HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.R. NO.

112

TWENTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2002

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 
   


HOUSE RESOLUTION

 

strongly URging the congress of the united states to amend cabotage traffic laws to allow the united states department of transportation to exempt the states of hawaii and alaska from cabotage traffic during times of crisis situations.

 

 

WHEREAS, according to the Office of General Counsel of the United States Department of Transportation, airline cabotage is the carriage of air traffic that originates and terminates within the boundaries of a given country by an air carrier of another country; and

WHEREAS, rights to such traffic are usually entirely denied or severely restricted; and

WHEREAS, under 49 U.S.C. section 40109(g), the United States Department of Transportation may authorize a foreign air carrier to carry commercial traffic between points in the United States (i.e., cabotage traffic) under limited circumstances; and

WHEREAS, specifically, the United States Department of Transportation must find that:

(1) The authority is required in the public interest;

(2) Because of an emergency created by unusual circumstances not arising in the normal course of business, the traffic cannot be accommodated by U.S. carriers holding certificates under 49 U.S.C. section 41102;

(3) All possible efforts have been made to place the traffic on U.S. carriers; and

(4) The transportation is necessary to avoid undue hardship to the traffic involved;

and

WHEREAS, because of the unique geographic locations of Hawaii and Alaska and their relative remoteness from certain locations on the mainland, during times of crisis when airline traffic to and from Hawaii or Alaska and the United States mainland drops ten per cent or more -- as the terrorist attacks on September 11 has demonstrated -- residents in these two states and visitors to these states experience extreme difficulty and hardship traveling between the United States mainland and Hawaii and Alaska; and

WHEREAS, it is in the public interest that foreign air carriers be exempt from cabotage traffic restrictions during crisis situations and be allowed to carry passengers, but not cargo, to and from Hawaii or Alaska and locations the United States mainland more than four thousand miles away; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-first Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2002, that the Congress of the United States is strongly urged to amend cabotage traffic laws to allow the United States Department of Transportation to exempt the States of Hawaii and Alaska from cabotage traffic during times of crisis situations -- when airline traffic to and from Hawaii or Alaska drops ten per cent or more -- to allow only passenger traffic on foreign air carriers flying nonstop to and from locations on the United States mainland more than four thousand miles away from the port of embarkation; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the President of the United States, the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, the Secretary of the United States Department of Transportation, Hawaii's congressional delegation, the Governor of Alaska, Alaska's congressional delegation, the Governor of Hawaii, and the Director of Transportation.

 

 

 

OFFERED BY:

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Report Title:

Cabotage Traffic; Exempt HI and Alaska During Crises