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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.