HLS 15RS-3412 ORIGINAL
2015 Regular Session
HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 101
BY REPRESENTATIVES ARMES, ABRAMSON, ADAMS, ANDERS, ARNOLD,
BADON, BARRAS, BARROW, BERTHELOT, BILLIOT, STUART BISHOP,
WESLEY BISHOP, BOUIE, BROADWATER, BROWN, BURFORD, HENRY
BURNS, TIM BURNS, BURRELL, CARMODY, CARTER, CHANEY, CONNICK,
COX, CROMER, DANAHAY, DOVE, EDWARDS, FANNIN, FOIL, FRANKLIN,
GAINES, GAROFALO, GEYMANN, GISCLAIR, GUILLORY, GUINN, HALL,
HARRIS, HARRISON, HAVARD, HAZEL, HENRY, HENSGENS, HILL,
HODGES, HOFFMANN, HOLLIS, HONORE, HOWARD, HUNTER, HUVAL,
IVEY, JACKSON, JAMES, JEFFERSON, MIKE JOHNSON, ROBERT JOHNSON,
JONES, KLECKLEY, LAMBERT, NANCY LANDRY, TERRY LANDRY,
LEBAS, LEGER, LEOPOLD, LOPINTO, LORUSSO, MACK, MIGUEZ, MILLER,
MONTOUCET, MORENO, JAY MORRIS, JIM MORRIS, NORTON, ORTEGO,
OURSO, PEARSON, PIERRE, PONTI, POPE, PRICE, PUGH, PYLANT,
REYNOLDS, RICHARD, RITCHIE, ROBIDEAUX, SCHEXNAYDER,
SCHRODER, SEABAUGH, SHADOIN, SIMON, SMITH, ST. GERMAIN,
STOKES, TALBOT, THIBAUT, THIERRY, WHITNEY, ALFRED WILLIAMS,
PATRICK WILLIAMS, WILLMOTT, AND WOODRUFF
MILITARY AFFAIRS: Requests United States Army and federal government to fully
support and maintain Fort Polk at its present level of personnel and troops
1 A RESOLUTION
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
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HR NO. 101
1 WHEREAS, the military economy supports 82,800 jobs throughout Louisiana,
2representing 4.35% of total state employment, annually contributes $287.3 million in state
3and local revenue, and represents 2.20% of Louisiana's gross domestic product; and
4 WHEREAS, the military economy is measurable in every region of Louisiana,
5having an impact of: $286 million in the Acadiana region, $527 million in the Bayou region,
6$793 million in the Capital region, $1.76 billion in Central Louisiana, $141 million in
7Northeast Louisiana, $1.86 billion in Northwest Louisiana, $2.86 billion in Southeast
8Louisiana, and $508 million in Southwest Louisiana; and
9 WHEREAS, Barksdale Air Force Base provides an annual impact of $1.15 billion
10to the Louisiana economy; and
11 WHEREAS, Fort Polk and the Joint Readiness Training Center provides an annual
12impact of $2.17 billion to the Louisiana economy; and
13 WHEREAS, the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base-New Orleans, based in Belle
14Chasse, Louisiana, provides an annual $573 million impact to the Louisiana economy; and
15 WHEREAS, the Marine Corps Support Facility-New Orleans, home of the Marine
16Forces Reserve and Marine Forces North Commands, which combined are the largest
17commands in the U.S. Marine Corps, provide an annual $269 million impact to Louisiana's
18economy; and
19 WHEREAS, the Space and Naval Warfare Systems (SPAWAR) Center Atlantic,
20Detachment New Orleans, provides an annual impact of $147 million to Louisiana's
21economy; and
22 WHEREAS, the Louisiana National Guard provides an annual impact of $694
23million to Louisiana's economy; and
24 WHEREAS, the proposed fiscal year 2015 budget for the U.S. Department of
25Defense will shrink by more than $75 billion over the next two years and could shrink even
26more pending full enactment of sequestration; and
27 WHEREAS, the proposed budget calls for reducing the size of the U.S. Army to as
28low as 440,000 active duty soldiers from its current size of 520,000; and
29 WHEREAS, the proposed budget envisions a five percent reduction in the Army
30National Guard and Army Reserve; and
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HR NO. 101
1 WHEREAS, the U.S. Air Force proposes to eliminate the entire A-10 "Warthog"
2fleet, having begun these cuts originally in 1992, then in 2005, and again in 2012, at
3Louisiana military installations; and
4 WHEREAS, the fiscal year 2015 budget proposes a round of base closures and
5realignments to occur in 2017; and
6 WHEREAS, these strategic cuts are applied to the U.S. Armed Forces across the
7globe and these actions and the preceding actions have been felt in Louisiana; and
8 WHEREAS, in 2013, the U.S. Army's 2020 plan to reduce the force from 570,000
9to 490,000 personnel threatened to eliminate the 4
th
Brigade Combat Team of the 10
th
10Mountain Division, the largest brigade at Fort Polk; and
11 WHEREAS, the U.S. Army's current Programmatic Environmental Assessment
12continues to restructure the force to as low as 440,000 soldiers, thereby revisiting the
13possibility of deep cuts at Fort Polk; and
14 WHEREAS, in 2012, the Air Force initiated cuts to the overall A-10 fleet, resulting
15in the loss of approximately 500 personnel at Barksdale Air Force Base; and
16 WHEREAS, in 2012, the Air Force proposed to eliminate the 259
th
Air Traffic
17Control Squadron of the Louisiana Air National Guard, which provides air traffic control
18services to both civilian and military aircraft, particularly those in support of training
19operations at Fort Polk; and
20 WHEREAS, in 2012, the U.S. Navy eliminated the VAW-77 "Night Wolves"
21squadron of E-2s and its critical drug interdiction mission, resulting in the loss of
22approximately 150 personnel; and
23 WHEREAS, the U.S. Navy VFA-204 "River Rattlers" squadron of F/A-18s continues
24to experience persistent underfunding of maintenance requirement, potentially jeopardizing
25the airworthiness and mission capability of the squadron, and potentially denying U.S. air
26combat forces ideal adversarial training; and
27 WHEREAS, the U.S. Air Force proposes to eliminate three F-15s from the Louisiana
28Air National Guard 159
th
Fighter Wing, which maintains the only Active Duty mission at the
29Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base and is among only five Alert Missions in the United
30States that remain on 24-hour standby to protect America's perimeter defenses; and
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HR NO. 101
1 WHEREAS, SPAWAR instituted a rule in 2013 preventing Navy Working Capital
2Fund enterprises like SPAWAR Detachment New Orleans from supporting mission
3requirements of non-Navy federal programs and clients, including the Veterans
4Administration; and
5 WHEREAS, force restructure and cuts to Louisiana- based personnel and assets have
6largely occurred outside the bounds of congressional oversight or in the formal environment
7of an official Base Realignment and Closure Commission; and
8 WHEREAS, unchallenged, these threats to operations and assets at Louisiana
9installations will persist, potentially resulting in loss of personnel, assets, missions and
10installations; and
11 WHEREAS, Louisiana's defense communities have struggled financially to meet the
12challenge of these threats, and in some cases have been incapable of mounting any efforts
13to challenge these threats.
14 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the House of Representatives of the
15Legislature of Louisiana does hereby express its support for the commitment, sacrifice, and
16honor demonstrated by the service personnel of the United States Armed Services Active
17Duty, Reserve Component, and National Guard.
18 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the House of Representatives of the Legislature
19of Louisiana does hereby recognize the irreplaceable impact of the military on the Louisiana
20economy and that action to protect Louisiana's defense communities must be swift and
21sufficient.
22 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby express
23its support, and likewise urges the governor of Louisiana, to adequately resource those
24efforts designed to protect and promote the missions, quality of life, and economic viability
25of Louisiana's military installations and defense communities.
26 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to
27Governor Bobby Jindal.
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HR NO. 101
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)]
HR 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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