HF 3001

as introduced - 83rd Legislature (2003 - 2004) Posted on 12/15/2009 12:00am

  1.1                             A resolution 
  1.2             memorializing Congress to give high priority to 
  1.3             preserving the rights of the states and of local 
  1.4             governments to govern themselves, when considering 
  1.5             ratification of the Central American Free Trade 
  1.6             Agreement. 
  1.7      
  1.8      WHEREAS, the United States government is negotiating with 
  1.9   34 countries in the western hemisphere to create a Free Trade 
  1.10  Area of the Americas (FTAA) that would eliminate barriers to 
  1.11  trade, investment and services, while creating a single set of 
  1.12  trade rules among member countries; and 
  1.13     WHEREAS, as a step toward the creating of the FTAA, the 
  1.14  United States government has already negotiated a Central 
  1.15  American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) that will be submitted to 
  1.16  Congress for approval this year; and 
  1.17     WHEREAS, Minnesota has suffered the loss of thousands of 
  1.18  manufacturing jobs under the North American Free Trade 
  1.19  Agreement, the predecessor of CAFTA and FTAA; and 
  1.20     WHEREAS, CAFTA and FTAA do not contain comprehensive and 
  1.21  enforceable protections for workers, the environment, and our 
  1.22  democratic process; and 
  1.23     WHEREAS, without setting enforceable standards for minimum 
  1.24  labor and environmental protections, CAFTA and FTAA, like their 
  1.25  predecessor NAFTA, could escalate a race to the bottom in which 
  1.26  nations compete for foreign investment by offering the lowest 
  2.1   wages and most lax labor and environmental protections to the 
  2.2   detriment of their populations; and 
  2.3      WHEREAS, CAFTA and FTAA provisions could make Minnesota's 
  2.4   prevailing wage law an impermissible trade barrier and could 
  2.5   allow for the temporary entry of low-wage, essentially 
  2.6   indentured workers to undermine wages in the construction and 
  2.7   other Minnesota industries; and 
  2.8      WHEREAS, the provisions of CAFTA and FTAA could decimate 
  2.9   Minnesota's two billion dollar per year sugar beet industry, 
  2.10  which provides 34,000 direct and indirect jobs; and 
  2.11     WHEREAS, the provisions of FTAA could jeopardize 
  2.12  Minnesota's soybean, dairy, and ethanol industries; and 
  2.13     WHEREAS, the risk of conflict between CAFTA and FTAA rules 
  2.14  on trade in services and state or local law is relatively high 
  2.15  because over 75 percent of the economy is now in the service 
  2.16  sector, and many services are regulated or provided by state and 
  2.17  local governments, including programs designed to assist 
  2.18  disadvantaged areas; and 
  2.19     WHEREAS, CAFTA and FTAA include rules on services that 
  2.20  could require the privatization of public services regardless of 
  2.21  the will of citizens and elected officials; and 
  2.22     WHEREAS, CAFTA and FTAA include subsidy rules that 
  2.23  potentially conflict with state or local law-making to promote 
  2.24  economic development; and 
  2.25     WHEREAS, the investment provisions of CAFTA and FTAA create 
  2.26  foreign investor rights that potentially conflict with 
  2.27  traditional local land-use decision-making ability; and 
  2.28     WHEREAS, the investment provisions of CAFTA and FTAA affect 
  2.29  state and local powers; NOW, THEREFORE, 
  2.30     BE IT RESOLVED by the Legislature of the State of 
  2.31  Minnesota, that the Legislature requests the Congress of the 
  2.32  United States to give high priority to preserving the rights of 
  2.33  the states and of local governments to govern themselves, when 
  2.34  the Congress considers whether to ratify the Central American 
  2.35  Free Trade Agreement. 
  2.36     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of State of the 
  3.1   State of Minnesota shall transmit copies of this memorial to the 
  3.2   Speaker and the Clerk of the United States House of 
  3.3   Representatives, the President and the Secretary of the United 
  3.4   States Senate, the United States Secretary of State, the United 
  3.5   State Trade Representative, the presiding officers of both 
  3.6   houses of the legislatures of each of the other states of the 
  3.7   Union, and to Minnesota's Senators and Representatives in 
  3.8   Congress.