Legislature(2019 - 2020)
2019-04-15 Senate Journal
Full Journal pdf2019-04-15 Senate Journal Page 0830 SJR 8 SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 8 Supporting the ratification of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement on trade; encouraging the federal Administration to remove the steel and aluminum tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico; and urging the United States Congress and the federal Administration to call on Canada and Mexico to remove retaliatory tariffs on all goods and services exported from the United States, was read the third time. Senator Kawasaki moved the resolution be returned to second reading for the purpose of considering Amendment No. 1 through Amendment No. 4. Without objection, the resolution was returned to second reading. 2019-04-15 Senate Journal Page 0831 Senator Kawasaki offered Amendment No. 1 : Page 1, line 1, following "trade;": Insert "urging the United States Congress to change the production wage rate calculation in the United States-Mexico- Canada Agreement from an average hourly base rate to a minimum hourly base rate;" Page 3, line 8, following "marketplace;": Insert "and WHEREAS, under ch. 4, art. 7, n. 76 of the United States- Mexico-Canada Agreement, the production wage rate of $16 an hour is calculated as an average hourly base rate, which minimizes the potential effect of the production wage rate by allowing employers to pay some workers much less than $16 an hour and use the pay of high wage workers to raise the average wage rate;" Page 3, line 11, following "agreement": Insert "with a change to the production wage rate calculation" Page 3, line 17, following "United States": Insert "; and be it FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the United States Congress to change the production wage rate calculation under ch. 4, art. 7, n. 76 of the United States-Mexico- Canada Agreement from an average hourly base rate to a minimum hourly base rate" Senator Kawasaki moved for the adoption of Amendment No. 1. Senator Costello objected. The question being: "Shall Amendment No. 1 be adopted?" The roll was taken with the following result: SJR 8 Second Reading Amendment No. 1? YEAS: 6 NAYS: 13 EXCUSED: 1 ABSENT: 0 2019-04-15 Senate Journal Page 0832 Yeas: Begich, Giessel, Gray-Jackson, Kawasaki, Kiehl, Olson Nays: Birch, Bishop, Coghill, Costello, Hoffman, Hughes, Micciche, Reinbold, Shower, Stedman, Stevens, von Imhof, Wilson Excused: Wielechowski and so, Amendment No. 1 failed. Senator Kawasaki offered Amendment No. 2 : Page 1, line 1, following "trade;": Insert "urging the United States Congress to change the production wage rate calculation in the United States-Mexico- Canada Agreement to provide that the production wage rate will be adjusted for inflation;" Page 3, line 8, following "marketplace;": Insert "and WHEREAS, under ch. 4, art. 7, n. 76 of the United States- Mexico-Canada Agreement, the production wage rate of $16 an hour is not tied to inflation, which allows employers the option to ignore inflation and pay workers less than the agreement intends;" Page 3, line 11, following "agreement": Insert "with a change to allow adjustment of the production wage rate for inflation" Page 3, line 17, following "United States": Insert "; and be it FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the United States Congress to change the production wage rate calculation under ch. 4, art. 7, n. 76 of the United States-Mexico- Canada Agreement to provide that the production wage rate will be adjusted for inflation" Senator Kawasaki moved for the adoption of Amendment No. 2. Senator Costello objected. 2019-04-15 Senate Journal Page 0833 The question being: "Shall Amendment No. 2 be adopted?" The roll was taken with the following result: SJR 8 Second Reading Amendment No. 2? YEAS: 5 NAYS: 14 EXCUSED: 1 ABSENT: 0 Yeas: Begich, Gray-Jackson, Kawasaki, Kiehl, Olson Nays: Birch, Bishop, Coghill, Costello, Giessel, Hoffman, Hughes, Micciche, Reinbold, Shower, Stedman, Stevens, von Imhof, Wilson Excused: Wielechowski and so, Amendment No. 2 failed. Amendment No. 3 was not offered. Senator Kawasaki offered Amendment No. 4 : Page 1, line 1, following "trade;": Insert "urging the United States Congress to remove the United States exemption from the discrimination provisions of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement;" Page 3, line 8, following "marketplace;": Insert "and WHEREAS ch. 23, art. 9, n. 13 of the United States-Mexico- Canada Agreement needlessly exempts the United States from the coverage of the provision that requires the parties to the agreement to implement policies they consider appropriate to protect workers against employment discrimination on the basis of sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, and caregiving responsibilities, to provide job-protected leave for birth or adoption of a child and care of family members, and to protect against wage discrimination;" Page 3, line 11, following "agreement": Insert "with the removal of the United States exemption from the discrimination provisions" 2019-04-15 Senate Journal Page 0834 Page 3, line 17, following "United States": Insert "; and be it FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the United States Congress to remove the United States exemption from ch. 23, art. 9, n. 13 of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement" Senator Kawasaki moved for the adoption of Amendment No. 4. Senator Costello objected. The question being: "Shall Amendment No. 4 be adopted?" The roll was taken with the following result: SJR 8 Second Reading Amendment No. 4? YEAS: 5 NAYS: 14 EXCUSED: 1 ABSENT: 0 Yeas: Begich, Gray-Jackson, Kawasaki, Kiehl, Olson Nays: Birch, Bishop, Coghill, Costello, Giessel, Hoffman, Hughes, Micciche, Reinbold, Shower, Stedman, Stevens, von Imhof, Wilson Excused: Wielechowski and so, Amendment No. 4 failed. SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 8 was automatically in third reading. The question being: "Shall SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 8 Supporting the ratification of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement on trade; encouraging the federal Administration to remove the steel and aluminum tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico; and urging the United States Congress and the federal Administration to call on Canada and Mexico to remove retaliatory tariffs on all goods and services exported from the United States, pass the Senate?" The roll was taken with the following result: SJR 8 Third Reading - Final Passage 2019-04-15 Senate Journal Page 0835 YEAS: 19 NAYS: 0 EXCUSED: 1 ABSENT: 0 Yeas: Begich, Birch, Bishop, Coghill, Costello, Giessel, Gray- Jackson, Hoffman, Hughes, Kawasaki, Kiehl, Micciche, Olson, Reinbold, Shower, Stedman, Stevens, von Imhof, Wilson Excused: Wielechowski and so, SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 8 passed the Senate and was referred to the Secretary for engrossment.