S 3247

	WHEREAS, the existence of more than 12,000 nuclear weapons worldwide poses a grave and existential threat to the citizens of the commonwealth; and
	WHEREAS, the residents of the commonwealth have expressed their deep concern about this continuing threat over many decades through town meetings and city council resolutions and the filing of bills and resolutions with the general court; and
	WHEREAS, the policies and actions of states may lead the way and inspire important changes nationally and internationally; and
	WHEREAS, the commonwealth played a leading role in ending the nuclear arms race with the Soviet Union in the 1980s, by adopting a nuclear freeze resolution and encouraging other states to follow its example; and
	WHEREAS, the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which entered into force as international law on January 22, 2021, has been signed and ratified by 70 countries; and
	WHEREAS, the legislatures of California, Oregon and Rhode Island, the Maine state senate and the New Jersey assembly, and 21 cities and towns in the commonwealth have taken action to denounce the threat of nuclear war by endorsing the national Back from the Brink platform, which calls on our federal leaders to embrace the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and to take immediate steps to prevent nuclear war by actively pursuing a verifiable agreement among nuclear-armed states to eliminate their nuclear arsenals, renouncing the option of using nuclear weapons first, ending the President of the United States’ sole, unchecked authority to launch a nuclear attack, taking United States nuclear weapons off hair-trigger alert and canceling the plan to replace its arsenal with enhanced weapons, mindful of prioritizing national security; now therefore be it
	RESOLVED, that the general court urges all members of the Massachusetts congressional delegation to co-sponsor House Resolution 317 and Senate Resolution 323, which call for the United States to adopt the policy provisions of the Back from the Brink platform; and be it further
	RESOLVED, that copies of these resolutions be transmitted forthwith by the clerk of the Senate to the President and Vice President of the United States, the Speaker and Minority Leader of the United States House of Representatives, the Majority and Minority Leaders of the United States Senate, and to each Senator and Representative from the commonwealth in the Congress of the United States, and to the governor of the commonwealth.