Florida Senate - 2024 SM By Senator Rodriguez 40-00962-24 2024800__ CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions. Senate Memorial A memorial to the Congress of the United States, 2 urging Congress to support solutions that examine the pollution differential between United States production and that of other countries and that hold foreign polluters accountable for their pollution. 6

WHEREAS, Florida’s natural resources and environment are essential to the state’s character, economy, and way of life, 9 and

WHEREAS, Florida, under Governor Ron DeSantis’ leadership, 11 has recently delivered investments to protect the state’s natural resources and environment, including Everglades restoration, waterway rehabilitation, and water quality infrastructure, and

WHEREAS, China, by far the world’s largest polluter, 16 accounts for over percent of global carbon dioxide emissions and subsidizes its exports by not imposing or enforcing reasonable environmental and labor standards, and

WHEREAS, Chinese government-owned industry is an arm of the Chinese Communist Party and strives to increase its influence over the global economy by pursuing predatory trade practices such as stealing intellectual property from the United States, 23 and

WHEREAS, the United States has reduced more carbon emissions than any other country in the last years and has an economy that is percent more carbon efficient than the world average, and

WHEREAS, manufacturers in the United States are more Florida Senate - 2024 SM 800 40-00962-24 2024800__ CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions. efficient in nearly every industry and yet are forced to compete with companies in China and other countries that face few limits on how much they pollute, and

WHEREAS, goods produced in China and Russia generate 300 percent and percent on average, respectively, more in carbon emissions compared to equivalent goods produced in the United States, and

WHEREAS, United States trade policy has not taken into account carbon emissions, and as a result, afforded foreign polluters with loose carbon standards an advantage over the United States for the past several decades, and

WHEREAS, China benefits from the current federal trade policy, and

WHEREAS, rewarding United States firms for their environmental performance would bolster domestic manufacturing, 44 generate good-paying jobs, and reduce dependence on imports from high-emitting producers like China and Russia,

NOW, THEREFORE, 46

Be It Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 48 That the Congress of the United States is urged to support solutions that examine the pollution differential between United States production and that of other countries and that hold foreign polluters accountable for their pollution. 53 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of State dispatch copies of this memorial to the President of the United States, 55 to the President of the United States Senate, to the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, and to each member of the Florida delegation to the United States Congress. 58