Bill Text: TX SCR9 | 2017-2018 | 85th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Urging Congress to explore and negotiate the creation of a binational framework allowing the United States and Mexico to address the threat of communicable diseases.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2017-02-01 - Referred to Health & Human Services [SCR9 Detail]
Download: Texas-2017-SCR9-Introduced.html
85R6960 BPG-D | ||
By: Lucio | S.C.R. No. 9 |
|
||
WHEREAS, Zika and other communicable diseases do not stop at | ||
international borders, but by working together, the United States | ||
and Mexico can establish an effective framework to provide the | ||
necessary resources, personnel, and funding to improve the response | ||
to threats such as the Zika virus at the local, state, national, and | ||
binational level; and | ||
WHEREAS, A template for successful binational cooperation is | ||
offered by the North American Development Bank and its sister | ||
institution, the Border Environmental Cooperation Commission, | ||
launched in 1994 by the federal governments of the United States and | ||
Mexico to fund and certify environmental infrastructure projects in | ||
the border region; the NADB and BECC are governed jointly by the two | ||
countries via a 10-member board of directors composed of | ||
high-ranking officials from each nation, a border state | ||
representative, and a border resident representative; and | ||
WHEREAS, Cooperation at the highest levels of the U.S. and | ||
Mexican governments is key to protecting the health and well-being | ||
of people in border communities and throughout the Northern | ||
Hemisphere from Zika and other communicable diseases; now, | ||
therefore, be it | ||
RESOLVED, That the 85th Legislature of the State of Texas | ||
hereby urge the United States Congress to work with the U.S. | ||
president, the U.S. ambassador to Mexico, and their counterparts in | ||
Mexico to explore and negotiate the creation of a binational | ||
framework to address the threat of communicable diseases; and, be | ||
it further | ||
RESOLVED, That consideration be given to expanding the | ||
mission of the NADB and BECC or building on that example to | ||
establish new institutions; Congress is also urged to consider | ||
entrusting governance of these endeavors to the members of the NADB | ||
and BECC board along with the secretary of the U.S. Department of | ||
Health and Human Services, the director of the U.S. Centers for | ||
Disease Control and Prevention, and their Mexican counterparts; | ||
and, be it further | ||
RESOLVED, That the Texas Legislature urge that such new | ||
institutions provide essential support to enhance conditions, | ||
improve drainage and other infrastructure, and advance measures | ||
that directly or indirectly promote the prevention of communicable | ||
diseases in the border region; and, be it further | ||
RESOLVED, That the Texas Legislature urge that such | ||
institutions provide assistance in the form of loans, grants, and | ||
in-kind resources to allow local communities, federal entities, and | ||
stakeholders to undertake research, surveillance, outreach | ||
campaigns, detection, and data exchange and assessment to educate | ||
border residents about the spread of communicable disease and to | ||
aid areas where disease is being transmitted; 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 president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of | ||
Representatives of the United States Congress, and to all the | ||
members of the Texas delegation to 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. |