S-1676.1  _______________________________________________

                    SENATE JOINT MEMORIAL 8018

          _______________________________________________

State of Washington      54th Legislature     1995 Regular Session

By Senators Spanel, Haugen, A. Anderson, Morton and Sellar

Read first time 02/16/95.  Referred to Committee on Government Operations.

Opposing a border fee between the United States of America and Canada.

    TO THE HONORABLE BILL CLINTON, 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, 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, There is a long history of free travel and communication between the American and Canadian people, based on mutual trust and respect; and

    WHEREAS, The interests of American and Canadian citizens and businesses are best served by having the fewest possible impediments to personal, cultural, and commercial exchanges; and

    WHEREAS, The imposition of a border fee injects a concept that is inconsistent with the free exchange of people and commerce; and

    WHEREAS, The impediments created for travel, commerce, and visitation far outweigh the additional revenues and will operate to reduce the opportunities for economic development on both sides of the American-Canadian border; and

    WHEREAS, It is a virtual certainty that a border fee to enter the United States will generate a border fee to enter Canada, causing further erosion of the relationships between the countries and people; and

    WHEREAS, The recently concluded north American free trade agreement is predicated on expanded exchange and growth, not restrictions on commerce that would be generated by the imposition of a border fee; and

    WHEREAS, The imposition of a fee raises a specter of cultural elitism that is not consistent with the historical view of American-Canadian relations;

    NOW, THEREFORE, Your memorialists respectfully pray that the President and Congress maintain a free flow of people and commerce between the American and Canadian countries and not enact any fee for travel from Canada to America.

    BE IT RESOLVED, That copies of this Memorial be immediately transmitted to the Honorable Bill Clinton, President of the United States, the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and each member of Congress from the State of Washington.

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