Full Text of SJR0032 095th General Assembly
SJ0032 95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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SJ0032 |
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| SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION
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| 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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| 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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| 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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LRB095 11260 MJR 31766 r |
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| 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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| WHEREAS, Recent trade agreements curtail state regulatory | 9 |
| authority by placing constraints on future policy options; and
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| 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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| 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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| 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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| requirements and have refused even to copy state legislatures | 2 |
| on key correspondence; and
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| 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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| 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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| 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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| 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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| 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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| 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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| 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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| WHEREAS, The current grant of Fast Track expires in July | 2 |
| 2007; therefore, be it
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| 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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| 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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| 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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| Representatives, and the members of the Illinois congressional | 2 |
| delegation.
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