Florida Senate - 2013 (NP) SR 816 By Senator Garcia 38-01467-13 2013816__ 1 Senate Resolution 2 A resolution encouraging the 113th Congress of the 3 United States to consider the five principles embraced 4 by the Partnership for a New American Economy as it 5 works to develop comprehensive immigration reforms. 6 7 WHEREAS, the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act brought a 8 Depression-era immigration system into the post-World War II, 9 Civil Rights age, abandoning longstanding racial quotas in favor 10 of a system that strives for equality and focuses on reuniting 11 families and, to a lesser extent, meeting workplace needs, and 12 WHEREAS, while the 1965 reforms at that time represented a 13 significant advance for families and equality, what was modern 14 in an age before the VCR, the heart transplant, or the moon 15 landing is antiquated in a digital age marked by instantaneous 16 access to information and the rise of a global marketplace, and 17 this nation’s immigration system is once again outmoded, 18 outdated, and ill-equipped for the demands of a modern society, 19 and 20 WHEREAS, as the 113th Congress takes up the call for 21 immigration reform, the Partnership for a New American Economy 22 offers five principles that are essential to a modern 23 immigration system: attracting and retaining the world’s top 24 innovators and entrepreneurs; recruiting talented workers needed 25 to fill gaps in high- and low-skilled sectors of the economy; 26 bringing 11 million undocumented immigrants into the legal 27 economy so that they can pay taxes, attain better education, and 28 contribute more to the economic growth of the United States; 29 developing a state of the art system to ensure that immigration 30 laws are enforced and obeyed; and ensuring that the immigration 31 system is easy to understand, easy to navigate, and easy to 32 implement, and 33 WHEREAS, this great nation is long overdue for an equally 34 significant overhaul of our immigration laws to advance our 35 economy, NOW, THEREFORE, 36 37 Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of Florida: 38 39 That we encourage the 113th Congress of the United States 40 to consider the five principles embraced by the Partnership for 41 a New American Economy as it works to develop a comprehensive 42 immigration reform that will lead this nation in promoting 43 innovation and entrepreneurship and maximizing the productivity 44 of the workforce. 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88