[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 72 (Monday, May 9, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2624-S2625]
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-161. A concurrent resolution adopted by the House of 
     Delegates of the State of West Virginia urging the United 
     States Congress to provide funding for the West Virginia 
     National Guard to sustain and enhance its capabilities in its 
     role in a regional catastrophe and to modernize the 
     antiquated avionics of its fleet of C130s and other aircraft 
     to meet global airspace requirements for 2020; to the 
     Committee on Armed Services.

                   House Concurrent Resolution No. 20

       Whereas, In the event of a regional catastrophe, West 
     Virginia's east-west highways, including I-68 and I-64 are 
     links to the major exit corridors from the FEMA National 
     Capital Region (NCR) westward and, assuming that a regional 
     catastrophe will likely include Baltimore to the north of the 
     NCR and Richmond to the south of the NCR, westward evacuation 
     utilizing these highways is highly likely and is, in fact 
     anticipated; and
       Whereas, The routes through West Virginia will traverse 
     rural areas that do not have infrastructure adequate for what 
     could be a mass of evacuees in the worst-case scenario; 
     experience in regional emergencies, such as Superstorm Sandy 
     in 2012, illustrates some shortcomings in planning that is 
     less focused on regions and more on states; and
       Whereas, West Virginia is perfectly (and geographically) 
     postured to support any emergency or disaster response to the 
     NCR, including mass evacuation westward; and
       Whereas, FEMA regions do not necessarily represent grouping 
     of states likely to be involved in some scenarios; FEMA 
     region III contains the NCR and West Virginia as its western-
     most edge and in a major catastrophe, Regions V, with Ohio, 
     Indiana, and Illinois, VII with Missouri, and IV with 
     Kentucky, Tennessee, and North Carolina are likely to be 
     involved in some combinations; and
       Whereas, The National Guard, through the use of Emergency 
     Management Assistance Compacts, can operate across state 
     lines to provide vital response capability in security, 
     transportation, medical, housing, communications, command and 
     control, and others based on its dual role in military 
     preparedness and state civil support; and
       Whereas, Military Force Structure assigned to the National 
     Guard must be considered by Federal Military planners for the 
     dual use they can encounter; National Guard Organizations 
     require personnel, equipment, organization, training, 
     leadership and funding to maintain federal military standards 
     and to be prepared to respond to a domestic emergency or 
     disaster; and
       Whereas, Regional catastrophic planning is dependent on 
     National Guard assets, capabilities and responsiveness; 
     consequently, it is also critical that federal military 
     planners assess the impact of their force structure changes 
     on regional capability needs as well as those that are state 
     specific; and
       Whereas, The C-130 H3 ``Hercules'' aircraft assigned to the 
     130th Airlift Wing of the West Virginia National Guard at 
     Yeager Airport in Charleston, West Virginia will eventually 
     become obsolete without system modernization to the 
     communication, navigation, and surveillance (CNS) components; 
     National Air Traffic Control (ATC) agencies and the 
     International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) are 
     moddernizing airspace faster than the U.S. Air Force is 
     updating C-130 avionics capabilities; and
       Whereas, Aircraft component acquisition becomes 
     increasingly difficult as fewer C-130 H aircraft remain in 
     the Air Force inventory and the unique components of the C-
     130, including its self contained navigational system (SCNS), 
     face short term supply chain shortages that could be remedied 
     with aircraft avionics modernization; and
       Whereas, The contract to perform maintenance on aircraft 
     flight computers is renewed annually and this perpetual 
     reliance on short term contracts increases sustainment cost 
     and challenges mission effectiveness and operational 
     planning; and
       Whereas, Reliance on short term contracts and antiquated 
     avionics will increase Air Force expense in the long run as 
     it translates to more expensive mission-essential

[[Page S2625]]

     contracts and increased fuel expenditures due to inefficient 
     routing: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved by the Legislature of West Virginia; That the 
     Legislature hereby urges the United States Congress to 
     provide funding for the West Virginia National Guard to 
     sustain and enhance its capabilities in its role in a 
     regional catastrophe and to modernize the antiquated avionics 
     of its fleet of C-130s and other aircraft to meet global 
     airspace requirements for 2020; and be it further
       Resolved, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates is 
     hereby directed to forward a copy of this resolution to the 
     President and Secretary of the United States Senate, the 
     Speaker and Clerk of the House of Representatives and to the 
     members of West Virginia congressional delegation.
                                  ____

       POM-162. A concurrent resolution adopted by the House of 
     Delegates of the State of West Virginia urging the United 
     States Environmental Protection Agency not to prohibit 
     conversion of vehicles to race cars; to the Committee on 
     Environment and Public Works.

                   House Concurrent Resolution No. 68

       Whereas, The United States Environmental Protection Agency 
     has proposed a regulation to prohibit conversion of vehicles 
     originally designed for on-road use into racecars; and
       Whereas, The regulation would also make the sale of certain 
     products for use on such vehicles illegal. The proposed 
     regulation was contained within a nonrelated proposed 
     regulation entitled ``Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Fuel 
     Efficiency Standards for Medium-and Heavy-Duty Engines and 
     Vehicles--Phase 2''; and
       Whereas, The regulation would impact all vehicle types, 
     including the sports cars, sedans and hatch-backs commonly 
     converted strictly for use at the track. While the Clean Air 
     Act prohibits certain modifications to motor vehicles, it is 
     clear that vehicles built or modified for racing, and not 
     used on the streets, are not the ``motor vehicles'' that 
     Congress intended to regulate; and
       Whereas, ``This proposed regulation represents overreaching 
     by the agency, runs contrary to the law and defies decades of 
     racing activity where EPA has acknowledged and allowed 
     conversion of vehicles,'' said Specialty Equipment Market 
     Association (SEMA) President and CEO Chris Kersting. 
     ``Congress did not intend the original Clean Air Act to 
     extend to vehicles modified for racing and has reenforced 
     that intent on more than one occasion''; and
       Whereas, SEMA submitted comments in opposition to the 
     regulation and met with the United States Environmental 
     Protection Agency to confirm the agency's intentions. The 
     United States Environmental Protection Agency indicated that 
     the regulation would prohibit conversion of vehicles into 
     racecars and make the sale of certain emissions-related parts 
     for use on converted vehicles illegal. This would certainly 
     be detrimental to the economy: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved by the Legislature of West Virginia; That the 
     State of West Virginia hereby respectfully urges the 
     Environmental Protection Agency not to prohibit conversion of 
     vehicles to race cars; and be it further
       Resolved, That the State of West Virginia respectfully 
     urges the Environmental Protection Agency not to issue its 
     final regulations until the legislatures of the states have 
     submitted comments; and be it further
       Resolved, That the State of West Virginia forward official 
     copies of the resolution to the President of the United 
     States, to the President of the Senate and Speaker of the 
     House of Representatives of the United States Congress and 
     West Virginia's representatives in Congress.
                                  ____

       POM-163. A resolution adopted by the Legislature of the 
     State of Nebraska relative to their ratification of the 
     Twenty-Seventh Amendment to the United States Constitution; 
     to the Committee on the Judiciary.

                       Legislative Resolution 381

       Whereas, The first Congress of the United States, at its 
     first session, held in New York, New York, on the twenty-
     fifth day of September, in the year one thousand seven 
     hundred and eighty-nine, passed the following resolution to 
     amend the Constitution of the United States of America, in 
     the following words and figures in part, to wit:
       The Conventions of a number of the States having at the 
     time of their adopting the Constitution, expressed a desire, 
     in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its powers, 
     that further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be 
     added: And as extending the ground of public confidence in 
     the Government will best ensure the beneficent ends of its 
     institution;
       Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
     United States of America in Congress assembled, two thirds of 
     both Houses concurring, That the following Articles be 
     proposed to the Legislatures of the several States, as 
     Amendments to the Constitution of the United States, all or 
     any of which Articles, when ratified by three fourths of the 
     said Legislatures, to be valid to all intents and purposes, 
     as part of the said Constitution, viz.:
       No law, varying the compensation for the services of the 
     Senators and Representatives, shall take effect, until an 
     election of Representatives shall have intervened: Now, 
     therefore, be it
       Resolved by the Members of the One Hundred Fourth 
     Legislature of Nebraska, Second Session:
       1. That such proposed amendment to the Constitution of the 
     United States be ratified.
       2. That the Clerk of the Legislature send copies of this 
     resolution to the Administrator of the General Services 
     Administration, the President of the United States Senate, 
     and the Speaker of the United States House of 
     Representatives.
                                  ____

       POM-164. A petition from a citizen of the State of Texas 
     relative to an amendment to the United States Constitution; 
     to the Committee on the Judiciary.

                          ____________________