Senate Joint Resolution
No. 5
CHAPTER 73
Relative to March Air Force Base.
[
Filed with
Secretary of State
July 16, 1997.
]
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SJR 5, Haynes.
March Air Force Base.
This measure would memorialize the President and Congress of the United States to recognize the importance of the Riverside County training center to the citizens of the county, and enact legislation that would add public safety projects to the list of programs that may be considered for federal surplus property.
Digest Key
WHEREAS, March Air Force Base, Riverside County, California, has been realigned, and the active Air Force unit has left the base to the joint use of the Air Force reserves and civilian authorities; and
WHEREAS, On July 2, 1993, the President of the United States announced a program to aid the economic recovery of communities suffering base closures and pledged top priority in the early reuse of the base’s assets by the host communities; and
WHEREAS, Property on March Air Force Base has been identified as surplus property that is to be made available for community development, and this property includes the Non-Commissioned Officer Training Academy, composed of classroom space, dormitories, audio/visual facilities, a physical training area, and open acreage; and
WHEREAS, The Sheriff of Riverside County is an elected, constitutional officer and is responsible for providing training to the officers of the department, and has a history of being involved in providing quality training to the law enforcement community; and
WHEREAS, The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department has had to use three separate sites in which to present a Peace Officers Standards and Training (P.O.S.T.) certified law enforcement curriculum, and has had to relinquish its oldest site because of encroaching residential development; and
WHEREAS, The Riverside County Fire Department and the California Department of Forestry must send their personnel out of the county for P.O.S.T. certified law enforcement and fire training; and
WHEREAS, The Riverside County Fire Chief and the Riverside County Sheriff have agreed that public safety training would be more effective as a joint venture, sharing knowledge and resources; and
WHEREAS, The Riverside County Sheriff and Fire Chief have determined that in order to effectively meet the future demands of its citizens on the county’s public safety agencies, it must develop a single-site, consolidated, regional public safety training center; and
WHEREAS, The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department has determined that the Non-Commissioned Officer (NCO) Training Academy is an appropriate site for a regional training center because of existing infrastructure and the available open land necessary for future development; and
WHEREAS, The California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training recommended the creation of regional public safety training centers in its report “Partnerships for a Safer California,” prepared pursuant to Section 13508 of the Penal Code; and
WHEREAS, The Riverside County regional training center concept would exceed the commission’s recommendations; and
WHEREAS, The Sheriff’s Department and the Fire Department of Riverside County have taken a one-year lease on the NCO Training Academy site and have started to develop the site as a regional training center and find that it would be of great benefit to take title to the property through application to the federal government in order to continue development; and
WHEREAS, Federal surplus property has been made available to certain public agencies through a special grant process, but that process is limited and does not accommodate the regional training center, and therefore requires federal legislation amending the process; and
WHEREAS, The United States Department of Justice has been contacted and has shown an interest in the training center and in an amendment to the federal surplus property law (40 U.S.C. Sec. 484(j)(3)) allowing them to act as sponsors for public safety projects; and
WHEREAS, Legislation (H.R. 404 and S. 203 of the 105th Congress) has been introduced in Congress authorizing the Department of Justice to act as a sponsor for public safety projects; and
WHEREAS, This legislation is necessary for Riverside County’s training center project and may benefit other jurisdictions in California that are subject to base closures; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate and Assembly of the State of California, jointly, That the Legislature of the State of California respectfully memorializes the Congress of the United States to recognize the importance of the Riverside County training center to the citizens of the county, and to enact H.R. 404 or S. 203 of the 105th Congress or similar legislation that would add public safety projects to the list of programs that may be considered for federal surplus property; 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 the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and to each Senator and Representative from California in the Congress of the United States.