44th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2000

REQUESTING THE UNITED STATES-MEXICO BORDER HEALTH COMMISSION TO STUDY THE NEED FOR CROSS-BORDER AGREEMENTS RELATED TO FIRE PROTECTION, EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES AND OTHER PUBLIC HEALTH AND SAFETY NEEDS.

WHEREAS, the United States-Mexico border region, encompassing one hundred kilometers north and south of the border, has an estimated 2000 population of over eleven million; and

WHEREAS, almost every health statistic for the border region is a grim reminder of the effects of poverty and severe health professional shortages, with a terrible resurgence of communicable diseases such as drug-resistant tuberculosis, measles and mumps and waterborne infectious diseases such as Hepatitis A, salmonella and shigella dysentery, diseases that most Americans thought had been eradicated in the United States; and

WHEREAS, the border region also must grapple with the need for increased public safety resources, including fire protection and emergency medical services; and

WHEREAS, the two countries need to work closely together to try to solve border health problems and provide public safety services;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the United States-Mexico border health commission be requested to study the need for cross-border agreements to provide public health and safety services in the border region; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that as part of its study, the United States-Mexico border health commission consider legal, jurisdictional and liability issues and the means to resolve those issues; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the New Mexico border health office for presentation to the United States-Mexico border health commission.