolution adopted by the House of 
     the Legislature of the State of Texas relative to jurors' 
     compensation; to the Committee on Finance.

                    House Concurrent Resolution 104

       Whereas, While jury service is a civic duty for many 
     Americans, extended jury service can create significant 
     financial hardship on jurors, and for many citizens the honor 
     and privilege of serving on a jury becomes instead a burden 
     that not only tends to limit participation in jury service 
     but ultimately reduces the representativeness of juries in an 
     increasingly diverse society; and
       Whereas, Under current Texas law, jurors are entitled to 
     reimbursement of expenses in an amount not less than $6 nor 
     more than $50 for each day of jury service, with the actual 
     amount being determined by the county commissioners court; 
     the law also allows a presiding judge, under certain 
     circumstances, to increase the daily reimbursement above the 
     amount set by the commissioners court provided that 
     reimbursement does not exceed the maximum allowable amount of 
     $50 per day, with the additional costs in these cases being 
     shared equally by the parties involved; and
       Whereas, Because jurors' compensation often falls at the 
     lower end of this reimbursement schedule, jury duty 
     participation may cause undue financial hardships on citizens 
     who incur substantial traveling and other daily expenses when 
     responding to a jury summons; and
       Whereas, Furthermore, because Texas law does not require 
     employers to pay employees for the time they take off work to 
     perform jury service, the financial hardship falls most 
     heavily on hourly wage earners who cannot afford the 
     different between the $6 per day compensation and the amount 
     of wages lost; and
       Whereas, Consequently, minorities, young adults, and other 
     lower-income individuals are significantly underrepresented 
     on many Texas juries, which may potentially violate a 
     constitutional requirement that juries represent a cross-
     section of the community; and
       Whereas, While county commissioners courts may provide for 
     juror compensation above the state minimum, courts in poorer 
     communities may be hard pressed to do so, and even in those 
     communities that do pay above the minimum, the higher 
     compensation still does not offset the amount of wages a 
     juror may forgo during an extended jury trial; additional 
     incentives are needed to lessen or remove jurors' financial 
     burdens and thus ensure greater public participation in jury 
     service and safeguard constitutional guarantees; now, 
     therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the 77th Legislature of the State of Texas 
     hereby respectfully request the Congress of the United States 
     to pass legislation amending the Internal Revenue Code to 
     give each person who serves on a jury under certain 
     circumstances or in certain localities a $40 tax credit per 
     day of service and to give each person who is summoned and 
     appears, but does not serve, a one-time $40 tax credit for 
     that day; and, be it further
       Resolved, That the Texas secretary of state forward 
     official copies of this resolution to the president of the 
     United States, to the speaker of the house of representatives 
     and the president of the senate of the United States 
     Congress, and to all the members of the Texas delegation to 
     the congress with the request that this resolution be 
     officially entered in the Congressional Record as a memorial 
     to the Congress of the United States of America.
                                  ____

       POM-166. A concurrent resolution adopted by the House of 
     the Legislature of the State of Texas relative to Canadian 
     lumber, to the Committee on Finance.

                     House Concurrent Resolution 98

       Whereas, Lumber is an important natural resource and a 
     vital industry for both the United States and Texas; the U.S. 
     and Texas timber industries' ability to compete in a global 
     economy, however, is hampered by the continuing influx of 
     Canadian lumber, which is heavily subsidized by the 
     provincial governments; and
       Whereas, Canadian softwood lumber producers obtain most of 
     their timber supply from government-owned forests, and the 
     provinces subsidize lumber production by selling timber to 
     Canadian lumber companies at noncompetitive prices for a 
     fraction of the timber's market value; and
       Whereas, Artificially low provincial timber prices, minimum 
     harvesting restrictions, and other practices that encourage 
     overharvesting and overproduction have helped Canadian 
     imports gain a 36 percent share of the U.S. softwood lumber 
     market; and
       Whereas, Highly subsidized Canadian lumber imports unfairly 
     compete with U.S. lumber companies, jeopardizing thousands of 
     jobs and driving down the market value of U.S. forestlands; 
     and
       Whereas, U.S. industry and labor groups, U.S. and Canadian 
     environmental organizations, and Native American groups have 
     called for an end to these subsidies in order to establish 
     fair trade practices; and
       Whereas, The United States must fully enforce trade laws to 
     offset the subsidies and mitigate injury to the U.S. softwood 
     lumber industry if the Canadian subsidies are not 
     discontinued; and
       Whereas, The only protection for U.S. timber growers 
     against these unfair market conditions is the current United 
     States-Canada Softwood Lumber Agreement, which is scheduled 
     to expire on the last day of March 2001; now, therefore, be 
     it
       Resolved, That the 77th Legislature of the State of Texas 
     hereby respectfully urge the Congress of the United States 
     to:
       (1) make the problem of subsidized Canadian lumber imports 
     a top trade priority to be addressed immediately;
       (2) take every possible action to end Canadian lumber 
     subsidy practices through open and competitive sales of 
     timber and logs in Canada for fair market value or, if Canada 
     will not agree to end the subsidies immediately, provide that 
     the subsidies be offset in the United States;
       (3) encourage open and competitive timber sales at fair 
     market prices; and
       (4) if Canada does not agree to end subsidies for lumber:
       (A) enforce vigorously, promptly, and fully the trade laws 
     with regard to subsidized and dumped imports;
       (B) explore all options to stop unfairly traded imports; 
     and
       (C) limit injury to the U.S. lumber industry; and, be it 
     further
       Resolved, That the Texas secretary of state forward 
     official copies of this resolution to the president of the 
     United States, to the speaker of the house of representatives 
     and the president of the senate of the United States 
     Congress, and to all members of the Texas delegation to the 
     congress with the request that this resolution be entered in 
     the Congressional Record as a memorial to the Congress of the 
     United States of America.
                                  ____

       POM-167. A concurrent resolution adopted by the House of 
     the Legislature of the State of Texas relative to enacting 
     the Railroad Retirement and Survivors' Improvement Act of 
     2001; to the Committee on Finance.

                    House Concurrent Resolution 210

       Whereas, The Railroad Retirement and Survivors' Improvement 
     Act of 2000 was approved in a bipartisan effort by 391 
     members of the United States House of Representatives in the 
     106th Congress, including 20 members from the Texas 
     delegation to the congress; and
       Whereas, Even though more than 80 United States senators 
     signed letters of support for this legislation in 2000, the 
     bill never came up for a vote in the full senate; and
       Whereas, An identical bill addressing railroad retirement 
     reform is now before the 107th Congress to modernize the 
     financing of the railroad retirement system for its 748,000 
     beneficiaries nationwide, including more than 38,000 in 
     Texas; and
       Whereas, The act provides tax relief to freight railroads, 
     Amtrak, and commuter lines; it also provides benefit 
     improvements for surviving spouses of rail workers, who 
     currently suffer deep cuts in income when the rail retiree 
     dies; and
       Whereas, Railroad management and labor and retiree 
     organizations have agreed to support this legislation; and
       Whereas, No outside contributions from taxpayers are needed 
     to implement the changes called for in this legislation as 
     all costs relating to the reforms will come from within the 
     railroad industry, including a full share by active 
     employees; now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the 77th Legislature of the State of Texas 
     hereby respectfully urge the Congress of the United States to 
     enact the Railroad Retirement and Survivors' Improvement Act 
     of 2001; and, be it further
       Resolved, That the Texas secretary of state forward 
     official copies of this resolution to the president of the 
     United States, to the speaker of the house of representatives 
     and the president of the senate of the United States 
     Congress, and to all the members of the Texas delegation to 
     the congress with the request that this resolution be 
     officially entered in the Congressional Record as a memorial 
     to the Congress of the United States of America.
                                  ____

       POM-168. A concurrent resolution adopted by the Senate of 
     the Legislature of the State of Texas relative to the 
     development of an agreement or treaty with Mexico to address 
     health issues; to the Committee on Foreign Relations.


                    Senate Concurrent Resolution 21

       Whereas, Border health conditions not only pose an 
     immediate risk to those who live along either side of the 
     United States-Mexico border, but also are a health concern 
     for all of the United States, and unaddressed health concerns 
     in this region will only continue to worsen as the border 
     population and its mobility increase, thereby escalating the 
     risks to other areas of exposure and transmission of disease; 
     and
       Whereas, While the State of Texas has attempted to address 
     many of the health issues facing the border population in 
     Texas, binational cooperation at the federal level is 
     essential to addressing these health concerns; and

[[Page S8464]]

       Whereas, In 1999, the Texas Legislature called for an in-
     depth study of the public health infrastructure and barriers 
     to a cooperative effort between Texas and Mexico; results of 
     the study indicate that differences in technology and 
     limitations on the exchange of technology, disparities in 
     methods of collecting data and confidentiality provisions 
     that restrict information sharing, and cultural differences 
     that affect interaction between local and state health 
     departments all combine to inhibit collaboration on health 
     issues of mutual concern; and
       Whereas, An example of the consequences of such barriers to 
     cooperation occurred in 1999, when an outbreak of dengue 
     fever in South Texas was traced back to Mexican cities and 
     was thought to have been brought from Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, 
     to Laredo, Texas; and
       Whereas, Despite the implications for an outbreak across 
     the border, Mexican health officials were limited in their 
     ability to confirm cases of the mosquito-borne illness, and 
     provisions in the Mexican Constitution restricted them from 
     sharing the results of tests performed on Mexican citizens 
     with Texas' health officials; and
       Whereas, Similar instances have occurred where incidences 
     of tuberculosis, salmonella, and malaria around the United 
     States were found to have started in the Texas-Mexico border 
     region; and
       Whereas, It is in the interest of the United States to 
     control the spread of diseases, beginning in the places where 
     they originate, and poverty and poor health conditions along 
     the United States-Mexico border region provide a large 
     incubation ground for diseases; however, the efforts of one 
     state or country alone will not address conditions that are 
     present on both sides of the border, or legal issues that 
     create incompatibilities between approaches, making a 
     cooperative binational effort vitally important; and
       Whereas, The United States and Mexico have worked in 
     concert in forming NAFTA and related side agreements that 
     address environmental infrastructure issues, creating the 
     Border Environment Cooperation Commission and establishing 
     the North American Development Bank; the success of these 
     joint ventures suggests that forming similar international 
     agreements to improve the public health infrastructure and 
     finding ways to address the exchange of technology and 
     information will improve the quality of life for residents of 
     the border region as well as reduce the public health risks 
     in the spread of disease; and
       Whereas, Establishing an agreement between the United 
     States and Mexico will show a commitment to the issue of 
     public health and acknowledge that the spread of disease is 
     an international problem without boundaries; now, therefore, 
     be it
       Resolved, That the 77th Legislature of the State of Texas 
     hereby urge the Congress of the United States to initiate the 
     development of an agreement or treaty with Mexico to address 
     health issues of mutual concern; and, be it further
       Resolved, That the Texas secretary of state forward 
     official copies of this resolution to the president of the 
     United States, to the speaker of the house of representatives 
     and the president of the senate of the United States 
     Congress, and to all the members of the Texas delegation to 
     the congress with the request that this resolution be 
     officially entered in the Congressional Record as a memorial 
     to the Congress of the United States of America.

                          ____________________