SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 387 Offered January 10, 2007 Prefiled January 10, 2007 Memorializing the Congress of the United States to take such constitutional action as may be necessary to prevent the executive branch of the federal government from unilateral action in implementing the NAFTA Superhighway System and the creation of a North American Union. ---------- Patron-- Reynolds ---------- Referred to Committee on Rules ----------

WHEREAS, the safety of Virginia’s highways is a prime responsibility of the Virginia General Assembly that cannot be delegated to any other entity; and

WHEREAS, a NAFTA Superhighway System from the west coast of Mexico through the United States and into Canada is now being implemented by the current presidential administration; and

WHEREAS, the system includes multiple connections with Virginia’s already heavily traveled roads and is being implemented without any action by the United States Congress; and

WHEREAS, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters has warned, in its August 2006 national magazine, that the NAFTA Superhighway will result in United States trucks being replaced by Mexican vehicles, more unsafe rigs being operated on American roads, and more drivers relying on drugs to complete long hauls; and the maintenance of Mexican truck brakes and tires falls far below United States standards; and

WHEREAS, Mexican drivers are compelled by companies that employ them to drive alone an excessive 25 days a month and a distance of 4,500 kilometers over the course of five or six nights without sleep, requiring them to resort to cocaine and crystal methamphetamine to stay awake; and

WHEREAS, the national Teamster magazine, in interviewing a sample of Mexican drivers, found no one who had not been involved in a highway fatality on the job; and

WHEREAS, the NAFTA Superhighway System will therefore bring onto United States soil a new army of drivers who are likely to cause accidents on America's roads; and

WHEREAS, given the generally acknowledged corruption of many businesses in Mexico, it will be difficult, if not impossible, for Virginians, as well as other Americans, to collect insurance claims against Mexican companies that employ Mexican truck drivers who may cause accidents in the United States, causing insurance rates for Virginians to increase sharply; and

WHEREAS, an initial portion of the NAFTA Superhighway System, already under way in Texas, involves a pattern contract with the state by the Spanish-United States Cinta-Zachry consortium that, in return for a single lump-sum payment to the state by Cinta, grants the right to levy unregulated tolls for years to come, greatly increasing the cost of driving for all motorists; and

WHEREAS, neither taxpayers nor United States banks are willing to provide the billions of dollars required to construct the enormous NAFTA Superhighway System, and the needed funds are expected to be supplied instead by foreign consortiums, resulting in America's arterial highway system being under foreign management and financial control; and

WHEREAS, in the United States House of Representatives, House Concurrent Resolution 487 has been introduced, opposing not only the NAFTA Superhighway System, but also the creation of a North American Union with Mexico and Canada; and

WHEREAS, a North American Union, similar to the European Union, would essentially eliminate the southern and northern borders of the United States and is presently being implemented by the current presidential administration without the approval of the United States Congress; and

WHEREAS, a North American Union would threaten the sovereignty of the United States, the precepts of the United States Constitution, and the laws and Constitution of Virginia, all without the consent of the citizens of the Commonwealth; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the Senate, the House of Delegates concurring, That the Virginia General Assembly hereby declare its formal opposition to allowing components of the Interstate Highway System in Virginia to become part of the NAFTA Superhighway System, as well as its opposition to the creation of a North American Union; and be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Congress of the United States be urged to prevent the implementation of the NAFTA Superhighway System and the creation of a North American Union; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Congress of the United States be memorialized to take such constitutional action as may be necessary to prevent the executive branch of the federal government from unilateral action in implementing the NAFTA Superhighway System and the creation of a North American Union; and, be it

RESOLVED FINALLY, That the Clerk of the Senate transmit copies of this resolution to the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, and the members of the Virginia Congressional Delegation so that they may be apprised of the sense of the General Assembly of Virginia in this matter.