Strickland's Base Closure Resolution Heads to Senate Floor for a Vote

A senate joint resolution authored by Sen. Tony Strickland (R-Moorpark) designed to help keep California military bases open if the U.S. Department of Defense goes forward with a new round of base closures passed unanimously in the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee Wednesday.

The Department of Defense plans to ask Congress to approve two rounds of military base closures, one in 2013 and another in 2015, but Strickland hopes the passage of SJR19 will show the importance of the state's bases and the benefit they bring to the people here in terms of security and jobs.

"California's military bases also provide a great economic benefit to their surrounding communities," Strickland said. "They provide jobs to hundreds of thousands of service-members and civilians alike nad help boost local small businesses."

Strickland added that in this district, Naval Base Ventura County, alone, is one of the largest employers and provides an estimated 19,000 jobs.

The joint resolution will now head to the Senate floor for a vote.

The committee passage of SJR19 comes on the heels of another of Strickland's initiatives recieving the go-ahead from the Governmental Organization Committee Tuesday. The Bureaucracy Realignment and Closure Commission bill, a bill supported by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association and that would streamline state agencies, now heads to the Senate Appropriations Committee.