HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 20

(By Delegates J. Nelson, Cooper, D. Evans, Fleischauer, Longstreth, Rowan and Weld )

January 21, 2016

Urging the United States Congress to provide funding for the West Virginia National Guard to sustain and enhance its capabilities in its role in a regional catastrophe and to modernize the antiquated avionics of its fleet of C130s and other aircraft to meet global airspace requirements for 2020.

Whereas, In the event of a regional catastrophe, West Virginia’s east-west highways, including I-68 and I-64 are links to the major exit corridors from the FEMA National Capital Region (NCR) westward and, assuming that a regional catastrophe will likely include Baltimore to the north of the NCR and Richmond to the south of the NCR, westward evacuation utilizing these highways is highly likely and is, in fact anticipated; and

Whereas, The routes through West Virginia will traverse rural areas that do not have infrastructure adequate for what could be a mass of evacuees in the worst-case scenario; experience in regional emergencies, such as Superstorm Sandy in 2012, illustrates some shortcomings in planning that is less focused on regions and more on states; and

Whereas, West Virginia is perfectly (and geographically) postured to support any emergency or disaster response to the NCR, including mass evacuation westward; and

Whereas, FEMA regions do not necessarily represent grouping of states likely to be involved in some scenarios; FEMA region III contains the NCR and West Virginia as its western-most edge and in a major catastrophe, Regions V, with Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, VII with Missouri, and IV with Kentucky, Tennessee, and North Carolina are likely to be involved in some combinations; and

Whereas, The National Guard, through the use of Emergency Management Assistance Compacts, can operate across state lines to provide vital response capability in security, transportation, medical, housing, communications, command and control, and others based on its dual role in military preparedness and state civil support; and

Whereas, Military Force Structure assigned to the National Guard must be considered by Federal Military planners for the dual use they can encounter;  National Guard Organizations require personnel, equipment, organization, training, leadership and funding to maintain federal military standards and to be prepared to respond to a domestic emergency or disaster; and

Whereas, Regional catastrophic planning is dependent on National Guard assets, capabilities and responsiveness; consequently, it is also critical that federal military planners assess the impact of their force structure changes on regional capability needs as well as those that are state specific; and

Whereas, The C-130 H3 “Hercules” aircraft assigned to the 130th Airlift Wing of the West Virginia National Guard at Yeager Airport in Charleston, West Virginia will eventually become obsolete without system modernization to the communication, navigation, and surveillance (CNS) components; National Air Traffic Control (ATC) agencies and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) are modernizing airspace faster than the US Air Force is updating C-130 avionics capabilities; and

Whereas, Aircraft component acquisition becomes increasingly difficult as fewer C-130 H aircraft remain in the Air Force inventory and the unique components of the C-130, including its self contained navigational system (SCNS), face short term supply chain shortages that could be remedied with aircraft avionics modernization; and

Whereas, The contract to perform maintenance on aircraft flight computers is renewed annually and this perpetual reliance on short term contracts increases sustainment cost and challenges mission effectiveness and operational planning; and

Whereas, Reliance on short term contracts and antiquated avionics will increase Air Force expense in the long run as it translates to more expensive mission-essential contracts and increased fuel expenditures due to inefficient routing; therefore, be it

Resolved by the Legislature of West Virginia:

That the Legislature hereby urges the United States Congress to provide funding for the West Virginia National Guard to sustain and enhance its capabilities in its role in a regional catastrophe and to modernize the antiquated avionics of its fleet of C130s and other aircraft to meet global airspace requirements for 2020 ; and, be it 

Further resolved, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates is hereby directed to forward a copy of this resolution to the President and Secretary of the United States Senate, the Speaker and Clerk of the House of Representatives and to the members of West Virginia congressional delegation.