Florida Senate - 2009 SB 2322
By Senator Gaetz
4-01619C-09 20092322__
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to military base closures; creating s.
3 288.984, F.S.; establishing the Legislative Oversight
4 Council on United States Department of Defense Base
5 Realignment and Closure Activities; providing the
6 council's mission; providing for membership; providing
7 for terms of appointment; providing for reappointment
8 of members; providing for election of a council chair
9 and vice chair; providing for members to be reimbursed
10 for expenses; providing for council committees and the
11 tasks of the committees; providing an effective date.
12
13 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
14
15 Section 1. Section 288.984, Florida Statutes, is created to
16 read:
17 288.984 Legislative Oversight Council on United States
18 Department of Defense Base Realignment and Closure Activities.
19 The Legislative Oversight Council on United States Department of
20 Defense Base Realignment and Closure Activities is established.
21 The council shall provide oversight of the initiatives and
22 actions taken on behalf of the state under this part.
23 (1) MISSION.-The mission of the council is to:
24 (a) Keep the state’s military installations and their core
25 missions off the Department of Defense's base realignment and
26 closure activities list.
27 (b) Know the capabilities of state military installations
28 in order to accommodate the realignment of bases from other
29 locations and the potentiality for realigning bases from this
30 state.
31 (c) Support local community efforts relating to the
32 realignment and closure of a military base by acting as a
33 liaison between the local communities and the Legislature.
34 (2) MEMBERSHIP.—
35 (a) The council shall be composed of six members. The
36 President of the Senate shall appoint three members, at least
37 two of whom shall be members of the Senate, and the Speaker of
38 the House of Representatives shall appoint three members, at
39 least two of whom shall be members of the House of
40 Representatives.
41 (b) Each of the legislative members appointed by the
42 presiding officer of each house of the Legislature shall be
43 appointed to a term of 2 years, commencing July 1 of each odd
44 numbered year. The offices of the legislative members become
45 vacant if the legislators cease to be members of the house of
46 the Legislature from which they were appointed. Each of the
47 other members shall be appointed to a term of 4 years,
48 commencing July 1 in the year of appointment. A vacancy shall be
49 filled for the remainder of the unexpired term in the same
50 manner as the initial appointment. All members of the council
51 are eligible for reappointment.
52 (c) Members of the council shall elect a chair and vice
53 chair to terms of 2 years and the chair and vice chair are
54 eligible to succeed themselves.
55 (d) The members of the council shall serve without
56 compensation, but are entitled to reimbursement from the
57 appointing legislative chamber for expenses in accordance with
58 s. 112.061.
59 (3) SUBCOMMITTEES.—The council shall establish the
60 following committees:
61 (a) The Intrastate Activities Committee. The task of the
62 committee is to:
63 1. Collect information about and become familiar with the
64 concerns and activities of local communities in protecting their
65 respective military bases.
66 2. Conduct an analysis of the probability of base
67 realignment and closure actions for each military base and share
68 that evaluation with the affected community and the council.
69 3. Obtain the latest base realignment and closure
70 information available from the Federal Government and ensure
71 that communities are updated on that information.
72 4. Collect effective methods and practices used by local
73 communities to address the issue of base realignment or closure
74 and disseminate such best practices among affected communities.
75 5. Ensure that no affected community or stakeholder is left
76 out of state-level efforts and that everyone sees the value in a
77 statewide coordination of information gathering, strategy
78 development, and best-practice sharing.
79 6. Educate the Legislature on the importance of supporting
80 legislation relating to the state’s military bases.
81 (b) The Federal Activities Committee. The task of the
82 committee is to ensure that the council has a presence at the
83 Pentagon and to have on-going dialogue with key Department of
84 Defense officials concerning the state's military bases.
85 (c) The Competitive Advantages Committee. The task of the
86 committee is to research and collect best practices and
87 strategies throughout the country with respect to other military
88 communities in order to leverage this state's competitive
89 advantage.
90 (d) The Public Communications Committee. The task of the
91 committee is to increase public awareness of federal base
92 realignment and closure activities and public investment in
93 preserving the state's military bases.
94 Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2009.