Second Regular Session
Sixty-first General Assembly
LLS NO. R980725.01 JAG
STATE OF COLORADO
BY REPRESENTATIVE Schauer;
also SENATOR Norton.
STATE, VETERANS & MILITARY
AFFAIRS
HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION 98-1013
WHEREAS, The federal military base realignment and
closure process has led to the closing of Lowry Air Force Base
and the impending closure of Fitzsimons Army Garrison; and
WHEREAS, The exchange and commissary at the former
Lowry Air Force Base has been closed, and the exchange and commissary
at Fitzsimons Army Garrison is scheduled to be closed in March,
1999; and
WHEREAS, Over three thousand two hundred active duty
military personnel with approximately six thousand eight hundred
dependents are assigned to Buckley Air National Guard Base or
other locations in the Denver metropolitan area; and
WHEREAS, Over four thousand members of the National
Guard and Reserves in the Denver metropolitan area are entitled
to unlimited exchange and limited commissary privileges; and
WHEREAS, Over nineteen thousand military retirees
reside in the Denver metropolitan area; and
WHEREAS, The closure of the exchange and commissary
at Lowry Air Force Base and the consequent increase in the number
of persons using the exchange and commissary at Fitzsimons Army
Garrison has resulted in the exchange and commissary at Fitzsimons
being inadequate to support the needs of the persons eligible
to use it; and
WHEREAS, The active duty military personnel, members
of the National Guard and Reserves, and military retirees presently
entitled to exchange and commissary privileges at Fitzsimons Army
Garrison will suffer from decreased quality of life and increased
financial burdens when the exchange and commissary at Fitzsimons
Army Garrison is closed in March, 1999; and
WHEREAS, The closure of the exchange and commissary
at Fitzsimons Army Garrison will eliminate over two hundred jobs;
and
WHEREAS, The closest alternative exchange and commissary
for the Denver metropolitan area is located at the United States
Air Force Academy, which is over sixty miles and more than an
hour's drive away from Denver; and
WHEREAS, Buckley Air National Guard Base is owned
by the United States Air Force, but licensed to the State of Colorado;
and
WHEREAS, Buckley Air National Guard Base and the
City of Aurora, Colorado have sufficient power, water, and sewer
infrastructure to support a new exchange and commissary at Buckley
Air National Guard Base; and
WHEREAS, Roy Romer, Governor of Colorado; Major General
William A. Westerdahl, Adjutant General of the Colorado National
Guard; and Paul E. Tauer, Mayor of Aurora, Colorado all support
the relocation of the exchange and commissary from Fitzsimons
Army Garrison to new facilities to be constructed at Buckley Air
National Guard Base; now, therefore,
Be It Resolved by the House of Representatives
of the Sixtyfirst General Assembly of the State of Colorado,
the Senate concurring herein:
That we, the members of the of the Sixtyfirst
General Assembly, request that the Congress of the United States,
the Secretary of Defense, and the Secretary of the Air Force take
immediate action to authorize the relocation of the exchange and
commissary at Fitzsimons Army Medical Garrison to new facilities
to be constructed at Buckley Air National Guard Base and to ensure
that the exchange and commissary at Fitzsimons Army Garrison remains
open until the new facilities are completed.
Be It Further Resolved, That
the new exchange and commissary to be constructed at Buckley Air
National Guard Base be sized to adequately meet the needs of all
persons in the Denver metropolitan area who are eligible to use
it.
Be It Further Resolved, That copies of this Resolution be sent to the President of the United States, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, the President of the United States Senate, the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of the Air Force, the Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate of each state's legislature of the United States of America, and Colorado's Congressional delegation.