Senate Joint Resolution
No. 35
CHAPTER 164
Relative to the National Training Center Land Acquisition Project.
[
Filed with
Secretary of State
September 20, 2000.
]
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SJR 35, Knight.
National Training Center: Fort Irwin, California: Land Acquisition Project.
This measure would memorialize Congress and the President to act promptly with regard to the expansion of the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California.
Digest Key
WHEREAS, The National Training Center (NTC), located at Fort Irwin in San Bernardino County, provides a critical United States Army training mission; and
WHEREAS, The NTC has been providing this mission since 1981. The success and effectiveness of this training mission has been proven in past and current actions by the United States Army in carrying out its global mission; and
WHEREAS, Fort Irwin is vital to our nations’s interest and the defense and security of our nation; and
WHEREAS, Fort Irwin is an integral piece of the Southwest Defense Complex, a network of military facilities located throughout the southwestern United States which collectively provides a secure, robust, and cost-effective platform for multiservice military preparedness projects and activities; and
WHEREAS, Despite the Army’s requirement for a larger area in which to conduct realistic combat training based upon modern technology and warfare, a need which the Army has amply demonstrated during its 13-year effort to expand the boundaries of the National Training Center, Fort Irwin has not been expanded upon its World War II boundaries; and
WHEREAS, Fort Irwin is important to the economic well-being of the entire high-desert area, providing thousands of people with employment and valuable income and tax revenues to neighboring communities, the County of San Bernardino, and the State of California; and
WHEREAS, The Army and the Department of Defense have presented an expansion proposal for Fort Irwin which responds to the concerns of the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors, the citizens of San Bernardino County, and the Bureau of Land Management’s Desert District Advisory Council; and
WHEREAS, This resolution builds upon Resolution Chapter 94 passed by the California Legislature in 1993; and
WHEREAS, The Board of Supervisors of San Bernardino and Kern Counties have passed similar resolutions in support of the NTC’s expansion; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate and Assembly of the State of California, jointly, That the Legislature commends the Army for its resourcefulness and diligence in seeking to accomplish its training mission at the NTC while upholding high standards of environmental stewardship; and be it further
Resolved, That the Legislature urges the Department of Defense to complete, consistent with applicable state and federal environmental law, the Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement regarding their current proposal, or any modifications made thereto since it was proposed in April 1999; and be it further
Resolved, That the Legislature urges the Bureau of Land Management to move rapidly to complete analysis and reviews in order to complete the planning process pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act within the current fiscal year; and be it further
Resolved, That the Legislature urges the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate to act promptly relative to the expansion proposal as a distinct action as part of the 2001 fiscal year appropriations process, consistent with applicable state and federal environmental laws ; and be it further
Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this resolution to the President and Vice President of the United States, to each Senator and Representative from California in the Congress of the United States, to the California Congressional Delegation, to the Department of Defense, the Department of Interior, the Chairs of the Senate and House Armed Services Committees, and to the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.