S-3969               _______________________________________________

                                           SENATE JOINT MEMORIAL NO. 135

                        _______________________________________________

State of Washington                              49th Legislature                              1986 Regular Session

By Senators Bottiger, Warnke, Goltz, Vognild and Lee

Read first time 1/22/86 and referred to Committee on Commerce & Labor.

TO THE HONORABLE RONALD REAGAN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, AND TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE AND THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, AND TO THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES AND TO THE CALIFORNIA STATE LEGISLATURE, IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED:

          We, your Memorialists, the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Washington, in legislative session assembled, respectfully represent and petition as follows:

          WHEREAS, The National Conference of State Legislatures Subcommittee on Pacific States Maritime Issues adopted a resolution in 1985, later supported and adopted at the 1985 National Conference of State Legislatures Annual Meeting in Seattle, to make certain West Coast customs districts were not divided from each other for administrative purposes; and

          WHEREAS, The Washington State Legislature adopted SJM 128 at the 1985 Session of the 49th Legislature; and

          WHEREAS, Legislation to provide an additional two hundred ten customs inspectors on the West Coast was included in the United States Treasury Department authorization bill, that was vetoed in November by President Reagan for unrelated, postal service finance reasons; and

          WHEREAS, The legislation would have, for example, provided an additional one hundred fifty customs inspectors in Los Angeles and twenty new inspectors in Seattle; and

          WHEREAS, The number of customs inspectors on the West Coast affects the efficient shipment and movement of commerce and people through West Coast ports, airports, and border crossings; and

          WHEREAS, Availability of customs inspectors may affect the thousands of extra visitors anticipated through Washington because of Expo '86 scheduled for mid-1986 in Vancouver, Canada; and

          WHEREAS, Recent federal legislation affecting the importation of textiles from Pacific Rim countries into the United States may affect the availability of customs inspectors already working on the West Coast; and

          WHEREAS, California Congressman Ed Roybal, of Los Angeles, and Washington Senator Slade Gorton have suggested amending another legislative vehicle with provisions for an increase of customs inspectors;

          NOW, THEREFORE, Your Memorialists respectfully pray that federal legislation providing additional customs inspectors to the West Coast of the United States be enacted.

          BE IT RESOLVED, That copies of this Memorial be immediately transmitted to the Honorable Ronald Reagan, President of the United States, the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, each member of Congress from the State of Washington, the National Conference of State Legislatures, the President of the California State Senate, the Speaker of the California House of Representatives, and each member of Congress from the State of California.