S-5470               _______________________________________________

                                   SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 8440

                        _______________________________________________

State of Washington                               51st Legislature                              1990 Regular Session

By Senators Bluechel, Hayner and Vognild

Read first time 3/7/90.  Under suspension of rules, read second and third times and passed.

WHEREAS, The Washington State Legislature in conjunction with the Northwest Policy Center of the University of Washington hosted and facilitated the 1989 Pacific Northwest Leadership Forum; and

          WHEREAS, Over fifty-five legislative leaders, and members from the state of Washington, the states of Alaska, Idaho, Montana, and Oregon, and the two Canadian provinces of Alberta and British Columbia participated in this highly successful event; and

          WHEREAS, In the course of the conference it was stated that the states and provinces of the Pacific Northwest have a combined population of fifteen million and a gross product of two hundred eighty billion dollars, constituting the tenth largest economic force in the world; and

          WHEREAS, It is the desire of the region's governments to utilize the economic and political influence of the region to improve the standard of living and quality of life for its citizens; and

          WHEREAS, The Leadership Forum was a highly creative and productive event in which the participants, during the course of their working groups, developed recommendations to facilitate regional cooperation regarding a broad range of issues, including:  Expanding technology's role in economic development; increasing access to capital; advancing education through telecommunications; meeting the Northwest's education and training needs; ensuring the existence of continuing sources of low-cost energy; protecting the region's environment and quality of life; reducing hazardous waste at its source; enhancing the region's tourism potential; and improving international markets for agricultural products; and

          WHEREAS, As a result of this conference the groundwork has been laid to begin examining the feasibility of forging greater cooperative efforts on these issues along with developing an inventory of existing cooperative efforts throughout the Pacific Northwest; and

          WHEREAS, It has been the stated desire of the participants in the Forum to pursue the establishment of a comprehensive system of regional cooperation and to explore the possibility of holding future conferences in an effort to establish regional cooperative efforts;

          NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, By the Senate of the state of Washington, the House of Representatives concurring, That the Legislature of the state of Washington in conjunction with other participating states and provinces continue to invest time and resources in the pursuit of cooperative efforts which will provide benefits to the citizens, businesses, and general economy of Pacific Northwest states and provinces; and

          BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That a conference be held in Seattle, Washington in the fall of 1990 that will provide an opportunity for Pacific Northwest states and provinces to continue the ongoing discussion and examination of such cooperative efforts.