HOUSE JOINT MEMORIAL 18

50th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2012

INTRODUCED BY

Nate Gentry

A JOINT MEMORIAL

URGING GOVERNMENTAL ENTITIES THROUGHOUT THE STATE TO PURCHASE MATERIALS, GOODS AND SERVICES FROM NEW MEXICAN AND AMERICAN CORPORATIONS TO THE GREATEST EXTENT POSSIBLE.

     WHEREAS, the recent economic recession has had a significant negative impact on families and businesses throughout the United States; and

     WHEREAS, many foreign governments subsidize or control the manufacture and production of a number of goods and products that are distributed and sold in the United States, which gives those foreign governments and corporations a competitive advantage over American corporations that manufacture and produce goods and products in the United States; and

     WHEREAS, in many foreign countries that subsidize and control the manufacture and production of goods and services within their borders, the workers are not paid a living wage, provided with adequate benefits or protected by regulations that require safe and healthy working conditions; and

     WHEREAS, American workers and the corporations that employ them are at an economic disadvantage because it is significantly less expensive to produce and manufacture goods and services in countries that lack meaningful regulatory controls and work force protections; and

     WHEREAS, at the expense of American workers, many American corporations have outsourced jobs and executive operations, along with the production and manufacture of goods and services, to foreign countries to take advantage of the lower employment and operating costs that are available in those countries; and

     WHEREAS, American governmental entities spend trillions of dollars per year procuring goods and services from nondomestic sources that produce and manufacture goods and services outside of the United States; and

     WHEREAS, American taxpayers provide the revenue that governmental entities throughout the United States use to purchase goods and services that are produced and manufactured in foreign countries; and

     WHEREAS, if American governmental entities purchased more goods and services from American corporations that produce and manufacture those products using American workers in the United States, there would be a significant economic boost to the American economy, which would greatly benefit American workers and corporations;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that governmental entities throughout the state of New Mexico be urged, to the greatest extent possible, to buy materials, goods and services from corporations that produce, manufacture and supply those products and services within the state of New Mexico or the United States to help encourage the creation of jobs for American workers and to improve economic conditions within the United States on local, state and national levels; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that governmental entities throughout the state be urged to evaluate state and local procurement procedures to identify barriers to purchasing goods and services that have been produced and manufactured in New Mexico and the United States by American workers.

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