IV

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. CON. RES. 46

Concerning the establishment of a Joint Commission for the United StatesMexico Border Region.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

FEBRUARY 18, 1993

Mr. RICHARDSON submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred jointly to the Committees on Foreign Affairs, Energy and Commerce, and Public Works and Transportation

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

Concerning the establishment of a Joint Commission for

the United States-Mexico Border Region.

Whereas the North American Free Trade Agreement

(NAFTA) will increase the flow of commerce and trade

between the United States and Mexico;

Whereas the lack of environmental facilities, enforcement,

and economic growth in the United States-Mexico border

region has caused widespread public health problems and

environmental problems, including serious degradation of

air quality, quality and availability of transboundary

ground water and surface water supplies, and soil quality;

Whereas increased levels of commerce, trade, and economic

development under NAFTA will exacerbate the existing
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public health problems and environmental problems in

such border region;

Whereas, although economic growth under NAFTA will also

create more resources to protect the environment in such

border region, such resources will not make an immediate

or significant reduction in the border region’s public

health problems and environmental problems;

Whereas such health and environmental problems will necessitate expanding the level of bilateral environmental cooperation between the United States and Mexico;

Whereas one method of bilateral environmental cooperation

would be to establish a joint commission aimed at complimenting the activities of the International Boundary

and Water Commission, alleviating public health problems and environmental problems in the United StatesMexico border region, and expanding bilateral environmental cooperation on a nationwide basis;

Whereas there has been great concern expressed both in the

United States and in Mexico that insufficient financial

resources exist at the Federal levels in both nations to

deal with the public health problems and environmental

problems in such border region;

Whereas the best alternative to Federal funding for projects

to alleviate public health problems and environmental

problems in such border region is to establish access to

the international capital markets for public and private

financial organizations with the power to incur and issue

debt;

Whereas the establishment of access to the international capital markets for public and private financial organizations
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would initially require a form of credit enhancement for

any debt instruments issued by such organizations;

Whereas the debt instruments issued by such organizations

would be used to fund projects to create, replace, or improve the environmental infrastructure facilities in the

United States-Mexico border region;

Whereas the users of environmental infrastructure facilities

in both the United States and Mexico would be the revenue base for the repayment on such instruments issued

by such organizations;

Whereas currently no means of credit enhancement exist to

guarantee the debt of such organizations;

Whereas there is mutual agreement between the United

States and Mexico to increase technical assistance provided between the two nations relating to environmental

issues;

Whereas there is a need to promote greater public participation and public disclosure relating to public health issues

and environmental issues in the United States-Mexico

border region, including requiring businesses located in

the Mexican part of such border region to comply with

reporting requirements similar to the hazardous substances reporting requirements under United States Federal law; and

Whereas there is a need to promote greater voluntary service

and corporate philanthropy in such border region: Now,

therefore, be it

1 Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate

2 concurring),
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

2 This concurrent resolution may be cited as the ‘‘Joint

3 Commission for the United States-Mexico Border Region

4 Resolution’’.

5 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF BILATERAL COMMISSION.

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Congress urges the President

7 to reach an agreement with Mexico on the establishment

8 of a joint commission (in this concurrent resolution re9 ferred to as the ‘‘Commission’’) between the United States

10 and Mexico to help alleviate public health problems and

11 environmental problems in the United States-Mexico bor12 der region caused by the lack of environmental infrastruc13 ture capacity in such border region, the growing shortages

14 of ground and surface water resources shared by both na15 tions, and by the increased levels of commerce, trade, and

16 economic development under the North American Free

17 Trade Agreement (in this concurrent resolution referred

18 to as ‘‘NAFTA’’).

19 (b) TIME LIMIT.—The agreement described in sub20 section (a) should be reached not later than the effective

21 date of the legislation implementing NAFTA.

22 SEC. 3. COMPOSITION.

23 The Commission should be composed of 12 members,

24 6 of whom should represent the United States and 6 of

25 whom should represent Mexico. Of the 6 members rep-
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1 resenting the United States, the President should ap2 point—

3 (1) the Administrator of the Environmental

4 Protection Agency as the head of the United States

5 delegation;

6 (2) the Commissioner of the United States sec7 tion of the International Boundary and Water Com8 mission; and

9 (3) one representative from—

10 (A) the Department of Health and Human

11 Services;

12 (B) the Department of the Interior;

13 (C) the Department of Housing and Urban

14 Development; and

15 (D) the Department of Agriculture.

16 SEC. 4. DUTIES.

17 (a) BORDER ENVIRONMENTAL GUARANTY FUND.—

18 The Commission should establish and oversee a Border

19 Environmental Guaranty Fund (in this concurrent resolu20 tion referred to as the ‘‘Fund’’) to provide financial guar21 antees for the repayment of debt instruments issued by

22 public and private financial organizations, the proceeds of

23 which are used to fund projects to create, replace, or im24 prove the environmental infrastructure in the United
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1 States-Mexico border region. The Fund should meet the

2 following requirements:

3 (1) The United States and Mexico should each

4 contribute not less than $100,000,000 to the Fund.

5 (2) The obligations of the Fund should not

6 have any guaranty, express or implied, of the United

7 States Government.

8 (3) The guaranty of the Fund should confer on

9 underlying debt instruments issued by public and

10 private financial organizations the lowest investment

11 grade ratings from independent and internationally

12 recognized securities rating organizations for the

13 purpose of leveraging the Fund to the maximum ex14 tent possible so that the greatest possible ratio exists

15 between the amount of debt guaranteed by the Fund

16 and the amount of capital in the Fund.

17 (4) The Fund should have a board of directors

18 to provide financial management of the Fund and

19 management of projects guaranteed by the Fund.

20 The board should be composed of 10 members, 5 of

21 whom should represent the United States and 5 of

22 whom should represent Mexico.

23 (5) Members of the board should be reimbursed

24 for reasonable expenses incurred in carrying out
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1 their duties, and such expenses should be paid for

2 equally by both the United States and Mexico.

3 (6) The board should be provided with an inde4 pendent staff in order to carry out its duties in a

5 prudent and timely manner.

6 (b) TECHNICAL COOPERATION PROGRAM.—The

7 Commission should establish a program to provide for

8 technical assistance and the exchange of personnel for en9 vironmental coordination activities between the United

10 States and Mexico (including the provision of technical as11 sistance to Mexico from representatives of the Environ12 mental Protection Agency and other relevant Federal

13 agencies), including training in activities such as environ14 mental impact assessment, the development of environ15 mental standards, enforcement of such standards, pollu16 tion prevention and control, the control of the use of pes17 ticides, waste management, response to chemical emer18 gencies, toxic emissions reporting, marine pollution, con19 servation activities, and urban planning and infrastructure

20 development.

21 (c) PROCEDURES TO PROMOTE INCREASED PUBLIC

22 PARTICIPATION AND PUBLIC DISCLOSURE RELATING TO

23 PUBLIC HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES.—The

24 Commission should establish procedures to promote in25 creased public participation and public disclosure relating
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1 to public health issues and environmental issues in the

2 United States-Mexico border region. In establishing such

3 procedures, the Commission should meet the following re4 quirements:

5 (1) The Commission should establish no fewer

6 than 2 regional border offices to foster community

7 outreach, public participation, and border volunteer

8 initiatives in the United States-Mexico border

9 region.

10 (2) The Commission should be given the au11 thority to require businesses located in the Mexican

12 part of the United States-Mexico border region to

13 comply with reporting requirements similar to those

14 described in the Emergency Planning and Commu15 nity Right-To-Know Act of 1986 (42 U.S.C. 11001

16 note).

17 (3) The Commission should consult with the

18 Border Environmental Public Advisory Committee of

19 the Environmental Protection Agency so that exper20 tise from the private and public sectors is readily

21 available to the Commission in the areas of public

22 health, agriculture, housing and urban development,

23 conservation, and public voluntary service.

24 (d) UNITED STATES-MEXICO BORDER REGION VOL25 UNTEER SERVICE.—The Commission should, in conjunc-
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1 tion with the Commission on National and Community

2 Service, establish a United States-Mexico Border Volun3 teer Service, which—

4 (1) in cooperation with the Small Business Ad5 ministration, should work to expand the activities of

6 the Senior Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE) in

7 the fields of public health, civil engineering, environ8 mental sciences, urban planning, and architecture;

9 (2) should provide assistance and advice to bor10 der area not-for-profit organizations on projects

11 aimed at addressing the array of environmental

12 health, housing, and social service needs of the

13 United States-Mexico border region; and

14 (3) should promote initiatives aimed at increas15 ing the level of corporate philanthropy among busi16 nesses in the United States-Mexico border region for

17 the purpose of alleviating public health problems and

18 environmental problems in such border region.

19 SEC. 5. POWERS.

20 (a) HEARINGS AND SESSIONS.—The Commission

21 should, for the purpose of carrying out its duties under

22 section 4, hold hearings, sit and act at times and places,

23 take testimony, and receive evidence as the Commission

24 considers appropriate, including holding hearings on all

25 matters and issues under the jurisdiction of the Inter-
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1 national Boundary and Water Commission. All such hear2 ings should be open to the public.

3 (b) APPOINTMENT OF INVESTIGATORY BOARDS.—

4 The Commission should appoint 1 or more boards com5 posed of qualified individuals to conduct on the behalf of

6 the Commission investigations and studies which the Com7 mission determines necessary to provide oversight of the

8 Fund described in section 4(a) and the technical coopera9 tion program described in section 4(b).

10 SEC. 6. REPORTS.

11 The Commission should submit an annual report to

12 both the United States Government and the Government

13 of Mexico regarding all activities of the Commission dur14 ing the current year.

15 SEC. 7. UNITED STATES-MEXICO BORDER REGION DE16 FINED.

17 For purposes of this concurrent resolution, the term

18 ‘‘United States-Mexico border region’’ means the area lo19 cated in the United States and Mexico within approxi20 mately 65 miles of the border between the United States

21 and Mexico.

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