S-4788               _______________________________________________

                                          SENATE JOINT MEMORIAL NO. 8029

                        _______________________________________________

State of Washington                              50th Legislature                              1988 Regular Session

By Senators Benitz, Anderson, Bailey, Barr, Bauer, Bender, Bluechel, Cantu, Conner, Craswell, Deccio, DeJarnatt, Fleming, Garrett, Gaspard, Halsan,  Hansen, Hayner, Johnson, Kiskaddon, Kreidler, Lee, Madsen, McCaslin, McDonald, McMullen, Metcalf, Moore, Nelson, Newhouse, Niemi, Owen, Patterson, Pullen, Rasmussen, Rinehart, Saling, Sellar, Smith, Smitherman, Stratton, Talmadge, Vognild, von Reichbauer, Warnke, West, Williams, Wojahn and Zimmerman

Read first time 2/4/88 and referred to Committee on Energy & Utilities.

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, 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 United States government has announced the closure of the Hanford N-Reactor and associated facilities; and

          WHEREAS, This closure will cause the loss of 6,000 to 12,000 skilled jobs and family wages; and

          WHEREAS, The communities of the Tri-Cities and the state of Washington will suffer irrevocable economic losses totaling sixty to one hundred twenty million dollars in annual lost revenues resulting from increased unemployment compensation, public assistance costs, and lost wage tax revenues, in addition to hundreds of millions in lost revenues due to lost wages and the secondary impact of business failures; and

          WHEREAS, The state government cannot provide meaningful reemployment or training opportunities given the immensity of this closure, nor can it solely mitigate the loss of economic activity this great; and

          WHEREAS, The Tri-Cities communities have been dependent on the Federal government-related business and employment for decades and will collapse economically under this government shut down; and

          WHEREAS, The Federal government has a responsibility to communities and its citizens to act in a primary and leading role to fully mitigate the impact of this economic devastation; and

          WHEREAS, The Federal government, in passing the Redwood National Park Expansion Act (95-250) in 1976, recognized its responsibilities in actions which caused the loss of five thousand plus lumber-dependent jobs and enacted both the Redwood Employees Protection Program for these five thousand plus workers totaling over fifty million dollars in direct payments to the affected workers and a community economic development mitigation program totaling over thirty million dollars, as well as five hundred million dollars compensation to affected lumber companies;

          NOW, THEREFORE, Your Memorialists respectfully pray that the Federal government, as an employer, mitigate the effects of plant closings of government facilities with full income replacement and continued health and welfare benefits, and provide retraining and educational benefits and continued pension protection to all affected Washington state and Tri-Cities area workers for a period of six years after closure; and that a Hanford Federal and State Plant Closing Disaster Program be immediately enacted with the participation of the state, affected communities, labor unions, and businesses which will provide an employee protection program for all affected workers and an economic development mitigation program for affected communities.

          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, and each member of Congress from the State of Washington.