HLS 15RS-1910 ORIGINAL
2015 Regular Session
HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOL UTION NO. 163
BY REPRESENTATIVE ARMES
MILITARY AFFAIRS: Requests the U.S. Army and federal government to fully support
and maintain Ft. Polk at its present level of personnel and troops
1 A CONCURRENT RESOL UTION
2To urge and request the governor of Louisiana to express support of the U.S. Armed
3 Services Active Duty, Reserve Component, and National Guard; to recognize the
4 impact of the military on Louisiana's economy; to resource adequately those efforts
5 designed to protect and promote the missions, quality of life, and economic viability
6 of Louisiana's military installation and defense communities.
7 WHEREAS, Moody Analytics' Precis lists the number one, four, and five largest
8employers in Louisiana other than state government as Fort Polk, Barksdale Air Force Base,
9and the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base; and
10 WHEREAS, the 2013 Statewide Military Economic Impact Analysis, commissioned
11by the Louisiana Department of Economic Development, indicates an annual military
12economic impact of $8.7 billion to the Louisiana economy; and
13 WHEREAS, the military economy supports 82,800 jobs throughout Louisiana,
14representing 4.35% of total state employment, annually contributes $287.3 million in state
15and local revenue, and represents 2.20% of Louisiana's gross domestic product; and
16 WHEREAS, the military economy is measurable in every region of Louisiana,
17having an impact of: $286 million in the Acadiana region, $527 million in the Bayou region,
18$793 million in the Capital region, $1.76 billion in Central Louisiana, $141 million in
19Northeast Louisiana, $1.86 billion in Northwest Louisiana, $2.86 billion in Southeast
20Louisiana, and $508 million in Southwest Louisiana; and
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HCR NO. 163
1 WHEREAS, Barksdale Air Force Base provides an annual impact of $1.15 billion
2to the Louisiana economy; and
3 WHEREAS, Fort Polk and the Joint Readiness Training Center provides an annual
4impact of $2.17 billion to the Louisiana economy; and
5 WHEREAS, the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base-New Orleans, based in Belle
6Chasse, Louisiana, provides an annual $573 million impact to the Louisiana economy; and
7 WHEREAS, the Marine Corps Support Facility-New Orleans, home of the Marine
8Forces Reserve and Marine Forces North Commands, which combined are the largest
9commands in the U.S. Marine Corps, provide an annual $269 million impact to Louisiana's
10economy; and
11 WHEREAS, the Space and Naval Warfare Systems (SPAWAR) Center Atlantic,
12Detachment New Orleans, provides an annual impact of $147 million to Louisiana's
13economy; and
14 WHEREAS, the Louisiana National Guard provides an annual impact of $694
15million to Louisiana's economy; and
16 WHEREAS, the proposed fiscal year 2015 budget for the U.S. Department of
17Defense will shrink by more than $75 billion over the next two years and could shrink even
18more pending full enactment of sequestration; and
19 WHEREAS, the proposed budget calls for reducing the size of the U.S. Army to as
20low as 440,000 active duty soldiers from its current size of 520,000; and
21 WHEREAS, the proposed budget envisions a five percent reduction in the Army
22National Guard and Army Reserve; and
23 WHEREAS, the U.S. Air Force proposes to eliminate the entire A-10 "Warthog"
24fleet, having begun these cuts originally in 1992, then in 2005, and again in 2012, at
25Louisiana military installations; and
26 WHEREAS, the fiscal year 2015 budget proposes a round of base closures and
27realignments to occur in 2017; and
28 WHEREAS, these strategic cuts are applied to the U.S. Armed Forces across the
29globe and these actions and the preceding actions have been felt in Louisiana; and
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HCR NO. 163
1 WHEREAS, in 2013, the U.S. Army's 2020 plan to reduce the force from 570,000
2to 490,000 personnel threatened to eliminate the 4
th
Brigade Combat Team of the 10
th
3Mountain Division, the largest brigade at Fort Polk; and
4 WHEREAS, the U.S. Army's current Programmatic Environmental Assessment
5continues to restructure the force to as low as 440,000 soldiers, thereby revisiting the
6possibility of deep cuts at Fort Polk; and
7 WHEREAS, in 2012, the Air Force initiated cuts to the overall A-10 fleet, resulting
8in the loss of approximately 500 personnel at Barksdale Air Force Base; and
9 WHEREAS, in 2012, the Air Force proposed to eliminate the 259
th
Air Traffic
10Control Squadron of the Louisiana Air National Guard, which provides air traffic control
11services to both civilian and military aircraft, particularly those in support of training
12operations at Fort Polk; and
13 WHEREAS, in 2012, the U.S. Navy eliminated the VAW-77 "Night Wolves"
14squadron of E-2s and its critical drug interdiction mission, resulting in the loss of
15approximately 150 personnel; and
16 WHEREAS, the U.S. Navy VFA-204 "River Rattlers" squadron of F/A-18s continues
17to experience persistent underfunding of maintenance requirement, potentially jeopardizing
18the airworthiness and mission capability of the squadron, and potentially denying U.S. air
19combat forces ideal adversarial training; and
20 WHEREAS, the U.S. Air Force proposes to eliminate three F-15s from the Louisiana
21Air National Guard 159
th
Fighter Wing, which maintains the only Active Duty mission at the
22Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base and is among only five Alert Missions in the United
23States that remain on 24-hour standby to protect America's perimeter defenses; and
24 WHEREAS, SPAWAR instituted a rule in 2013 preventing Navy Working Capital
25Fund enterprises like SPAWAR Detachment New Orleans from supporting mission
26requirements of non-Navy federal programs and clients, including the Veterans
27Administration; and
28 WHEREAS, force restructure and cuts to Louisiana- based personnel and assets have
29largely occurred outside the bounds of congressional oversight or in the formal environment
30of an official Base Realignment and Closure Commission; and
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HCR NO. 163
1 WHEREAS, unchallenged, these threats to operations and assets at Louisiana
2installations will persist, potentially resulting in loss of personnel, assets, missions and
3installations; and
4 WHEREAS, Louisiana's defense communities have struggled financially to meet the
5challenge of these threats, and in some cases have been incapable of mounting any efforts
6to challenge these threats.
7 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby
8express its support for the commitment, sacrifice, and honor demonstrated by the service
9personnel of the United States Armed Services Active Duty, Reserve Component, and
10National Guard.
11 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby
12recognize the irreplaceable impact of the military on the Louisiana economy and that action
13to protect Louisiana's defense communities must be swift and sufficient.
14 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby express
15its support, and likewise urges the governor of Louisiana, to adequately resource those
16efforts designed to protect and promote the missions, quality of life, and economic viability
17of Louisiana's military installations and defense communities.
18 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to
19Governor Bobby Jindal.
DIGEST
The digest printed below was prepared by House Legislative Services. It constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument. The keyword, one-liner, abstract, and digest do not constitute
part of the law or proof or indicia of legislative intent. [R.S. 1:13(B) and 24:177(E)]
HCR 163 Original 2015 Regular Session Armes
Requests the governor to express support of the U.S. Armed Services Active Duty, Reserve
Component and National Guard to adequately resource those efforts designed to protect and
promote the missions, quality of life, and economic viability of Louisiana's military
installations and defense communities.
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