First Regular Session Sixty-sixth General Assembly STATE OF COLORADO INTRODUCED LLS NO. R07-0704.01 Holly Mandis HR07-1012 HOUSE SPONSORSHIP Stafford, House Committees State, Veterans, & Military Affairs HOUSE RESOLUTION 07-1012 Concerning opposition to the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America, and, in connection therewith, opposing any trilateral activity in conjunction with the partnership that threatens the sovereignty of the United States, creates a North American Union, or furthers an international superhighway system. WHEREAS, The Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America was launched in March of 2005 as a trilateral effort among the United States, Canada, and Mexico to share information and streamline traffic across shared borders; and WHEREAS, In meeting Security and Prosperity Partnership initiatives, the security and prosperity working groups are examining opportunities to open the borders between the United States, Canada, and Mexico; and WHEREAS, The gradual creation of such a North American Union from a merger of the United States, Mexico, and Canada would be a direct threat to the Constitution and national independence of the United States and imply an eventual end to national borders within North America; and WHEREAS, According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, United States trade deficits with Mexico and Canada have significantly widened since the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA); and WHEREAS, The economic and physical security of the United States is impaired by the potential loss of control of its borders attendant to the full operation of NAFTA; and WHEREAS, A NAFTA Superhighway System from the west coast of Mexico through the United States and into Canada has been suggested as part of a North American Union and the broader plan to advance the Security and Prosperity Partnership; and WHEREAS, It would be particularly difficult for Americans to collect insurance benefit payments due from Mexican companies that employ Mexican drivers involved in accidents in the United States, which would increase the insurance rates for American drivers; and WHEREAS, Future unrestricted foreign trucking into the United States could pose a safety hazard due to inadequate maintenance and inspection and could act collaterally as a conduit for the entry into the United States of illegal drugs, illegal immigration, and terrorist activities; and WHEREAS, A NAFTA Superhighway System would be funded by foreign consortiums and controlled by foreign management, an arrangement that threatens the sovereignty of the United States; and WHEREAS, The Security and Prosperity Partnership aims to integrate United States laws with the laws of Mexico and Canada on a broad range of issues such as e-commerce, transportation, environment, health, agriculture, financial services, and national security, which may lead to negative changes in United States administrative laws; and WHEREAS, State and local governments throughout the United States would be negatively impacted by the Security and Prosperity Partnership or a North American Union process, such as an open borders vision, eminent domain takings of private property along the potential superhighways, and increased law enforcement problems along such superhighways; and WHEREAS, This trilateral partnership to develop a North American Union has never been presented to Congress as an agreement or treaty and has had virtually no congressional oversight; and WHEREAS, United States policy, not foreign consortiums, should be used to control our national borders and to ensure that national security is not compromised; now, therefore, Be It Resolved by the House of Representatives of the Sixty-sixth General Assembly of the State of Colorado: 1. That we urge the President and the Congress of the United States, and particularly Colorado's Congressional Delegation, to withdraw the U.S. from any further participation in the Security and Prosperity Partnership; any efforts to implement a trinational political or governmental entity among the United States, Canada, and Mexico; or any other efforts used to accomplish any form of a North American Union; 2. That we also urge the President and the Congress not to engage in the construction of a North American Free Trade Agreement Superhighway System. Be It Further Resolved, That copies of this Resolution be sent to Governor Bill Ritter, each member of Colorado's Congressional Delegation, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, the President of the United States Senate, and George W. Bush, President of the United States.