HCR 6 – AS INTRODUCED
2007 SESSION
06/04
HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 6
A RESOLUTION urging Congress to prevent the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement superhighway system.
SPONSORS: Rep. D. Smith, Hills 22; Rep. L. Christiansen, Hills 27; Rep. Weyler, Rock 8; Rep. Nowe, Rock 9; Sen. Kenney, Dist 3; Sen. Fuller Clark, Dist 24
COMMITTEE: State-Federal Relations and Veterans Affairs
This house concurrent resolution urges the New Hampshire congressional delegation and federal government to prevent implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement superhighway system.
07-0121
06/04
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Seven
A RESOLUTION urging Congress to prevent the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement superhighway system.
Whereas, the safety of New Hampshire’s highways is a prime responsibility of the New Hampshire general court and that duty cannot be delegated to any other entity; and
Whereas, a North American Free Trade Agreement superhighway system from the west coast of Mexico through the United States and into Canada is now being implemented by the current administration; and
Whereas, the system includes multiple connections with New Hampshire’s already heavily traveled roads, and is being implemented without any action or oversight by the United States Congress; and
Whereas, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters warned, in The Teamster, August 2006, that the North American Free Trade Agreement superhighway will result in unsafe Mexican trucks replacing United States trucks on United States highways and more Mexican drivers who rely on drugs during long hauls driving on United States highways; and
Whereas, maintenance of Mexican truck brakes and tires falls far below United States standards; and
Whereas Mexican drivers are compelled by their employers to drive an excessive 25 days a month and 4,500 kilometers alone over the course of 5 or 6 nights without sleep, which encourages them to resort to cocaine and crystal methamphetamine to stay awake; and
Whereas, The Teamster interviewed a sample of Mexican drivers and found that all of them had killed people in highway accidents; and
Whereas, the North American Free Trade Agreement superhighway system will therefore bring onto United States soil a profusion of Mexican drivers who are particularly likely to cause accidents on our roads; and
Whereas, given the generally acknowledged corruption of business in Mexico, it will be difficult, if not impossible, for New Hampshire residents, as well as other Americans, to collect insurance claims against Mexican companies, and therefore insurance rates for New Hampshire residents are likely to undergo a sharp increase; and
Whereas, an initial portion of the North American Free Trade Agreement superhighway system already under way in Texas involves a pattern contract between the state and a Spanish-United States Cinta-Zachry consortium that, in return for a single lump payment to the state by Cinta, grants that foreign company the right to levy for years tolls that cannot be regulated by the state and will greatly increase the cost of driving for all motorists; and
Whereas, neither taxpayers nor United States banks are willing to provide the multiple billions of dollars required to construct the extremely large North American Free Trade Agreement superhighway system and the needed funds are expected to be provided only by foreign consortiums, the result will be that the arterial United States highway system will be under foreign management and financial control; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives, the Senate concurring:
That the state of New Hampshire hereby declares its formal opposition to allowing components of the interstate highway system in New Hampshire to become part of the North American Fair Trade Agreement superhighway system; and
That the Congress of the United States be urged to prevent the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement superhighway system; and
That the Congress of the United States be petitioned to take such constitutional action as may be necessary to prevent the executive branch of the federal government from unilaterally implementing the North American Free Trade Agreement superhighway system; and
That the house clerk transmit copies of this resolution to the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, and the members of the New Hampshire congressional delegation, so that they may be apprised of the sense of the general court of New Hampshire in this matter of sovereignty.