Legislature(1999 - 2000)
02/22/2000 05:10 PM House WTR
| Audio | Topic |
|---|
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
HJR 48 - ACCESS ACROSS UNITED STATES/CANADA BORDER Number 1811 CHAIR BARNES announced that the next resolution before the committee would be HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION No. 48, "A Resolution Relating to the Free Flow of People and Fair Trade of Goods and Services across the Border between the United States and Canada." REPRESENTATIVE PHILLIPS, sponsor, explained that HJR 48 had come about from Alaska's involvement in the Council of State Governments (CSG) and concerns regarding the federal Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996. In that federal Act, Section 110 would restrict the free movement of people across the Canadian border. When the Act was written, Congress did not look at it as affecting the Canadian border, but other borders. By March 31, 2001, an automated system is intended to be put into place to document every non-United States citizen entering and exiting the U.S. border. REPRESENTATIVE PHILLIPS pointed out that the United States has free trade with people across the Canadian border on a regular basis, and it [the new system] would cause a huge bottleneck. So the Western states and the states bordering Canada all are in the process of adopting resolutions to ask Congress to rewrite Section 110. The CSG West, the National Governors' Association, and the Cascadia Mayors' Council all have adopted resolutions in favor of this change. Canadian neighbors have asked Alaska for help on this. Representative Phillips said she thinks it would be very beneficial to pass a resolution in support. REPRESENTATIVE PHILLIPS provided statistics from 1998. Bilateral trade [between the United States and Canada] was worth $397 billion. With Alaska alone, Canada traded a total of $492 million worth of goods. Alaska exported $91 million in metals to Canada and imported $140 million worth of machinery from Canada. Furthermore, 62,000 Canadians and 109,000 Alaskans crossed their mutual borders in 1998. REPRESENTATIVE PHILLIPS said HJR 48 supports action by CSG West, passed in Anchorage in 1998. In Quebec in December 1999, the overall CSG reiterated this resolution, since Congress has not yet taken action. Number 2004 REPRESENTATIVE COWDERY mentioned problems at the Alaska-Canada border related to the salmon fishery issue. REPRESENTATIVE PHILLIPS said that following the M/V Malaspina incident about two years ago [in which there was a blockade of an Alaska state ferry at Prince Rupert, British Columbia, by fishing vessels], there were a few incidents of Alaskans being challenged. She said she went to the State Department, however, and there have not been any complaints [since]. CHAIR BARNES noted for the record that Representative Berkowitz had joined the meeting some time ago. Number 2062 REPRESENTATIVE PHILLIPS called attention to a new sponsor statement on committee members' desks. There is one-word change in the third paragraph from the bottom, where it says, "Canada and the United States share the longest undefended border in the world, and bilateral trade exceeds $1 billion every day, supporting over 10 million jobs." She noted that the old sponsor statement said "$1 billion every year," and it is "$1 billion every day." REPRESENTATIVE BERKOWITZ asked if HJR 48 would affect crossings only at U.S.-Canada borders or also would affect any Canadian entering the United States at any point of entry. REPRESENTATIVE PHILLIPS said HJR 48 applies only to the U.S.- Canada borders. SCOTT PETSEL, Legislative Aide to Representative Phillips, Alaska State Legislature, said his interpretation is that HJR 48 is referring only to the land borders between the United States and Canada, as mentioned in the first and second lines of the resolution. REPRESENTATIVE PHILLIPS referred members to copies before them of the federal Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, and, specifically, to Section 110 therein. REPRESENTATIVE BERKOWITZ said he understood the intent, but that as he reads Section 110, it is collecting the record of departure for every alien in the United States. It does not specify that it applies only to the U.S.-Canada border. MR. PETSEL said that might be a valid interpretation. REPRESENTATIVE PHILLIPS emphasized that HJR 48 addresses only the land borders between the U.S. and Canada. She had been in contact with CSG West, and there is agreement that Congress did not mean for this to apply to the Canadian borders with the United States. For the record, all of the committees with which she had been involved - the National Conference of State Legislatures, CSG West and CSG nationally - take the same tack that this [the federal Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act] was intended to stop illegal immigration across the United States' southern borders. Number 2254 REPRESENTATIVE COWDERY made a motion to move HJR 48 out of committee with individual recommendations and accompanying fiscal notes. There being no objection, HJR 48 was moved out of the House Special Committee on World Trade and State/Federal Relations.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|