Assembly Joint Resolution
No. 31
CHAPTER 122
Relative to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
[
Filed with
Secretary of State
September 20, 1999.
]
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AJR 31, Scott.
NASA: Budget for fiscal year 2000.
This measure would commend the actions of the members of the United States House of Representatives from California to restore full programming for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for fiscal year 2000 and would strongly encourage all members of the United States Congress to actively support NASA funding for fiscal year 2000 in an amount sufficient to fully support and sustain scheduled projects.
Digest Key
WHEREAS, The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has dramatically advanced humankind’s knowledge of our universe, the Earth, and technological progress over the past half-century of space exploration; and
WHEREAS, More than 7,250 people are employed at NASA’s three centers in California—the Ames Research Center, the Dryden Flight Research Center, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) with its 5,200 Caltech employees and a payroll in excess of $300,000,000; and
WHEREAS, NASA contracts with these centers, including $350,000,000 with JPL alone, supports thousands of additional jobs throughout the state; and
WHEREAS, NASA and JPL in particular have pioneered breakthroughs in deep space communication, charged-coupled devices, global positioning satellite software, and digital image processing, which in turn JPL has spun off commercially to the direct benefit of the state’s economic competitiveness in the communication, navigational, and medical industries; and
WHEREAS, NASA currently spends one-fourth of its entire annual budget in California; and
WHEREAS, California’s public and independent universities successfully competed last year for more than $175,000,000 in NASA science and engineering grants and contracts; and
WHEREAS, NASA operates ambitious public education outreach programs throughout the state from its three centers located in California; and
WHEREAS, The President’s proposed fiscal year 2000 budget for NASA of $13.6 billion was cut $1.325 billion by the Subcommittee on VA, HUD, and Independent Agencies of the Committee on Appropriations of the United States House of Representatives; and
WHEREAS, NASA funding for the missions to Mars and the Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF), both of which are being managed in the 44th Assembly District, has been restored; and
WHEREAS, NASA’s budget for fiscal year 2000 still faces an additional $925,000,000 in reductions, which would adversely affect the sustainability of NASA’s robotic exploration of the Earth and our solar system; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Assembly and Senate of the State of California, jointly, That the Legislature of the State of California hereby commends the actions of members of the United States House of Representatives from California to restore NASA’s full programming for fiscal year 2000; and be it further
Resolved, That the Legislature of the State of California strongly encourages all members of the United States Congress to actively support NASA funding for fiscal year 2000 in an amount sufficient to fully support and sustain scheduled projects; and be it further
Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of this resolution to the President and Vice President of the United States, to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, to each Senator and Representative from California in the Congress of the United States, and to the director of NASA.