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1 | SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION
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2 | WHEREAS, Democratic, accountable governance in the states | ||||||
3 | generally, and specifically the authority granted to the | ||||||
4 | legislative branch by Illinois' Constitution, is being | ||||||
5 | undermined by international commercial and trade rules | ||||||
6 | enforced by the World Trade Organization (WTO) and established | ||||||
7 | by the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and is | ||||||
8 | further threatened by similar provisions in an array of pending | ||||||
9 | trade agreements; and
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10 | WHEREAS, Today's "trade" agreements have impacts which | ||||||
11 | extend significantly beyond the bounds of traditional trade | ||||||
12 | matters such as tariffs and quotas, and instead grant foreign | ||||||
13 | investors and service providers certain rights and privileges | ||||||
14 | regarding acquisition of land and facilities and regarding | ||||||
15 | operations within a state's territory, subject state laws to | ||||||
16 | challenge as "non-tariff barriers to trade" in the binding | ||||||
17 | dispute resolution bodies that accompany the pacts, and place | ||||||
18 | limits on the future policy options of state legislatures; and
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19 | WHEREAS, NAFTA and other U.S. Free Trade Agreements grant | ||||||
20 | foreign firms new rights and privileges for operating within a | ||||||
21 | state that exceed those granted to U.S. businesses under state | ||||||
22 | and federal law; and
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1 | WHEREAS, When states are bound to comply with government | ||||||
2 | procurement provisions contained in trade agreements, common | ||||||
3 | economic development and environmental policies, such as buy | ||||||
4 | local laws, prevailing wage laws, policies to prevent | ||||||
5 | offshoring of state jobs as well as recycled content laws could | ||||||
6 | be subject to challenged as violating the obligations in the | ||||||
7 | trade agreements; and
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8 | WHEREAS, Recent trade agreements curtail state regulatory | ||||||
9 | authority by placing constraints on future policy options; and
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10 | WHEREAS, The WTO General Agreement on Trade in Services | ||||||
11 | (GATS) could undermine state efforts to expand health care | ||||||
12 | coverage and rein in health care costs, and places constraints | ||||||
13 | on state and local land use planning and gambling policy; and
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14 | WHEREAS, New General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) | ||||||
15 | negotiations could impose additional constraints on state | ||||||
16 | regulation of energy, higher education, professional licensing | ||||||
17 | and more; and
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18 | WHEREAS, Despite the indisputable fact that international | ||||||
19 | trade agreements have a far-reaching impact on state and local | ||||||
20 | laws, federal government trade negotiators have failed to | ||||||
21 | respect states' rights to prior informed consent before binding | ||||||
22 | states to conform state law and authority to trade agreement |
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1 | requirements and have refused even to copy state legislatures | ||||||
2 | on key correspondence; and
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3 | WHEREAS, The current encroachment on state regulatory | ||||||
4 | authority by international commercial and trade agreements has | ||||||
5 | occurred to no small part because U.S. trade policy is being | ||||||
6 | formulated and implemented under the Fast Track Trade Authority | ||||||
7 | procedure; and
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8 | WHEREAS, Fast Track eliminates vital checks and balances | ||||||
9 | established in the U.S. Constitution by broadly delegating | ||||||
10 | Congress' exclusive Constitutional authority to set the terms | ||||||
11 | of trade over to the Executive Branch such that the Executive | ||||||
12 | Branch is empowered to negotiate broad-ranging trade | ||||||
13 | agreements and to sign them prior to Congress voting on the | ||||||
14 | agreements; and
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15 | WHEREAS, The ability of the Executive Branch to sign trade | ||||||
16 | agreements prior to Congress' vote of approval means Executive | ||||||
17 | Branch negotiators are able to ignore congressional | ||||||
18 | negotiating objectives or states' demands and neither Congress | ||||||
19 | nor the state have any means to enforce any decision regarding | ||||||
20 | what provisions must be contained in every U.S. trade agreement | ||||||
21 | and what provisions may not be included in any U.S. trade | ||||||
22 | agreement; and
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1 | WHEREAS, Federal trade negotiators have ignored and | ||||||
2 | disrespected states' demands regarding whether or not states | ||||||
3 | agree to be bound to certain non-tariff trade agreement | ||||||
4 | provisions; and
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5 | WHEREAS, Fast Track also circumvents normal congressional | ||||||
6 | review and amendment committee procedures, limits debate to 20 | ||||||
7 | hours total and forbids any floor amendments to the | ||||||
8 | implementing legislation that is presented to Congress to | ||||||
9 | conform hundreds of U.S. laws to trade agreement obligations | ||||||
10 | and to incorporate the actual trade agreement itself into U.S. | ||||||
11 | federal law which preempts state law; and
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12 | WHEREAS, Fast Track Trade Authority is not necessary for | ||||||
13 | negotiating trade agreements as demonstrated by the existence | ||||||
14 | of scores of trade agreements, including major pacts such as | ||||||
15 | the agreements administered by the WTO, implemented in the past | ||||||
16 | thirty years without use of Fast Track; and
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17 | WHEREAS, Fast Track, which was established in 1974 by | ||||||
18 | then-President Richard Nixon when trade agreements were | ||||||
19 | limited to traditional matters such as tariffs and quotas, is | ||||||
20 | now woefully outdated and inappropriate given the diverse range | ||||||
21 | of non-trade issues now included in "trade" agreement that | ||||||
22 | broadly affect federal and state non-trade regulatory | ||||||
23 | authority; and
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1 | WHEREAS, The current grant of Fast Track expires in July | ||||||
2 | 2007; therefore, be it
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3 | RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-FIFTH GENERAL | ||||||
4 | ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES | ||||||
5 | CONCURRING HEREIN, that the State of Illinois respectfully | ||||||
6 | requests that the United States Congress create a replacement | ||||||
7 | for the outdated Fast Track system so that U.S. trade | ||||||
8 | agreements are developed and implemented using a more | ||||||
9 | democratic, inclusive mechanism that enshrines the principles | ||||||
10 | of federalism and state sovereignty; and be it further
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11 | RESOLVED, That this new process for developing and | ||||||
12 | implementing trade agreements include an explicit mechanism | ||||||
13 | for ensuring the prior informed consent of state legislatures | ||||||
14 | before states are bound to the non-tariff terms of any trade | ||||||
15 | agreement that affects state regulatory authority so as to | ||||||
16 | ensure that the United States Trade Representative respects the | ||||||
17 | decisions made by states; and be it further
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18 | RESOLVED, That that copies of this resolution be | ||||||
19 | immediately transmitted to the Honorable George W. Bush, | ||||||
20 | President of the United States, Ambassador Susan Schwab, United | ||||||
21 | States Trade Representative, the President pro tempore of the | ||||||
22 | United States Senate, the Speaker of the House of |
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1 | Representatives, and the members of the Illinois congressional | ||||||
2 | delegation.
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