Legislature(2019 - 2020)GRUENBERG 120
05/07/2019 01:00 PM House MILITARY & VETERANS' AFFAIRS
Note: the audio ![]()
and video ![]()
recordings are distinct records and are obtained from different sources. As such there may be key differences between the two. The audio recordings are captured by our records offices as the official record of the meeting and will have more accurate timestamps. Use the icons to switch between them.
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| Presentation: Preparing Alaska's Defense Communities for the Future | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
HOUSE SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON MILITARY AND VETERANS' AFFAIRS
May 7, 2019
1:12 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Representative Laddie Shaw, Chair
Representative Chuck Kopp
Representative Ivy Spohnholz
Representative Steve Thompson
Representative George Rauscher
MEMBERS ABSENT
Representative Chris Tuck, Vice Chair
Representative Sharon Jackson
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
PRESENTATION: PREPARING ALASKA'S DEFENSE COMMUNITIES FOR THE
FUTURE
- HEARD
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
No previous action to record
WITNESS REGISTER
TIM FORD, Chief Executive Officer
Association of Defense Communities
Washington, District of Columbia
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided a PowerPoint presentation
entitled, "Preparing Alaska's Defense Communities for the
Future," dated 5/7/19.
JEFF STEPP, Staff
Representative Chris Tuck
Alaska State Legislature
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Asked a question during a PowerPoint
presentation entitled, "Preparing Alaska's Defense Communities
for the Future," dated 5/7/19.
ACTION NARRATIVE
1:12:21 PM
CHAIR LADDIE SHAW called the House Special Committee on Military
and Veterans' Affairs meeting to order at 1:12 p.m.
Representatives Thompson, Kopp, Rauscher, and Shaw were present
at the call to order. Representative Spohnholz arrived as the
meeting was in progress.
^PRESENTATION: PREPARING ALASKA'S DEFENSE COMMUNITIES FOR THE
FUTURE
PRESENTATION: PREPARING ALASKA'S DEFENSE COMMUNITIES FOR THE
FUTURE
1:12:57 PM
CHAIR SHAW announced the only order of business would be a
presentation by the Association of Defense Communities.
1:13:22 PM
TIM FORD, Chief Executive Officer, Association of Defense
Communities (ADC), provided a PowerPoint presentation entitled,
"Preparing Alaska's Defense Communities for the Future." Mr.
Ford informed the committee ADC began 45 years ago within the
Office of Economic Adjustment, U.S. Department of Defense (DoD).
He said the Office of Economic Adjustment is the DoD agency
tasked with engaging communities, thus ADC was formed to be a
nongovernmental partner working with communities and states to
support the military. One of ADC's goals is to be a connection
point between defense communities, defense states, the military,
and industry, to ensure all work together in support of national
security. The association is an [Internal Revenue Section
501(c)(3)] organization and has additional goals to enhance
knowledge and to educate. As part of ADC's goal to educate, it
educates lawmakers, at the federal and state levels, about
issues confronting defense communities and states, so lawmakers
understand the efforts taking place across the country to share
information and ensure preparedness. As a membership
organization, ADC has members in communities in Alaska, and
engages with the Department of Military & Veterans' Affairs
(DMVA); in fact, the deputy commissioner is a part of ADC's
State Advisors Council that oversees and shares state efforts to
support the military. In addition, ADC holds conferences with
the military in Alaska on military bases, and last year, Mr.
Ford was in Fairbanks (slides 1 and 2).
MR. FORD directed attention to slide 3 entitled, "Our Programs,"
noting ADC hosts significant events including a national summit.
In addition, each winter ADC brings together military leaders
and communities for an event called "Installation Innovation" to
discuss the future of military bases. Returning to the goal of
legislative education, he said ADC supports the Defense
Communities Caucus as a way to urge lawmakers at the federal
level to support key issues that help the military and
communities. Also, ADC issues a widely read e-newsletter, "On
Base," which is distributed to interested parties across the
country and is available to all. Mr. Ford explained one of
ADC's signature program is "America's Great Defense
Communities," which is a program in partnership with the U.S.
Automobile Association (USAA), that highlights what communities
are doing to promote quality of life; in the last three years,
eighteen communities have been recognized for being great
American defense communities (slide 4).
1:18:53 PM
REPRESENTATIVE SPOHNHOLZ asked what characteristics make a
community a great defense community.
MR. FORD opined a great defense community has an awareness that
its role is to support [the military] every day, at the state
and local government level, and at the community organization
level. For example, the community actively participates with
and advocates for the defense community. Further, ADC has
learned there are many different categories of support including
education, housing, and childcare. In fact, as part of the
great defense community program, ADC is building a large library
of ideas; although all communities and states are slightly
different, ADC is developing a picture of what great communities
do to support nearby military installations. He advised
education is the number one focus in terms of community
engagement and ADC seeks to ensure great schools are available
to military families. Another important issue is to ensure
quality housing is available to servicemembers on- and off-base.
REPRESENTATIVE SPOHNHOLZ expressed her understanding Alaska has
the highest per-capita rate of current and retired military;
Anchorage, Fairbanks, and other Alaska communities have worked
hard to be military-friendly, as has the University of Alaska by
facilitating the transfer of students' credits. She asked for
specific and practical recommendations as to how a community
becomes a great military defense community.
MR. FORD said ADC has learned the needs of servicemembers are
constantly evolving thus ongoing engagement with the military
makes a community great: listening to what the military is
doing; listening to servicemembers' needs; making sure the
community adjusts to "those dynamics." He acknowledged it is
difficult for communities to anticipate and prepare for the
changing needs of the military and servicemembers.
1:23:19 PM
CHAIR SHAW asked whether ADC works directly with service
organizations such as the Disabled American Veterans (DAV), the
American Legion, and the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW).
MR. FORD said ADC works with the Association of the U.S. Army,
the Air Force Association, local governments, DoD, and all
branches of the military services. Also, ADC partners with
other military groups in its role as a connection point between
local and state governments and the military.
MR. FORD turned attention to slide 5 and informed the committee
the first key issue communities should be aware of are budget
issues; budget issues determine how military installations grow
and how they are supported. The last five to seven years have
been a "chaotic period," although in the last two years funding
has been stable and there have been some increases in active
duty strength, in Alaska and elsewhere; however, in the upcoming
year, there may be an unpredictability to the defense budget
that could cause harm to military installations. He said issues
around "the military construction bill" will not be resolved
quickly because of debates on [the border wall being constructed
between the U.S. border with Mexico], and other military funding
will be debated as well. Mr. Ford opined there is a consensus
to not have a decline in the defense budget, but the outcome is
uncertain. He stressed it is important for local communities to
voice opinions to their congressional delegations in support of
passing the military budget (slide 6). Another key issue is the
"new" national defense strategy (slide 7). He remarked:
If you talk to anyone in DoD they have been taught now
to align everything they say, in terms of the defense
strategy, but I think there's a lot of question marks
in the post-Mattis era and in ... the Department of
Defense, where this strategy goes, moving forward.
But it has been very critical to how DoD is making
decisions and, and [what] we have told our communities
over and over again is read it, digest it, understand
its implications, but I think we're all trying to
figure out what does this mean and how will things
evolve with the new secretary of defense.
MR. FORD continued to slide 8 and stated the third key issue
concerns quality of life, a topic that was viewed as "a nice
thing to talk about" but is now recognized by departmental
leadership as a real factor in decisions about the location of
bases. He pointed out the location of bases is important to the
economies of defense communities; for example, DoD's investment
at Eielson Air Force Base is a long-term investment in
Fairbanks. Further, DoD leadership believes education is
important and the quality of schools near bases will be part of
future basing decisions; ADC has worked with DoD on how to
measure the quality of schools. He provided examples of state
and local programs that promote a broad quality of life such as,
improved education for children of servicemembers, and
employment for military spouses. The final issue in this regard
is the concern about housing; although on-base housing is an
internal DoD issue, 70 percent of servicemembers live in
communities surrounding bases thus the quality, affordability,
and availability of housing is critical.
1:30:15 PM
MR. FORD continued to slide 9 and pointed out more states are
investing in defense infrastructure - just as they do in other
economic drivers - to ensure that DoD can meet its mission and
bases are retained; for example, Massachusetts established a
bond fund of $150 million for projects in support of its
military installations. In addition, states and communities
are driving installation resiliency and efficiency efforts, such
as a partnership in New Jersey to improve water supply
facilitated by the use of an intergovernmental support
agreement, which allows [local and state governments] to share
services with bases to reduce costs. Another example of direct
state investment is that Virginia purchased land to provide for
base expansion (slide 10). He stressed military installations
are just one piece of a state's defense economy that includes
industries in support of defense, such as manufacturing
facilities, that can also be promoted at the state level, and he
provided examples (slide 11). A new program called the Defense
Community Infrastructure Program is a federal funding stream
which can be used at the state and local level to support
infrastructure projects that enhance military value. The
program requires a cost-share of 30 percent outside funds and 70
percent DoD funds; allocation for the program is forthcoming
(slide 12).
1:34:36 PM
MR. FORD provided a list of five areas on which he encouraged
state leadership to focus: understand current and future
mission capabilities by creating a state commanders council to
ensure regular contact with base commanders; protect the
availability of land, facilities, and airspace from encroachment
by development; improve and invest in the ability to accommodate
and support the future force through advance planning; manage
the cost of operations by creating efficiencies by sharing
services; support your state's efforts on military retention by
focusing attention on the importance of the military and its
future (slides 14 and 15). He invited the committee to attend
the Alaska Defense Forum hosted by ADC in Fairbanks in October
[2019], which will be an opportunity for community and state
leadership to talk about the future of defense in Alaska (slide
16).
1:39:14 PM
REPRESENTATIVE THOMPSON returned attention to slide 12, which
referred to federal funding in support of state and local
infrastructure projects that enhance military value. He
recalled [House Bill 316, passed in the Twenty-seventh Alaska
State Legislature] allows a community or an area to be named a
military facility zone and thus provides various benefits to the
community.
MR. FORD noted the money to support state and local
infrastructure projects has not been appropriated and he urged
the committee to inform the Alaska congressional delegation of
the importance of this funding to local communities and to
states.
1:40:39 PM
JEFF STEPP, Staff, Representative Chris Tuck, Alaska State
Legislature, asked Mr. Ford to elaborate on how state
legislatures participate in the defense forums.
MR. FORD explained the goal behind defense forums is to help ADC
members organize at the state and local level. The conferences
have provided a way for states to bring communities together
and, in some states, the forums have been the start of an
ongoing effort. For example, in Ohio, ADC hosted a forum and
now the state holds a statewide forum to bring communities
together on an annual basis. The second goal of a forum is to
share information ADC has garnered on the "bigger picture," and
to share national ideas that can be focused to a local level and
engage business leaders, and local government. He said when
local entities and members of the public are engaged, they are
more willing to support and advance [military] issues. However,
participation by state legislatures varies by state; in
California the forum is hosted by the state legislature, which
puts legislators and staff from the governor's office in close
contact with base commanders. He assured the committee,
subsequent to the forum in Alaska, there will be opportunities
for the legislature and authorities at the local level to
discuss how to continue statewide engagement.
1:44:18 PM
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business before the committee, the House
Special Committee on Military and Veterans' Affairs meeting was
adjourned at [1:44] p.m.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| HMVA_07MAY2019_Tim-Ford-PPT-Presentation.pdf |
HMLV 5/7/2019 1:00:00 PM |
|
| HMVA_07MAY2019_ADC-State-Of-Support.pdf |
HMLV 5/7/2019 1:00:00 PM |
|
| HMVA_07MAY2019_BIO-Tim-Ford-ADC.pdf |
HMLV 5/7/2019 1:00:00 PM |
|
| HMVA_07MAY2019_ADC-Annual-Report.pdf |
HMLV 5/7/2019 1:00:00 PM |