44th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2000

FOR THE NEW MEXICO FINANCE AUTHORITY OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE

A JOINT MEMORIAL

REQUESTING CONGRESS TO PROVIDE FEDERAL IMPACT AID FOR UNITED STATES COMMUNITIES ALONG THE UNITED STATES-MEXICO BORDER.

WHEREAS, the United States-Mexico border stretches almost two thousand miles from Texas through California, and the border region is defined as that area within one hundred kilometers, or sixty-two and one-half miles, of the border; and

WHEREAS, the socioeconomic condition of the border region is characterized by explosive population growth, high unemployment rates, low per capita income and extremely poor living conditions; and

WHEREAS, if the border region, with its estimated eleven million residents, were a separate state, it would rank last in access to health care, second in deaths due to hepatitis, third in deaths related to diabetes, first in the number of cases of tuberculosis, first in school children living in poverty and last in per capita income; and

WHEREAS, along with the high health care costs for both citizens and noncitizens caused by extreme poverty, states and local governments must also grapple with the high costs associated with criminal activity along the border, including the costs associated with drug case referrals from United States attorneys' offices, incarceration of illegal aliens and prisoner transport; and

WHEREAS, southern New Mexico also must contend with a population low in English proficiency, with eleven percent of the Luna county population and ten percent of the Dona Ana county population speaking English poorly or not at all, compared to the state's statistic of only four percent speaking English poorly or not at all; and

WHEREAS, New Mexico reportedly now ranks fiftieth out of the fifty states in per capita income, in part because of the high unemployment rates in the border region; and

WHEREAS, the negative fiscal impacts of NAFTA and border population growth on state and local governments are much greater so far than the promised economic benefits, and governments in the border region need federal assistance in the form of impact aid for education, health care, police protection, criminal justice, water and wastewater and other general government services;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the New Mexico congressional delegation be requested to join the delegations from other border states to introduce and pass legislation to provide federal impact aid funding for border communities; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the New Mexico congressional delegation.