Legislature(1999 - 2000)
03/16/1999 08:06 AM House STA
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* first hearing in first committee of referral
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+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
HJR 21-MILITARY BASE REALIGNMENT/CLOSURE ACTIONS Number 0507 CHAIR JAMES announced HJR 21, Relating to new evaluation and selection criteria for military base realignment and closure actions, sponsored by Representative Mulder, is before the committee. REPRESENTATIVE MULDER explained that HJR 21 emphasizes the strengths of Alaska's bases for future Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) processes. The joint task force for military bases in Alaska met during the interim and proposed this resolution. REPRESENTATIVE MULDER noted that the task force met with various members within the Pentagon, Alaska's military leaders, and other experts and concluded that if congress was going to go through another round of base realignment and closure, they really needed to update their criteria from which they make those decisions. The BRAC process was impaneled in the early 80s and had established a number of criteria, but the most important item was cost which was a very harmful criterion for Alaska. He said that the military bases in the United States have changed substantively over the past decade. REPRESENTATIVE MULDER referred to news events within the last couple of years. He said that, "We have gone from a base- projection platform of having military installations outside our country, now we've withdrawn them back mostly to within our country, so we now are faced with the power of projection of base structure as opposed to a foreign deployed base structure but that is not accounted for within the BRAC process." REPRESENTATIVE MULDER stated that HJR 21 simply calls for congress to establish new criteria, not only focusing on cost, but also on the importance of power projection which is very important for Alaska. He indicated that most people don't understand that you can get to most hot spots in the world as quickly, or more quickly from Alaska than you can from the other deployment forces, for example, Fort Brag, North Carolina, as well as the joint mobility and deployment. Fort Richardson, Elmendorf Air Force Base, Fort Wainwright and Eielson Air Force Base have joint mobility to put the troops together to get them to a position or staging point in an international hot spot. He also mentioned that that criterion was not highly ranked or placed within the criteria. REPRESENTATIVE MULDER said HJR 18 requests that the Congress and the President establish new Joint Cross-Service Groups this year to study power projection and deployment, and also to develop a new evaluation in selection criteria because with the new force structures and the new alignment of bases within the United States, it begs the question why these criteria are not more highly valued or established. Representative Mulder also noted this came with the recommendation of Senator Stevens because Senator Stevens felt that Alaska's bases are being devalued unnecessarily. Number 0573 REPRESENTATIVE OGAN moved to report HJR 21 out of committee with individual recommendations and the accompanying fiscal notes. There being no objection, it was so ordered.
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