City of Davis Resolution in Support of the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons

RESOLUTION NO. 20-055, SERIES 2020
RESOLUTION OF THE DAVIS CITY COUNCIL TO SUPPORT U.S. RATIFICATION
OF THE U.N. TREATY ON THE PROHIBITION OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS,
RENOUNCE THE FIRST USE OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS BY THE U.S. AND PURSUE
AN AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE U.S. AND NUCLEAR-ARMED GOVERNMENTS

WHEREAS, the use and detonation of nuclear weapons would have catastrophic planetary
environmental, human health and economic consequences; and

WHEREAS, nuclear weapons and nuclear weapons testing threatens our health and the
environment in the creation of radioactive waste; and

WHEREAS, the Davis City Council on November 14, 1984, declared the City of Davis to be a
nuclear-free zone and renounced the first use of nuclear weaponry and urged government officials “to do all things necessary toward the elimination of the international threat of nuclear war;” and

WHEREAS, more than 300 former heads of state, experts and religious and military leaders have called for urgent action to eliminate nuclear weapons globally; and

WHEREAS, the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, adopted July 7, 2017, by the
United Nations conference with the support of 122 nations (since ratified by 35 nations), offers the opportunity to prohibit and delegitimize nuclear weapons and provide the impetus and obligation for the complete elimination of nuclear weapons and the framework to achieve it; and

WHEREAS, the U.S Conference of Mayors on June 11,2018, passed a resolution, calling on the White House and Congress to “step back from the brink and exercise global leadership preventing nuclear war,” and while the legislature of the state of California in August 2018 passed joint resolutions addressed to Congress to embrace the principles of the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (Assembly Joint Resolution 33) and restrict first use of nuclear weapons (Assembly Joint Resolution 30); and

WHEREAS, the current U.S. administration withdrew from the Intermediate Nuclear Forces
agreement on February 1, 2019, (signed by President Reagan in 1987), a key nuclear pact with Russia that prohibits shorter range land-based ballistic missiles or cruise missiles; and

WHEREAS, the New Start treaty, a critical agreement with Russia that limits the number of
strategic weapons,expires in February 2021 and President Trump has signaled that he plans to let it expire; and

WHEREAS, the present U.S. Administration’s 2018 Nuclear Posture Review, a legislative-
mandated review undertaken by the Department of Defense that outlines U.S. nuclear policy,
strategy, capabilities and force posture for the next five to 10 years, approves the use of nuclear weapons even in response to “significant non-nuclear strategic attacks;” and

WHEREAS, the U.S. Navy’s recent deployment of the W76-2 low yield, submarine-launched
ballistic missile warhead makes the use of nuclear weapons more likely according to military
experts; and

WHEREAS,nine countries in the world possess a total of 13,475 nuclear weapons with the United States and Russia accounting for 92 percent of them; and

WHEREAS, recent potential conflicts have occurred in locations from the Korean Peninsula to the South China Sea to the Middle East and South Asia, where nuclear-armed states are engaged in unpredictable relationships that could escalate out of control; and

WHEREAS, The Doomsday Clock, which is released annually by the Bulletin of the Atomic
Scientists, and uses minutes to midnight as a measure of humanity’s proximity to disaster, such as nuclear war or irreversible climate change, moved for the first time in the clock’s 73-year history to a measurement in seconds (100) not in minutes.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the City Council of the City of Davis does hereby
advocate that the United States enter into the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and make nuclear disarmament a cornerstone of its national security policy; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the City of Davis calls upon the federal government to join in
a global effort to prevent nuclear war by renouncing the option of using nuclear weapons first,
canceling replacement or upgrades to the U.S. nuclear arsenal and pursuing agreements among nuclear-armed states to eliminate their nuclear arsenals; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Davis City Clerk will transmit copies of this resolution to
each Senator and Representative from California in the Congress of the United States, to the
President of the United States, and to Governor Gavin Newsom.

PASSED AND ADOPTED by the City Council of the City of Davis on this 19th day of May,
2020, by the following vote:

AYES: Arnold, Carson, Frerichs, Partida, Lee
NOES: None