Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 81

WHEREAS, There are approximately 450,000 Nayaritas in the United States, 350,000 of whom live in California, more than any other state in the United States; and

 

WHEREAS, Every year around 7,000 people emigrate from the Mexican State of Nayarit to the United States, ranking it 22nd among all of the states of Mexico from which people immigrate to California; and

 

WHEREAS, In 2015, more than $399 million in remittances were sent by Nayaritas living in California to Nayarit, and Nayaritas in California are 22nd for sending remittances back to their home state; and

 

WHEREAS, From 2002 to 2015, the Consulate General of Mexico in Los Angeles issued more than 31,000 registrations to migrants from Nayarit, which constitutes 2.98 percent of the total number of consular registrations issued by the Consulate General of Mexico in Los Angeles, and Nayaritas are 11th among registrations issued to Mexicans by the Consulate General of Mexico in Los Angeles; and

 

WHEREAS, Taking into account the number of registrations in the United States issued to Nayaritas in 2014, Los Angeles County has the highest concentration of migrants from Nayarit, followed by the Counties of San Bernardino and Fresno; and

 

WHEREAS, In 2015, the 3x1 Program generated a total investment of $1,500 million pesos of which 23.5 percent was managed in Los Angeles county, and Nayarita migrants achieved the approval of 45 projects that have a total investment of more than 25 million pesos; and

 

WHEREAS, Nayarit ranks fourth among the 18 Mexican states that participated in the program in Los Angeles County; and

 

WHEREAS, The oldest and largest Nayarita migrant organization is the National and International Federation of Nayaritas in the United States (La Federación Nacional e Internacional de Nayaritas en Estados Unidos, or FENINE-USA), which was founded in 2003 as a nonprofit organization with the objectives of organizing migrant clubs, advising them, and guiding them in the United States and Nayarit, including promoting fundraising events that help support Nayaritas with medical care, education, and sporting equipment, and encouraging culture, traditions, education, and sports in the Nayarita migrant community; and

 

WHEREAS, FININE-USA is made up of 33 clubs and between 2014 and 2015, 10 new clubs for Nayarit natives were added to the association; and

 

WHEREAS, FENINE-USA does not directly support any politics or actions of political groups or parties in Nayarit or in Mexico—its full support is for the Nayarita migrant community regardless of individual political affiliation, religion, or sexual preference; and

 

WHEREAS, FENINE-USA, by working together with the government of Nayarit, has facilitated educational and sports exchanges between Nayarit and California, including summer courses in 2007 and 2008 with California State University Long Beach and an exchange with California State University Dominguez Hills in 2015; and

 

WHEREAS, For 15 years, FENINE-USA and the government of Nayarit have sponsored La Feria de Nayarit in various locations in California to offer services to Nayarita migrants, its more than 30,000 visitors makes it the largest Mexican cultural fair in the United States; and

 

WHEREAS, At the different events of La Feria de Nayarit, Nayarita companies offer products from Nayarit such as handmade jewelry, coffee, dried fruits, jackfruit concentrates, and spicy sauces; and

 

WHEREAS, FENINE-USA has worked to resolve cases with the United States Social Security Administration office in Guadalajara on behalf of the beneficiary families of Nayarita migrant workers that meet the requirements of that United States Federal Benefits Unit; and

 

WHEREAS, FENINE-USA, from 2013 to 2017, inclusive, has arranged for the issuance of apostilles of birth certificates of American citizen minors deported with their parents to the State of Nayarit, helping with more than 1,800 cases at no cost, from the 58 counties of California and 33 states, so that governments can grant them double nationality and they are able to receive the necessary social services as citizens; and

 

WHEREAS, Nayaritas are paying for meeting center facilities in Los Angeles and paid for the Mexican Consulate on Wheels in 2014, 2015, and 2016 to serve all Mexicans throughout the state; and

 

WHEREAS, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s 1882 poem The Bells of San Blas portrays the San Blas as a link between the past and present and more recently, the Mexican rock group Maná recorded a song, El Muelle de San Blas (The Pier of San Blas) about the city; and

 

WHEREAS, The renowned painter Diego Rivera designed Nayarit’s coat of arms in 1921. A corn plant fills the upper left portion of the emblem, symbolizing the state’s capital, Tepic, the name of which comes from the Aztec word for corn, tepictu. At the upper right a golden bow and arrow represent Nayarit, the god of war worshipped by the Cora, the region’s most prominent indigenous tribe; Nayarit is said to have invented the bow and arrow. At the bottom, white peaks signify the Sierra Madre Occidental, a mountain chain that was home to the Nayar kingdom in the 1500s. At the center of the coat of arms, a small shield depicts an eagle eating a snake on a cactus, the coat of arms of Mexico. Seven footprints encircle the small shield, representing the seven Aztec tribes that walked from the mythical Aztlán to their new home at Tenochtitlán; and

 

WHEREAS, An exceptional Nayarita migrant in California was Ernesto Galarza, who was born in Jalcocotán, Nayarit, on August 15, 1905, and documented in his handwriting the journey from his village of Jalcocotán to San Jose, California. In his autobiographical work entitled “Barrio Boy,” published in 1971, Ernesto Galarza paid homage to his Jalcocotense and Nayarita roots. In this work, Galarza masterfully portrayed the memories of his childhood in Jalcocotán and, in 1979, he was nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature, the first Mexican American to receive this recognition in the United States; and

 

WHEREAS, Nayarita migrants are outstanding in different fields such as music, journalism, art, painting, poetry, education, sports, and politics, including Senator Ricardo Lara, Assembly Member Eduardo Garcia, Former Assembly Member Marco A. Firebaugh, and Rosenda Bernal, Ezequiel Peña, Angel Ng, Luis Sandoval, Luis Villanueva, Jaime García-López, Carlos Gonzalez, and Mario Alberto Gonzalez; and

 

WHEREAS, Nayarita migrant-owned businesses include restaurants, self-service stores, and transportation services, as well as import trade to California and other western states; now, therefore, be it

 

Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, the Assembly thereof concurring, That the Legislature of the State of California, on behalf of the people of the State of California, extends to the people of the State of Nayarit in Mexico an invitation to join with the State of California in a sister state relationship in order to encourage and facilitate mutually beneficial educational, economic, and cultural exchanges; and be it further

 

Resolved, That it is the intent of the Legislature through a sister state relationship with the State of Nayarit to further promote the prosperity of both regions and to improve international understanding and goodwill between both regions; and be it further

 

Resolved, That any sister state agreement be developed through the mutual cooperation and engagement of the Legislature of the State of Nayarit, Mexico, and the Legislature of California, including participation by the Assembly of the State of California and the Senate of the State of California; and be it further

 

Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this resolution to the author for distribution.