Legislature(2017 - 2018)BARNES 124
02/13/2018 08:00 AM House COMMUNITY & REGIONAL AFFAIRS
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| HB264 | |
| HJR30 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| += | HB 264 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| *+ | HJR 30 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED |
HJR 30-URGE U.S. SUPPORT OF REFUGEES
8:39:27 AM
CO-CHAIR PARISH announced that the final order of business would
be HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 30, Urging the United States
Congress to reaffirm the commitment of the United States to
promote the safety, health, and well-being of refugees and
displaced persons; urging the United States government to uphold
its international leadership role in responding to displacement
crises with humanitarian assistance and to work with the
international community and the United Nations High Commissioner
for Refugees to find solutions to conflicts and protect
refugees; and urging the President of the United States to
continue to mitigate the burden placed on frontline refugee host
countries.
8:39:51 AM
REPRESENTATIVE ANDY JOSEPHSON, Alaska State Legislature, as
prime sponsor, presented HJR 30. He said the source for
legislation comes from a variety of sources, including citizens,
agencies, and the government. He revealed that the genesis for
HJR 30 came from Abby Weiss, an eighth-grade student at Colony
Middle School, in Palmer, Alaska. The proposed joint resolution
would encourage the federal government to do what it can in its
share of carrying the burden in caring for people displaced by
humanitarian crises occurring in their nations, including sexual
violence, human trafficking, persecution based on religion or
nationality, forced conscription, genocide, or exploitation. He
said there is no dispute about the crises; the dispute is over
what the federal role should be. He said he thinks it is
important for the legislature to take note of critical moments
in time.
8:44:12 AM
REPRESENTATIVE JOSEPHSON said he and Legislative Legal and
Research Services reviewed the data in the proposed joint
resolution. He explained that the data is "a moving target"
depending on the status of a civil war or refugee crisis. Even
so, he said he confirmed that the data is "largely accurate -
certainly within a span of accuracy" and "grounded in fact." He
noted that Ms. Weiss had found her own set of data, which she
could share with the committee.
8:45:16 AM
REPRESENTATIVE SADDLER said there is a philosophical question
raised by HJR 30. He pointed to the phrase "40,300,000
internally displaced people", on page 1, line 11, and asked,
"Who are we, in the United States, to establish where people
should be inside the borders of their own countries?"
REPRESENTATIVE JOSEPHSON said the invasion of France, on June 6,
1944, is one example of a time when the U.S. intervened to
impact what is going on domestically [in another country]. He
said refugees are a biproduct of internally displaced people.
He added, "When people are persecuted within, they leave within
and move without." He said he thinks that is the significance
of the number Representative Saddler quoted.
REPRESENTATIVE SADDLER said certainly neither he nor anyone else
wishes to see people being displaced from their homes; however,
he questioned what the obligation of the U.S. is to take care of
the rest of the world and whether the U.S. is "the world's
policeman."
REPRESENTATIVE JOSEPHSON responded that he thinks there is a
sharing of the duty and many countries do not think the U.S. is
doing its share. He elucidated as follows:
... There was a system in place that ... scrutinized
refugees that might come to this country in a way that
was protective of those of us who live in the country,
and ... we have toughened those standards in a way
that is harmful to the world community, and as a
consequence, we haven't done our share of dealing with
displaced persons crises and ... we've asked for
Europeans, largely, and some countries like Jordan to
bear that ... burden.
REPRESENTATIVE JOSEPHSON said HJR 30 states that as a matter of
principle, the Alaska State Legislature is sympathetic and
believes [the U.S.] has the resources, power, and moral courage
to do its share "and be cognizant of the breadth of the
problem."
REPRESENTATIVE SADDLER said the U.S. does not necessarily follow
the directives of other countries. He said the U.S. is involved
in the United Nations and gives foreign aid; therefore, he
opined that the country is doing "an awful lot for refugees."
He offered his understanding that the sponsor had said that the
U.S. has a refugee policy that is protective of its citizens but
tougher on the world community. He posited that that is an
appropriate function of the government, to consider the benefits
of its current residents over the benefits of potential
residents. He said most everyone wants to come to the U.S., as
it is a place of opportunity; however, he asked if the
obligation of the U.S. is to allow everyone to "join the United
States" who desires to do so.
REPRESENTATIVE JOSEPHSON offered his understanding that in 1916
U.S. President Woodrow Wilson "ran against helping Europe with
its war problem" and then "entered us into war within two
years"; therefore, "you can see how those things can change
quickly." He said he thinks President [Franklin D.] Roosevelt
would have like to get the country into war faster but "the
country wasn't interested." He added, "But then the problem
came to us anyway." He said he thinks that is why he likes HJR
30, because it is hard to not participate in the problems that
are "headed your way." He said he does not think the proposed
joint resolution would call for the U.S. to "house and care for
a certain number of refugees" but simply that the U.S. recognize
the crisis is there, be sympathetic to it, and play a role in
helping find a solution. He said resolutions tend to be
aspirational rather than spelling out "we will do X, Y, and Z."
REPRESENTATIVE SADDLER reiterated that the US government
contributes heavily in the United Nations, whose mission is
"just this kind of international and intranational global
refugee enumeration."
8:53:40 AM
GABBY WEISS testified in support of HJR 30. She read her
written statement, which read as follows [original punctuation
provided]:
Good morning, my name is Gabby Weiss and I am
from Palmer, Alaska. I have come here today to explain
the importance of House Joint Resolution No. 30 and to
urge all the committee members to help make this
resolution a reality.
First off, a brief recap of the magnitude of the
refugee crisis and refugees in general. According to
the Oxford Dictionary, a refugee is defined as "a
person who has been forced to leave their country in
order to escape war, persecution, or natural
disaster." That is all a refugee is. Just from the
definition, it is known that the term refugee means a
person, someone who is as human as you and me, who is
fleeing their country because it isn't safe. I think
that sometimes we people get caught up on the labels.
Because we are referring to the people who are fleeing
from violence as this new population, the "refugees,"
there is this barrier that is put up that makes us
humans feel like we are somehow very different from
each other.
Another aspect is that makes it very intangible
for us to grasp what refugees are going through
because right now, we are inside, dry and warm, fed
and watered, safe and sound, but there are men, women,
and children, who are fleeing from war, persecution,
or natural disaster...right now. And it isn't like it
is just hundreds of people, or thousand[s] of people,
and it's not even just a million people. No, according
to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees,
it is 22.5 million people, women, men and children,
fleeing for their safety. That means that if you take
the population of Alaska and multiply it by 30, that
number is still less than all the refugees in the
world. And guess how many of that number of refugees
are children. Is it a 10th, a 5th or a 3rd? No! More
than one half of those 22.5 million people are
children, under the age of 18. They didn't choose to
be born into an unsafe area.
That is a huge number of people facing adversity
and trauma, but don't worry, even though we can't help
everyone, we can still make a difference! If the
United States uses its leadership to start encouraging
other countries to take in refugees, as well as tries
to prevent and help out in the events that create
refugees, imagine how many lives we could lift up.
Also, the United States can benefit from taking
refugees in itself. In fact, the National Bureau of
Economic Research explains, an adult refugee will
generally pay 21,000 dollars more in taxes than they
will receive in benefits in their first 20 years in
the United States.
A common thought preventing Americans from
welcoming refugees is the idea that refugees are the
same thing as terrorists. As of 2015, expert Kathleen
Newland from the Migration Policy Institute says, "The
United States has resettled 784,000 refugees since
September 11, 2001. In those 14 years, exactly three
resettled refugees have been arrested for planning
terrorist activitiesand it is worth noting two were
not planning an attack in the United States and the
plans of the third were barely credible." To add to
this, the US Department of State explains, that on
average, it takes 18 to 24 months to process refugees
into the US. This process includes in depth vetting.
This long and vigorous process is another reason why
terrorists would not choose to act as refugees to get
into the US.
The last reason why we should help is because
these people, these refugees, need our help. The
refugee crisis has created horrible situations for all
refugees. Families become split apart and lives get
put on hold. According to United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees, there are 3.5 million
refugee children who should be in school, but aren't.
Also, rates sometimes as high as 86% project post
traumatic stress disorder in refugees according to the
US Department of Veterans Affairs. Lastly, according
to the Mercy Corps Organization, one half of Syria's
population before the war, that is 11 million plus
people, have been killed or forced to abandon their
homes due to the Syrian conflict.
Because we are the lucky ones who get to have
meetings, and eat lunch, and read the newspaper, and
spend time with our friends and families, we need to
take it upon ourselves to care and support the other
humans who aren't as lucky as us. It is our duty
because if we were running away from violence and
persecution and natural disasters, we would want the
people who were safe and healthy to stand up and
support us. It is that simple. To conclude, I am
asking all the committee members to please vote for
House Joint Resolution No. 30. Thank you so much for
your time.
8:58:48 AM
REPRESENTATIVE SADDLER commended Ms. Weiss for her well-written
and ably presented testimony.
8:58:57 AM
CO-CHAIR PARISH concurred. He asked Ms. Weiss, "Why do you
think we have this responsibility?"
MS. WEISS answered that it is a moral responsibility, because
"if we were in that situation, we would want people to stand up
and help us."
9:00:07 AM
NICHOLAS STEEN testified in opposition to HJR 30. He opined
that the State of Alaska has no justification to interject
itself into the international refugee problem, because
international problems are reserved for the federal government.
He stated, "We have elected representatives in Washington, D.C.,
responsible for reflecting our views on these matters." He said
Alaska has a multitude of problems needing attention, including
crime, education, deteriorating roads and infrastructure, and
excessive spending depleting the state's spending account. He
said he has yet to speak to any of his friends that support HJR
30, and he encouraged the committee not to support it.
9:01:49 AM
ROBERT FAWCETT stated that he believes "we should help as much
as we can" but, considering "all of the stuff our government
struggles with," questioned who would be responsible for taking
on refugees, "financially, physically," and regarding housing.
9:03:15 AM
CHARLES DUNCAN opined that "we should take care of ourselves
before we bring in any refugees." He explained that he is not
worried about terrorists but about not being financially or
mentally prepared to take on "as many refugees as we want." He
continued:
Taking care of yourself should be more important than
taking care of other people. I know that doesn't
sound right, but it's true. We should focus on our
debt, our housing, and when we get to the point where
we can help other people, that's when we should.
9:04:37 AM
MELISSA KEMBERLING stated that testimony she has heard seems to
reflect that "it's an either/or solution." She countered that
she thinks the U.S. can take care of itself while working with
other countries "to be a leader," which she said the U.S. has
been viewed as for many years. As a leader, the U.S. could
bring others to the table to co-solve the issue and co-fund [the
efforts]. Ms. Kemberling said she does a lot of community work
in the Matanuska-Susitna (Mat-Su) area and problems are solved
through cooperative effort. She said she does not view this
issue as being any different.
9:06:08 AM
CO-CHAIR PARISH closed public testimony on HJR 30.
CO-CHAIR PARISH announced that HJR 30 was held over.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| HJR030 ver D 2.6.18.pdf |
HCRA 2/13/2018 8:00:00 AM |
HJR 30 |
| HJR030 Sponsor Statement 2.6.18.pdf |
HCRA 2/13/2018 8:00:00 AM |
HJR 30 |
| HB264 - Opposing Document - NFIB 2.13.18.pdf |
HCRA 2/13/2018 8:00:00 AM |
HB 264 |
| HB264 Supporting Document 2.13.18.pdf |
HCRA 2/13/2018 8:00:00 AM |
HB 264 |
| HB 264 Opposing Documents 2.13.18.pdf |
HCRA 2/13/2018 8:00:00 AM |
HB 264 |
| HJR030 Supporting Document - Gabby Weiss 2.13.18.pdf |
HCRA 2/13/2018 8:00:00 AM |
HJR 30 |