COMMONWEALTH OP PENNSYLVANIA HOUSE OP REPRESENTATIVES COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS

In re: 2000-2001 Appropriations Hearing Department of Military and Veterans Affairs

* * * Stenographic report of hearing held in Majority Caucus Room, Main Capitol Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Wednesday, March 1, 2000 4:26 p.m.

HON. JOHN E. BARLEY, CHAIRMAN Hon. Gene DiGirolamo, Secretary Hon. Patrick E. Fleagle, Subcommittee on Education Hon. Jim Lynch, Subcommittee on Capitol Budget Hon. Ron Raymond, Subcommittee on Health and Human Services Hon. Dwight Evans, Minority Chairman

MEMBERS OF APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE

Hon. William F. Adolph Hon. Steven R. Nickol Hon. Matthew E. Baker Hon. Jane C. Orie Hon. Lita I. Cohen Hon. Joseph Preston, Jr. Hon. Craig Dally Hon. William Russell Robinson Hon. Teresa E. Forcier Hon. Samuel E. Rohrer Hon. Dan Frankel Hon. Stanley E. Saylor Hon. Babette Josephs Hon. Curt Schroder Hon. George Kenney Hon. Edward Staback Hon. Frank LaGrotta Hon. Jerry A. Stern Hon. John A. Lawless Hon. Stephen H. Stetler Hon. Kathy Manderino Hon. Jere L. Strittmatter Hon. Phyllis Mundy Hon. Leo J. Trich, Jr. Hon. John Myers Hon. Peter J. Zug

Also Present:

Michael Rosenstein, Executive Director Mary 'Soderberg,- Minority Executive Director

Reported by:

Nancy J. Grega, RPR X. 2 INDEX

Witnesses; Page

Major General William B. Lynch, Adjutant General 3

Brigadier General John L. Patton, Deputy

Adjutant General For Veterans Affairs 9

Major General William B. Lynch, Adjutant General 11

Brigadier General John L. Patton, Deputy

Adjutant General For Veterans Affairs 19

Major General William B. Lynch, Adjutant General 23

Allen L. Kifer, Director, Facilities and

Engineering 33

Major General William B. Lynch, Adjutant General 34

Brigadier General John L. Patton, Deputy Adjutant General For Veterans Affairs 35 Major General William B. Lynch, Adjutant General 36

ADELMAN REPORTERS 2 31 Timothy Drive Gibsonia, Pennsylvania 15044 3

CHAIRMAN BARLEY: I'd like to reconvene the hearing. We have before us General Lynch, the Adjutant General of Pennsylvania. Welcome.

MAJOR GENERAL LYNCH: Thank you, sir. CHAIRMAN BARLEY: You may begin with your presentation. It would be acceptable if you would summarize rather than go through all 11 pages. We would be happy if you could do that. MAJOR GENERAL LYNCH: Since it's late in the day, I will summarize. However, it's important for me to take the opportunity to thank you all for your support and to report on the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs. Our budget as presented by the Governor is in keeping with the concept that Pennsylvania is a leader among states and a competitor among nations. This budget continues and improves upon the successes achieved by our department over the last four and a half years and demonstrates fiscal prudence.

We appreciate your support of our programs and I'm happy to report to you .today that our National Guard is a.strong, capable and ready military force and that our department remains a strong advocate for Commonwealth veterans. The last year has seen a record deployment 4 paced by Pennsylvania National Guardsmen in support of our federal mission.

Earlier in the year, 700 of our soldiers from the 28th Division participated in an exercise in Germany and soon over a thousand other Keystone soldiers will be there for similar or fighter exercises at the corps level.

Last spring the 193rd Special Operations Wing and the 171st Air Refueling Wing from Pittsburgh deployed more than 800 people to Germany and Hungary in support of the air operation over the Balkans. Earlier, Pennsylvania's 111th Fighter Wing from Philadelphia did a three month rotation in Operation Southern Watch patrolling the Southern Iraqi No Fly Zone. Recently, we received the first of eight EC-130J Aircraft which begins the modernization of the entire fleet of our 193rd Special Operations Wing located right down the road here at Harrisburg International. But a few examples of the Guard Operations around the world. At the same time, our Guard continues its state mission in support of the Governor and the citizens of Pennsylvania. We participate in. 5 literally hundreds of community based events and, of course, we are always there when disaster strikes or emergencies threaten. The Agency is most grateful for the Special State Active Duty Fund which provides u* with a certain amount of flexibility and the authority to get ready early for critical situations.

The Commonwealth, through this Agency, receives over 330 million federal dollars to support the mission of the National Guard and its 22 thousand soldiers and airmen. Federal funds make a signifi­ cant contribution to the growth and prosperity of the Commonwealth through the National Guard. Recently at Fort Indiantown Gap we have opened three new facilities and begun three new missions. In September the National Guard dedicated a new military education complex which is the state of the art and available for use by the community as well as our Guardsmen. Also in September we dedicated a 5.2 million dollar helicopter training facility which is similarly state of the art. We do all of the training for the Army Cargo and Utility Helicopter Pilots and crew members at the Gap. Over a thousand military students a year train there. By far our biggest success story this year was taking over Fort Indiantown Gap from the active 6 duty Army and returning the Gap to state control. This is a work in progress but we are quite pleased with our progress to date.

The General Fund-. Appropriation provides for an increase above the current level of funding and proposes two additional positions for our department: A Director of Information Technology and a Deputy Director for our Veterans Homes. These positions are needed to move our agency into the future technology and to insure that our Veterans Programs are maintained at the highest possible level.

In the Facilities Area, we are most appreciative of a 1.2 million dollar addition to the backlog of emergency maintenance and repair fund. I comment on this because I am committed to innovatively investing our assets to bring a three-fold return on this money. The federal government has a program which will provide us three federal dollars for each state dollar invested. I'm here to tell you that that is a good deal. We will turn that 1.2 million dollars into 5 million federal dollars which will take a big bite out of our backlog of emergency maintenance and repairs needed.

The fiscal year 2000-01 represents the fifth year of our Educational Systems Program for 7 qualified members of the Pennsylvania National Guard. We are hopeful that proposed legislation which recently passed the Senate will soon be enacted into law. That will make our Tuition Assistance Program 100% and will put us on a par with our bordering states.

The Pennsylvania Guard is only one part of our business. Equally as important is our support of 1.3 million veterans who make the Commonwealth their homes. This is provided through our Bureau of Veterans Affairs. Our State Veterans Programs are unmatched in the country, thanks to you. We are most appreciative for the Committee's commitment to those who gave so much and who ask for so little in return. The .veterans programs we administer are all funded at appropriate levels. Governor Ridge's budget continues to fund the best Veterans Homes programs in the nation. We diligently pursue every avenue to maximize the anticipated federal augmentation to support our Veterans Homes and Scotland School, permitting a matching reduction in the appropriations. Our five Veterans Homes are near full occupancy and we will soon begin construction on the sixth over near Philadelphia, the Delaware Valley Veterans Home. 8

Finally, Scotland School. Scotland School provides the unique, secure learning environment for children of Commonwealth Veterans. We continue to raise the: bar.;p£. excellence at this institution and exert every effort to achieve that objective within physical guidelines. I strongly invite you to come see Scotland School and I guarantee you will be pleased with this. Thank you for your courtesy and attention, Mr. Chairman and members of the Committee.

I'd be happy to address any questions that you might have.

CHAIRMAN BARLEY: Thank you very much,

General, and again appreciate your presentation.

I now recognize Representative Kenney for some questions.

BY REPRESENTATIVE KENNEY:

QL Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Major General, thank you. I was happy to hear you talk about six

State Veterans and Nursing Home which is located in my legislative district. We have been waiting some time as General Patton knows. I guess the big question is sitting on the grounds now at South Hampton and Roosevelt Boulevard is a temporary sign which was put up by local veterans stating the future site and I jokingly said to General Patton, when is 9 the official state sign going up that people truly understand that this is a reality; this is going to happen? You talk about the Governor committing six million last week towards this project. We fought for years trying to get the federal government to come up with their match which they did last year and when will this construction process begin? A. If I may, I'm going to divert to General Patton to answer your question. The reason I'm going to do that is because General Patton is the driving force behind the success of our Veterans Programs. Q. And he certainly has been a driving force on this sixth state Veterans Home and I want to thank him. A. Yes, sir, and so do I. John Patton is passionate about this. He has carried the ball in Washington as well as Harrisburg and this is going to be a success story and, John, why don't you take it.

BRIGADIER GENERAL PATTON: Thank you. I appreciate your help over the years, Representative Kenney, and U.S. Senator Salvator, driving forces down there along with the citizens groups down there and we have gotten federal funding. We got 15 million dollars of federal money to build that program. We have six million of state money to build that 10 program. We have done all of the architectural work on It. The final design for it is completed. The bids for that project will be opened on March 15th of this year. So, we are looking at two weeks the bids will be opened. Reasonably speaking after that/ it takes about two weeks to assign a contractor to it, to review the bids and make a final determination. Usually after that, within 30 days you can expect that the project will begin. It is a project that will take 480 days estimated time to build. So, we're looking at somewhere around September-October of 2001 to cut the ribbon on it. I would say to you, sir, that the first veteran will probably go through the door on

Veterans Day, November 11th, 2001. BY REPRESENTATIVE KENNEY: (to Brigadier General Patton)

Qt That's great news. When would that official sign go up? Will that be like May 1st? A. It will up when the contractor goes on site and is officially recognized as a DGS Progect. So, I would think before May 1 you will see that sign up there. ft Great. That's great news. Thank you again for your help. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. CHAIRMAN BARLEY: I now recognize 11

Representative Trlch. BY REPRESENTATIVE TRICH: ft Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Gentlemen, welcome again. It's always nice to see you and again I compli- rment you A n d your units in Western Pennsylvania, particularly from where I hail and the community involvement. They always take part in the Washington and Allegheny County areas. General, there are some questions that will be raised today and I know my colleague, Representative Staback, will be hitting on some of them that deal with a new training facility, tank training facility, if you will. I want to save one of my questions along those lines, but the first thing I want you to talk to us about has to do with the question of the administering of anthrax which we have b e e'n/ : - .-.-,. hearing so much about in the media today. Realizing that that is something that could be done and would be done as our troops or National Guard are called up for duty to serve for the federal government, can you give us some back­ ground information on it from your perspective? I know there's been some concern at the legislative level but would like to hear some input from you on it. 12 A. Yes, sir, I'd be happy to do that. It's a program, of course, dictated by the federal side of our business, if you will. The Department of Defense Program that comes right from the Secretary of Defense. Anthrax is deemed to be a significant threat in certain parts of the world. I understand that the biological weapon containing anthrax is easily manufactured and used. I have no expertise in that area. This information ' . is pretty much readily available anywhere. I have personally come to believe that it's a potent threat. We are in what is called Phase 1 of the Program and right now anthrax vaccination is required of soldiers, airmen, who deploy to certain areas of the world and those areas tend to be around Kuwait, Saudia Arabia, places like that and I don't have them all at my fingertips, unfor­ tunately. It's a couple places like that. Soldiers and airmen who are not scheduled to deploy to those areas are not required to take the innoculation. Q. Okay. Again, I realize that is a vaccine that certainly from the military's perspective it's something that seems to be very necessary but, again, there are questions about that. Could you indicate whether you yourself have ever had that type of a vaccination and what problems it has created to you? 13 A. I've had the — I've started on the series. It's a rather complicated series of six shots, three two weeks apart and followed by three more at six month intervals. So, I have had the first three. I get my fourth one in June. The shot is, I had a typhoid shot about the same time. The typhoid shot was far more significant in terms of the sore arm and that kind of thing. I have had absolute­ ly no reaction to the anthrax shot whatsoever. Q. Let me shift gears and go back to the tank training property that has been hitting the newspapers up in Clearfield County recently. Realizing too that this has been looked upon for many years, certainly before you took over in your position, what involve­ ment, and I posedthis question, by the way, to the Budget Secretary trying to get some handle on how the decision is being made regarding which property. He indicated in many ways that it was General Services, of course, alongvith the Governor's involvement and your department as well. Can you give us some background on the controversy, the two problems. The one that was determined to be certainly a good enough site given to the point that it was commented upon that it meets or exceeds in some cases the requirements'-. established by the Adjutant General but yet we have 14 chosen to go to the other property site which is significantly more expensive and seems to have some other environmental issues that may be more problemat­ ic for us. Could you enlighten us perhaps with the recommendation that your department made?

A. Sure, I'd be happy to do that. If I may give it just a little bit of background because I believe it helps. About 10 years ago the 28th Infantry Division was converted from what the Army calls a straight legged walking infantry to a mechanized. That means, I jokingly say it means they ride to work but it's an armored. . based unit, heavy tanks, farmor: personnel carriers, becomes mechanized. That requires a whole different aspect of training and initially I think we thought the Gap would be suitable. However, if you have been to the Gap, you know that it's mountainous terrain and, in fact, it's not suitable for tank training. Well over ten years ago this request for some other property began, and General Sager (phonetic) who was aiprede- cessor of mine at least one removed began looking for a suitable piece of ground and the requirements that were laid out were somewhere between 5 to 10 thousand acres. We were looking for ground that was not pristine. We didn't want to remove farm land from 15 production. We were looking for ground that had some environmental challenges. In other words, property that could be used for industrial uses where tanks maneuver area might be the highest and best use for property that had been strip mined or something like that. Initially, there was some interest in a site in Schuylkill County. Federal money was put aside for some aspects of that and that eventually fizzeled out and it did not happen. When the Brack hit and Fort Indiantown Gap was in danger of being Brack closed, and the ultimate result of that, of course, was the active duty Army moved away from the Gap but we were allowed to keep areas necessary for training, there was renewed interest in training within the Commonwealth. There is some significant economic benefits to doing this at home rather than in New York or Virginia or some other place. So, the search began in earnest and settled in the mid state and we looked at a couple of pieces of property in Clearfield County. Basically, it evolved that there were two sections of ground that looked pretty good. My predecessor determined that the one, the northern section of that-ground, the one we are in the process 16 of purchasing, was better. He did that for rational reasons based upon his experience as a soldier and trainer of soldiers and I completely concur with his judgment. The land is exactly suitable for our needs. It seems to be just fine. There is infrastructure available. There are some buildings that we can use immediately. So, we are quite happy with that choice.

As far as the process of purchasing the ground goes, we are pretty much the customer in this and the Department of General Services is the real estate agent. So, we defined the need basically, I'm looking for a three-bedroom house in a certain price range in a good neighborhood with good schools and the Department of General Services then comes back and says, here's one, here's another one. After that, we determined the property that we deemed best. The Department of General Services then sets about negotiating a price and closes the deal. I have no knowledge of the intermittent details of that process other than what I just stated.

Q. Thank you, General. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, CHAIRMAN BARLEY: I now recognize Representative Raymond. BY REPRESENTATIVE RAYMOND: fit Thank you, Mr. Chairman, General. Most of 17 my questions have been answered but I have a few things I'd like to ask you about. You mentioned in your testimony about the Educational Assistance Program and how other states are at a hundred percent and how it's affecting you. I assume that affects your recruiting and retention numbers. Can you elaborate a little bit on how that is working out and what you'd like to see it do?

A. Yes, sir. This is very important to us and often people talk about it as a recruiting incentive and that's true and it's an important incentive to a young person to let them know that we will pay for him or her to go to college. Interestingly enough, it's a real important incentive to that youngster's parents but I'll submit to you this is much more important. The money does not stop at the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs. It merely passes through our hands and goes right back to the State System of Higher Education and the most important aspect of this, I believe, is that this is the only program in the Commonwealth of its type that requires service back to the Commonwealth and we believe this is a great thing for young people, a sense of commitment. It's worked out very well for us. Our people like it. We would like more people 18 to take advantage of it. Delaware has a hundred percent tuition. West Virginia and Ohio both do too, and that seems to be the next step. By the way, we believe we can do that without any significant increase in money simply because we believe that if the people that are currently taking advantage of it use it all, they will be better served and it will work out just fine.

Q. Thank you. I think it's a great program. I agree with you. Last year we appropriated 2 million dollars for the Pennsylvania Veterans Memorial. There is no request this year. How is that going? A. I will ask General Patton to comment upon that because he is more intimately familiar and what we had targeted initially was three and a half million dollars to build the memorial. This has been a long time coming and we thought that the two million dollars last year would put us over the top and we would be just fine. When bids were opened, however, we discovered and General Patton will tell you why. He's got some precise numbers about the escalating construction costs. The bottom line here is we need somemore money. The Veterans Memorial Commission has met twice recently and our veterans are committed to 19 build the memorial that was originally envisioned and the memorial that the thousands of people who donate* expect to get. So, their commitment is renewed. They are going to put special emphasis on corporate donations and they have already got a pretty good program started, John, if you'd care to comment. BRIGADIER GENERAL PATTON: Thank you. Let me start with an aside please on two million dollars for the National World War II Memorial. That was appropriated and is about to be transferred. We indeed have the check in hand to be transferred to Washington for the World War II Memorial. I would say that the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania provided the second largest contingent of military personnel to World War II. 1.3 million of Pennsylvanians served in World War II, second only to New York. We, in making that contribution of two million dollars, have exceeded any state's contribution thus far. So, we excel again in supporting the National Monument honoring World War II Veterans. Sometimes there is a discussion between the two memorials and where we are and I wanted to make that point clear. In regard to our memorial at Indiantown Gap National Cemetery, it was started about 11 years ago about raising funds for that memorial. It was 20 estimated that it would cost 3.5 million dollars 11 years ago to build a memorial. The Veterans undertook that program. Governor Ridge supported and endorsed it. They went out four years ago when we had 69 thousand dollars in the committee or in the kitty for that. The veterans said, let's do it. They started that program and in those four years they have raised 3.7 million dollars which seems like we were there but in 10 years, the concept has increased in price substantially. So, we went to bid and the bid came in at 5.8 million dollars, the first time. That was stunning. So, we then said what can we do and part of that 3.7 obviously is the 2 million dollars that was appropriated last year by the General Assembly. We then went back and met with the architect and scaled it back by 20 percent, maintain­ ing the same original design, did some other things and removed what we thought were not absolutely essential aspects of it as in bathrooms. We went back for bidding again, came back in and it's 5.3 million dollars. So, we have 3.7. You need a contingency fund whenever you build a project and .DGS is your construction agent. That's where we are at this point. We then went back and considered it again, what can we do considering the high cost of 21

. building this and it is based primarily on concrete, The. cost of concrete, like the cost of gasoline has gone up exponentially in the last year. We have come back and said, we have done everything we can. If we want to preserve the original concept of that memorial, we have about arrived at the irreducible minimum. So, the veterans said, very well, we'll now start a different tract and they put together a corporate committee to start working on it. So, the veterans are committed to do this but obviously to raise the two million dollars required to do that is going to take a long time to accomplish.because the veterans have given and given and given over the last four years and we need another source of revenue to make this project happen and that's kind of where we are today. We are about two million dollars short. & Thank you, General. BY CHAIRMAN BARLEY: (to Brigadier General Patton) & Sir, the two million that we appropriated last year, is that being held in escrow at the present time or where is that actually? A. It is, sir. Q. I guess my direct question would be are you receiving some interest on that "yd u — you'll be able to apply towards the construction ultimately? 22

A. All funds that are collected are transferred to the Treasurer's Office. They are In a non- lapsing interest bearing account, it cannot be used for any other purpose except to construct that memorial. That two million dollars was transferred to the State Treasurer's Office and has been accruing interest. Q. Are you the beneficiary of the interest that it accrues or does that lapse back to the state? A. The Memorial Commission is the beneficiary of that interest. All money, interest and actual funds, remain with the Memorial Commission for that memorial. Qt So, hopefully, the 3.7 that is in the bank will at least perform at or hopefully out perform any additional inflationary costs that would be attri­ buted to that amount. I mean, in other words, you are going to — as you continue to raise money, I would not want you to be getting behind the eight ball on the 3.7 million you already have and that's why I was questioning it. A. And we think that's the case. I might tell you also that some of the bidders recognize that this is a unique memorial being built and I think their bids reflect an interest in the construction community 23 to try to pay this tribute to our veterans. That's where we are.

Q. Maybe these concrete companies could donate the concrete. So much concrete in there, times are good; don't they need some tax write-offs? Maybe if they are watching on TV they will call you tomorrow and offer to contribute concrete. A. If you have some friends in that business, I'll be glad to take your recommendation. Q. We have a lot of cement companies in the Lehigh Valley and cement finds its way into concrete so that maybe that is an avenue to pursue. A. Yes, sir. CHAIRMAN BARLEY: Representative Staback. BY REPRESENTATIVE STABACK: & Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Good afternoon, Major General. Back to the tank training area. My understanding is that both of the properties involved are located in Clearfield County. That is true. Initially, the Guard had looked at Site 1 and were totally satisfied with what you saw there and indeed were about ready to recommend that that would be the site chosen for your activity. Then, for whatever reason, a second site popped up. Now, my understanding is that that second site was less attractive to you 24 only because of the population of the people that were located In and around the borders. Yet, I'm also advised that the second site was the one that was eventually chosen to house your tank training facility. Tell me, what criteria did the Guard put into choosing one site over the other?

A. I'm not sure exactly what you mean, first site, second site. There is a site that we now refer to as the northern property which is located almost immediately adjacent to Route 81. Then, there is a second site that is about 20 miles south of that. Both properties, to my understanding, were visited not merely once but several times and the composition of the property to the north changed. There was a wooded area that was initially a part of that. That came in three sections and there was a northernmost section of that which was heavily wooded and an area that we did not want, because we didn't want to be put in a position of having to cut down trees or getting into environmental issues of that sort. As the northern property eventually evolved, it was always General McVay's choice and that was based on estimates of his staff and a decision matrix that he used. His final ultimate criteria, however, was training soldiers and this property up north, the one 25 that we ultimately chose, was choosen because of that. There is infrastructure there. There are utilities available. There are some buildings that we can use immediately and we could begin training there sooner more people than we believe we could at the other site. Again, this decision was made — in fact, we had, I'm told, that D6S has agreements of sale in hand for the lion's share of this property. There are 11 separate landowners involved. Five are a done deal as far as I understand and the sixth is about to conclude. So, essentially, that property has been all but purchased and we are ready to move on with that.

Q. Okay. Okay. You got a done deal on the property itself. Let me ask this. Were any public hearings held prior to the execution of this purchase agreement that you refer to? A. No, sir. Q. Were there any environmental impact studies done on that piece of ground before the execution of the documents that were signed? A. No. We did a cursory look and the reason for that is that the process involves, once we own the property, a six-month period of intense environmental study and you should know that we are bound by federal 26 environmental regulations since we will be using federal property and federal funds on training in that area. All of our processes will be in accordance with something called NEPA, which is the National Environmental Protection Act. We have lots of experience with the process because we are currently going through it.at Fort Indiantown Gap. We are conducting a fence line to fence line environmental impact study which involves lots of paperwork, public meetings, public comment periods. The truth is we know how to do that. Now, it is the appropriate time in the process for us to begin that phase. We have several meetings scheduled in Clearfield County and I can give you the dates, if you'd like. We are going to meet with the Kiwanis and the Chamber of Commerce and several other service organizations. We have a public forum scheduled for early in April where it will be open to the public. We will have a court reporter present and comments will be taken pro and con. People will have an opportunity to ask some questions and make their views known, and that's just the beginning.

ft General, isn't that academic at this point in' that you have already done a deal on the land itself? What is the point if they do a public hearing 27 now and people disagree with the choice of the Guard for the site? What good does it do?

A. When we talk about an environmental process, I'm not just talking about environmental matters — earth issues. I'm talking about if the residents don't want us there, we don't want to be there. Believe me. This six-month process is part of the acquisition phase. DGS will supply the land­ owners with something akin to hand money like if you buy a house, I believe it's a five percent, but don't hold me to that. If at any time during the environ­ mental assessment there is some environmental issue that we didn't know about that we discover makes the land impossible to use or unsuitable for our use or if the neighbors simply let us know that they don't want us there, we'll go away. Q. All right. Now, if that occurs, suppose in doing your environmental — CHAIRMAN BARLEY: Representative Staback, if you have some additional questions -- I mean, if you do, I'll certainly recognize you in another round. REPRESENTATIVE STABACK: I'm almost done. CHAIRMAN BARLEY: Okay. Then, I'll let you complete rather than coming back. BY REPRESENTATIVE STABACK: 28

Q. If you find in doing the environmental impact of the land that you discover that you can no longer use it, is it true that you will be subject to pay a 5% sort of like a fine on the dollars that were committed to that project to get out of it? A. That's the way I understand it. & Where is the money coming from? A. The money would come out of the 7 million dollars that was appropriated by the State Legislature, I believe, the year before last but I'm not sure exactly when that occurred.

fr So, we'd be talking roughly over 200 thousand dollars? A. I believe so. & Thank you, Mr. Chairman. CHAIRMAN BARLEY: I recognize Representative Orie. BY REPRESENTATIVE ORIE:

Q. Good afternoon, Major General. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank you for the work you do for the veterans across Pennsylvania. I certainly commend you and your administration for what you are doing and I want to personally thank Lieutenant Colonel Gingrich for his outstanding cooperation and service. 29

I guess the first question I have for you deals with what, if you could just elaborate briefly for my colleagues what the Pennsylvania National Guard offers to school districts with intervention- prevention programs. I had the opportunity to sponsor an expo for Southwestern Pennsylvania and the National Guard was one of the participants and it's just a tremendous resource and I'll do everything and any­ thing I can to promote what you are doing because I think it's fantastic.

A. Well, thank you very much. It's nice to hear that and I am tempted to take credit for it but, you know better than I that it's lots of good people. Lieutenant Colonel Gingrich is here in the room. So, I want to be careful what I say praising him because he"11. begin to believe it but we have 84 soldiers and airmen who work on this program full-time. You need to know that they drill with their units on the weekends. This counter direct program, for those of you who are not as familiar as Representative Orie, is a great success story. We like it because it gives us the opportunity to help our people in uniform be seen as doing good things for neighborhoods and for people and that's exactly what they do. We sponsor the DARE Program in many schools. Our soldiers; 30 and airmen visit schools and run summer camps, not just the situation where we bring children in for two weeks and advise them on the dangers of illegal drugs and send them home. We send them home with a mentor who keeps track of them for the future. It's very, very successful, very meaningful one-on-one program that does quite well.

In addition to that, we perform many missions in communities from tearing down so-called crack houses to removing derelict vehicles providing assistance to state and local law enforcement. You need to know that we are always in the back-up role. We are always the ones who assist. We never take the lead in this. Finally, the centerpiece of this effort is a school. The Northeast Counter Drug Training Center that is run at Fort Indiantown Gap that trains over 3,000 state and local law enforcement officers from the 18 northeast states and the District of Columbia. This is a great success. We run this with about a three to five million dollar grant. We teach mili­ tary skills that we pass on to law enforcement agents at no cost, things as various as photography techni­ ques to interrogation techniques to street smack, a fascinating variety of things. We run a top gun 31 program in cooperation with the Attorney General's Office and the State Police that brings law enforce­ ment officials, prosecutors as well as street cops all together in the same room and we run them through an intensive course of instruction. We do some team building and it's a very good program and I would offer again to any of you who is interested to come see us. It's really good and I know one of your members has been through our top gun program and I think he'd tell you it was worth the experience.

ft That would be needed. I'm going to have you recruit Representative Barley for an upcoming school. I think it's an excellent opportunity and I can't commend you enough for what you are doing for the state and for the veterans and I appreciate and always welcome the opportunity to see you. A. Thank you. I appreciate the good words and I am often struck by the simple power of saying thank you. I'll certainly pass that on to our soldiers and airmen and I'll do my best to recruit Representative Barley. CHAIRMAN BARLEY: Moving right along, I now recognize Representative Preston. BY REPRESENTATIVE PRESTON: ft Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Welcome 32 again. General. Again, with my colleague from Allegheny County, I want to commend you on a lot of different things you have done, and especially in Southwestern Pennsylvania.

First, the issue on Hunt Armory which also happens to be in my district. Several years ago there was a plan that we were going to rehabilitate a little bit more. I know the Armory has about seven people living there on a full-time basis as well. There was a time when we were talking about bringing it up to par so that other people could use it. Can you give me the status? Is there any thought that we may ever get there? I talked to some of the Hunt Family and they are willing to help participate as well. A. Yes, sir, and I appreciate your concern. I ar.i from Pittsburgh myself and I am familiar with the Hunt Armory and I am not happy with the current condition of the Hunt Armory and you should know, many of our other facilities need a lot of work. We are about 25 million dollars behind in basic repairs of our Armory. 70% of our facilities were built in the 30*3 and 40's. Most of the rest were built in the 70's. I realize it sounds like I'm making excuses here and in a way, I guess I am. Part of our fix for 33 this is an innovative use of state money that is a three for one state-federal program I talked about earlier, which is the beginning. If we can wind up with 5 million dollars to spend in that program, that will be a good start.

The second thing we are doing that I am excited about is we have a million dollar federally funded contract that is assessing each of the facilities and you need to know that our facilities in the Army Guard have not been subject to this kind of scrutiny in a long long time and what we are doing is we'd like to call it a master plan but I don't think it's got to that level yet but we are going to take an initial investment and at the end of approxi­ mately a year, this study will be completed and we begin to make some decisions on a rational basis about which facilities should be closed, consolidated, what should we fix. We have a list of priorities that go from one to whatever. I assure you that the Hunt Armory is one of our top concerns. Mr. Kifer, who is part of my brain trust here and is Secretary of the State Armory Board, he may or may not be able to elaborate further but I'd like to give him a chance if I may. MR. KIFER: Sir, Hunt Armory is one of the 34 priorities. It's a large Armory as you well know, sir, and the roof and the painting and the lighting is being addressed. My inspectors are out and they are recapping this data along with the kind of study that the General just briefed you on, sir. BY REPRESENTATIVE PRESTON:

ft Thank you. I'm hoping you'll be able to work this out. If you need me to vote something, let me know. The residents, on the one wall, want to make sure that we .still keep the ivy. That's the only thing we have to look at. The other issue is the Southwestern Veter­ ans Center. I remember, you know, we had had a little bit of problems with the after construction. I have been to a couple of meetings there and wanted to know how we were doing and the patient movement that we were bringing people in?

A. We think we are doing fine out there. I visited the Southwestern Veterans Center recently and for those of you who may not know, this is our newest home. It's two years, John, we have been in the process of filling it up. VJe anticipate bringing the final residents on board over the next month or so, which will bring it up to full capacity. We have worked our way through the new building challenges and 35 I think we are doing okay. We are getting very close to hiring a new commandant in that facility and we will have a new leadership team on the ground there pretty soon and we are very optimistic. There's a lot of good community support for that facility as you know if you attend the council meetings. All of that is beginning to 'gel.. When we build something like this, it takes a certain amount of time for the team to get together and begin to work as a team and we are just about there in the southwest. I'm pretty sure you'll be satisfied the next time you come up to see it. Would you care to add anything?

.BRIGADIER GENERAL PATTON: We have 194 residents in there now. They're authorized a census of 236. We will bring them up to 229 during the month of March. We will keep seven beds open. That is so that if any of our personal care residents have a change in condition that require nursing care, we'll be able to keep them and accommodate them in their home. It also will accommodate us to bring in couples. We have a couple of veterans and spouse that are waiting to come in there. So, we need to then keep some beds open so that the spouses are properly taken care of in the home. Things are moving along very well. We have gotten over the 36 opening problems associated with new homes and stretching it and letting it settle in a little bit. I think we are there now. BY REPRESENTATIVE PRESTON:

Q, I have had good correspondence on this. Thank you very much. A. If I may add just one more thing. I appreciate your interest in the Hunt Armory. We need that and I would encourage you to rattle my cage now and again if you don't think we are making progress quickly enough.

CHAIRMAN BARLEY: I now recognize Representative Schroder. BY REPRESENTATIVE SCHRODER: ft Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Actually, Representative Raymond addressed the question that I was going to raise about the status of the veterans memorial and I'm glad to hear that the veterans are redoubling their efforts to try to bridge this gap in the funding for this memorial and I think that since they are redoubling their efforts, we should consider whether we can step up to the plate again to make this a reality and make a very fitting tribute to the veterans that they deserve. So, I'm glad to hear that that is happening and I certainly would be happy 37 to talk with you about what we can do in the General Assembly. Thank you;

A. Thank you. CHAIRMAN BARLEY: I nolw recognize Representative Manderino. BY REPRESENTATIVE MANDERINO:

Q. Thank you, Mr. Chairmajn. Thank you, General, for being here. I'm goling to return to the western maneuvering training are1 a in Clearfield County. If it sounds like it's a hot button issue with my Democratic colJLeacfues ©n'this committee, it is. In December we were up in Clearfield County as a Committee to a packed room of residents and local government officials who were very upset about being left in the dark about decisions that seemed to be happening in their community. It's my understanding that the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs was invited to attend that meeting and Ihey chose not to. Because of that, residents and local government officials left even more angry at government than when they walked in the room and so I am going to try to get at least today'some of the answers that they have been waiting for. Before I ask my questions, I also want to make it clear that it's my understanding that the people of Clearfield County are not opposed to a 38

siting of:' the tank maneuvering training area in Clearfield County but they seem lost at what you characterize as the rational reason for choosing the northern property that you did. From what I understand from those hearings, the northern property cost twice as much as what the southern property cost. It has hundreds of residential private homes in the middle of that property. School children who are let off on public roads that run through that property and all of those questions that people are concerned about/ they have not gotten any answers to before agreements of sale were negotiated and signed. They claim that the other property was totally open with no public territory inside of it and they are very concerned about the neighborhood safety issues and they are wondering why when they perceive this to be the less safe alternative from their community and residential perspective, we were willing to pay twice the price for as a government entity and that is a lot of the questions, I think, that you will find when you finally get to Clearfield County.

I'm a little bit confused by the answers so far. You told a prior colleague that you don't know the details, that DGS negotiated it and in November of '99 I'm looking at your signature on 39 these contracts that have been negotiated that look very detailed to me. We just got a copy of them today but there is a lot of details in there. I haven't had time to study them but it seems to me that you do know or you should know some of the details of the project. And so if you could start by just addressing for us what the rational reasons that you chose the current property offer so that maybe you can ally some of the fears and concerns that we have heard from community residents about the private residential areas that are located within the land that they think you have purchased, the locality of that to schools and other public roads that go through the property and why that was a better choice than what they view as the open field in the southern part of the .county.

A. Sure. Our reason for choosing the property we did choose, once again, was based solely on the training environment. I have been out there and I have to, in good conscience, disagree with you about the proximity of private residences and things of that nature. I will tell you once again that part of the process is that when we reach this point, there is a lot of opportunity for local comment. Once again we will listen to literally every person that has 40 something to say and the reason that we do it this way is because this is the process that satisfies the National Environmental Protection Act process and these are the people that we deal with. This is a much more stringent process than would be for some industrial development of a similar property. At any rate, the contracts you referred to are contracts for sale. What I said I did not get involved with was the process of land acquisition. When the Commonwealth does that, it's done by the Department of General Services. Once again, we articulate the need and the Department of General Services closes the deal.

& When you articulate the needs, I mean, does that mean that you outlined what it is you are looking for in the property so that you outline such things as I saw outlined in a memo of a couple of years ago about whether or not the terrain was suitable for track vehicles, whether or not there were water obstacles, whether or not they could easily accommo­ date platoon and company level offenses, whether or

not the road network works, whether all of the streams were in the right location, whether there were maintenance buildings or other buildings that could be used; are those the kinds of criteria we are talking 41

about? A Yes. Qi So then you could at least understand why the community Is frustrated being the only Information they have on the project, at least that I know, is a letter or a memo that the Pennsylvania Army National Guard wrote in June of *97 saying this other property, that it seems to be preferred by the local residents "needs and/or exceeds" this property and in some cases exceeds all of the requirements established by the Adjutant General and this tract of land should be further studied in detail. So, those are the same requirements we are talking about? You just say the other property which they haven't gotten the infor­ mation on is even more advantageous than this?

& That's correct. ft I need a Round 2. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. CHAIRMAN BARLEY: I now recognize Representative Zug. BY REPRESENTATIVE ZUG: Qt Thank you, Mr. Chairman. General Lynch, how are you? A Fine. How are you? & Good. I didn't want to talk about Clearfield County. I don't know very much about the tank 42 arrangements but I do want to say that you run tanks in my district and you shoot tanks in my district. The next call I get about shooting tanks in my district will be the first call I get about shooting tanks in my district. You run a great operation, great community service. The Brack Commission Report has millions and millions of dollars that you bring back to our communitities in.i.Schuylkill Lebanon, Berks, Dauphin Counties and you have done great environmental things. You have been out and I have been out but then Y°u have received money from the Chesapeake Bay foundation for stream restoration. You have done butterfly habitat restoration so that tanks can run and butterflies can fly next to them. Sounds silly that you have received a national award for doing that kind of stuff. So, I just think that when we are talking about tanks and running tanks and stuff in another part of the state that I'm not familiar with, I do need to tell the Committee and the members and the- people who are at home that you are a great steward of the Lebanon Valley.

I do want to ask you, Representative Preston had talked about the Armory ^£und. A few years ago we passed a law here in Harrisburg that 43

allows the Department of Military Affairs to timber land and use the proceeds from the timbering, going directly to the Armory fund rather than going into the General Fund. Could you tell me the status of that program? How much money has been raised over the five or six years since the bill was passed?

A. Yes, I'll be happy to do that and when I am finished that, I'd appreciate an opportunity to comment on your initial remarks, if I may. The abili­ ty to conduct forestry operations at Fort Indiantown Gap was a great thing for us. We realized about 350 thousand dollars off the initial effort and that went into the state Armory fund which is a boon and that in turn allows us some ability to do repairs at places like the Hunt Armory. We suspended that operation because of the fence line to fence line environmental impact study. Timbering requires a comprehensive land management plan as, again, as part of the EIS as we call it. That land management plan

has been completed and is awaiting approval from the U. S. Forest Service and we anticipate that that will arrive shortly and we'll be back in business but that was a great boon for us and we certainly appreciate it. Finally, I would like to say I very much 44 appreciate your remarks and you're right, I am your constituent and thank you for tolerating us and defending us when necessary. To the people in Clearfield County, I would say that we are good stewards of the environment and we are damned good neighbors. Fort Indiantown Gap is the largest employer in Lebanon County. We bring about 40 million dollars a year to the local economy. Very soon, if industrial expansion continues along 81, I believe we will be one of the few green spaces left. We are good stewards of the' environment because we live in the environment and we use it year after year to train. One of the advantages of the property in Clearfield County that we chose is the fact that there are about three separate areas. So, we would be able to train one area this year, move to the next and move to the one after that allowing the land to recover somewhat. Make no mistake, driving a 70-ton tank over the ground beats it up and there is some recovery time required. We've learned how to do that. We do it quite well and I think you will attest. Every time we station a track vehicle in New York State or Virginia, .6 employment authorizations go with that vehicle. So, for every two tanks we station in Clearfield County, you can translate that right intc 45 a 30 to 35 thousand dollar federal civil service job that's year-round and stays right at home. That will grow into support facilities. None of this will happen overnight. It's a long involved process but it's good business and it's there for the long term. So, thank you, sir.

Q. Thank you, General. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. CHAIRMAN BARLEY: Are there any additional members seeking recognition who didn't have an opportunity the first time? Representative Frankel. BY REPRESENTATIVE FRANKEL: r Q. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Welcome, General. On this issue which I've just been reading about today, what is the purchase price of the property that you have under agreement at this point?

A. I don't know. I do know that some 7 million dollars was set aside. There are some 11 landowners and I don't know what the final price will be and I don't know whether each parcel was purchased at the same price per acre or not. Q. Do you know, I assume that this is something we would be interested to know, do you know what the real estate taxes are generated since this will become a tax exempt property? A. Yes. I do know we had been bandying 46 about the figure of about 25 thousand dollars in real estate taxes. There is no doubt and obviously the down side of this is we won't pay real estate taxes. However, we will contract locally for food and fuel and things like that and we firmly believe that we can demonstrate that that will more than offset that. For example, our Armory in Clearfield is one of our good ones. It's manned well and it generates about a millon dollars a year.

Q. I don't want to be confrontational about this but just looking at some of the issues, there seems to be clearly some genuinely reasonable questions . I know you can't probably answer them all today and probably General Services can answer that but in looking over some of the memoranda, for instance, the memorandum dated June of '97 says about the original property that we were talking about, that this property meets and in some cases exceeds all of the requirements established by the Adjutant General.

i There are some legitimate questions, it seems to me, in terms of why we are looking at this new piece of property instead of the original one in the process as well, you know, of going ahead, you know, putting together a sales agreement that commits us to at least some penalty without having public input. I 47 understand you are going to get public input but it just seems to me to be out of order. A. Well, I guess I can't really address that because we don't designate how that process works. I will tell you that there are bits and pieces of information and one really needs to take the time to look et the whole.. Many of these things were generated in '97 and back that long ago before the whole package came together. There are many many issues here including easy access to Interstate 78 and utilities and things of that nature, all of which are part of the decision process.

QL Thank you very much. General. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. CHAIRMAN BARLEY: Are there any members seeking recognition for the first time? (No response.) CHAIRMAN BARLEY: Representative Manderino? BY REPRESENTATIVE MANDERINO: QL Thank you. General, how long have you been Major General? A. I have been a Major General -- Q. I mean in your current position. A. I have been in my current position since, I guess I was confirmed in March. 48

ft Of '99? A. Yes. Maybe April or May. I began acting in January. ft And so the decision, the groundwork may have started before you but the actual agreement of sale happened on your watch? A. The decision as to which property was made prior to my assuming my current office. I signed the agreement based on a previous decision. ft And just to answer Representative Frankel's question, agreements that I know that have been executed are worth 3.26 million so far and I under­ stand from what the General said earlier, that there are still a few more pieces to come but we know it's at least 3.26 million. The 5% forfeit — I heard some people refer to this as a done deal but I also heard you say that once you get up to Clearfield County and folks still have very serious concerns about this site, that you won't move forward. So I guess that means it's not really a done deal and that you are willing to forfeit the 5%?

A. In order for us to spend federal dollars on an environmental assessment, it is necessary that we have what is referred to as a right of entry and I believe that is the correct terminology. 49

ft And is that a right of entry of the property owners of this property you are — what input in that right of entry does local government and local community have? A. I have no idea. ft So, right of entry could just mean that all of the property owners whose property you are buying agreed to sell it to you? A. I would assume so but that is way outside of my area of expertise. ft So, what you are saying is if you get the right of entry, you are going through with the deal? A. I don't think so. I think what I said is if we have the appropriate clearance to spend federal dollars on an environmental assessment, we will continue with the environmental assessment process which is approximately a six-month thing and if for some reason it appears that the property is not suitable or there is some awful thing about it that we didn't know or the neighbors raise up and don't wan: us, then I believe we would back away from it. ft Okay. I guess that's the point I'm trying to get to. Again, I think I made it clear in my first statement that at least my impression was not that folks don't want you in Clearfield County. As a 50 matter of fact/ they want you in Clearfield County. They just are confused about the rationale for the site .that, you chose in Clearfield County because at least, from the way they see it, it's more hazardous to their community and their safety than the southern property was.

A. If I may, we will spend the next several months making our case and if we fail to do that, then we will deal with the consequences but I believe we will send out people out to Clearfield County and we will make our case.

Q. The agreement of sale was signed in November. So, I guess if you said the federal process didn't allow you to come to people before you went through this, why couldn't you come to people in December When the meeting was held? A. I signed the agreements, I believe you are correct, in November, I believe they are dated. They then went down to D'GS and I was awaiting confirmation from the Department of General Services that, in fact, the papers had been executed. And I received that verbally just recently.

QL And the 5% forfeiture, and maybe that's the thing that has folks feeling that it's a done deal, is that a standard way that you negotiate 51 things or that federal requires you or DGS does, if you know?

A. I do not know. QL Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. CHAIRMAN BARLEY: Are there any additional members seeking recognition? (No response.) CHAIRMAN BARLEY: General, sir, and I'm not a real estate expert but I have bought and sold a few pieces over the years and I have been interested in the value of real estate and I think what you described is a very old process. Again, I'm sure you're not a real estate expert and you basically laid that disclaimer out. That's DGS. So, when General Services is here, they can be questioned in more detail. In Lancaster County we refer to this, the 5%, as earnest money. I don't know whether that is a parochial thing or it's known that way nation-

i wide but earnest money is something that is put up front and there are certain conditions attached to that and there is a period of time. It's a very common way and there are a variety of conditions when you sign that condition of sale. It seems to me that what you have done here, I believe you are saying it's 52 for six months?

MAJOR GENERAL LYNCH: That's correct. CHAIRMAN BARLEY: You may, I don't know, but you may at some point and maybe it's written into the documents need to have an extension and that is not unusual for something like that to be negotiated, particularly when it is this complicated. But I fail to see anything out of the ordinary of the way you negotiated this. I've listened today. I don't really understand what all of the concern is about by some of my colleagues and I haven't looked at any of the documents but listening to you, it seems to me that it's been a very normal process and so all I want to do is commend you for the part you have played in it and, again, a 5% earnest money to hold that property, if when all of the studies are completed, it is not suitable, that maybe a lot less money was expended by the state than it would be if you would have purchased it and found out and had to resell it. So, I think you were probably being very wise and good stewards of the taxpayers" money the way you negotiated the deal and I am going to commend you for it. MAJOR GENERAL LYNCH: Well, I appreciate that. From a common sense point of view, it seems that way to me too. I would like to make it clear to 53

you that the decisions on this property were made

by good soldiers for sound technical training reasons

alone. I concur with those^decisions and I applaud

them for their decisions and the slow deliberate way

that those decisions were taken after looking at

several alternatives. I will also tell you one

final time that we believe that this will be a good

thing for Clearfield County. Recall please that this

is reclaimed strip mined land and it's my opinion that

it's probably not in great demand for other uses.

We can use it in a way that benefits our young

soldiers and also benefits the people that do live

close by.

CHAIRMAN BARLEY: Thank you very much and

that concludes the hearings for today. We will

adjourn until 10 o'clock tomorrow morning.

(The following was submitted for inclusion

in the record:)

STATEMENT OF THE ADJUTANT GENERAL

MAJOR GENERAL WILLIAM B. LYNCH

BEFORE THE HOUSE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE

1 MARCH 2000

Mr. Chairman, Distinguished Members of the Committer:

Thank you for the opportunity to report

to you on the status of the Department of 54

Military and Veterans Affairs. The

Department's budget, as presented by the

Governor, is in keeping with the concept of

Pennsylvania as a leader among states and a competitor among nations. This budget con­ tinues and improves upon the successes realized by this Department from the past four and one-half years, and demonstrates fiscal prudence.

We appreciate your support of our programs, and I am happy to report to you today the Guard is a strong, capable and ready military force, and our Department remains a vigilant advocate for our Commonwealth's veterans.

The last year has seen a record pace of overseas deployment by the Pennsylvania

National Guard in support of our Federal mission.

Seven hundred Pennsylvania soldiers of the 28th Division deployed to Germany to take part in a state of the art training exercise for battlefield commanders and their staff. A similar exercise will take place in March and April of this year, 55 involving more than a thousand Keystone soldiers - all in preparation for a nine- month mobilization to Bosnia in 2002.

Last Spring, the 93rd Special Operations Wing deployed more than 800 people to Germany and Hungary in support of Operation "Allied Force" the NATO Air Campaign against Yugoslavia. The 171st flew 477 missions, accumulating 2,389 hours of flight time, and off-loaded more than 18 million pounds of fuel to over 2,300 NATO aircraft. Pennsylvania's 111th Fighter Wing from Philadelphia participated in a 3-month operation "Southern Watch" rotation at Al Jaber Air Base in Kuwait. Their primary mission was to patrol the southern Iraqi no fly zone. Their A-10 aircraft were ready to stop Iraqi armor and provide a vital search and rescue capability.

We are pleased to report the PA Air National Guard received its first EC-130J aircraft which marks the beginning of modernization of the entire fleet of the 193rd SOW aircraft based at Harrisburg Intl. 56

Airport.

These are just a few examples of the PA National Guard's operations around the world. The Guard is an essential element of the total force and a pivotal component of our national security.

At the same time, the PA National

Guard continues its state mission of service to the Governor and the people of

Pennsylvania. We participate in hundreds of community based events ranging from environmental research and restoration projects to aiding the citizens of PA in emergencies or disasters. The agency is most grateful for the special state duty funding which provides the flexibility and authority to address critical situations and respond prior to a declared emergency.

The Commonwealth, through this agency, receives over $333 million federal dollars to support the mission of the

PA National Guard and its 22,000 soldiers and airmen. Federal funds made a significant contribution to the growth and prosperity of Fort Indiantown Gap. For instance, 57

3 new buildings and unique, innovative pro­ grams were instituted at Fort Indiantown

Gap this past year.

The official dedication of the newly established Northeast Counter-Drug

Training Center took place on 2 December

1999. This facility, also Federally funded, provides training to over 3,000 law enforce­ ment officers from 18 Northeast states and the District of Columbia on an annual basis.

On September 10, 1999, PA National

Guard dedicated the new Military Education

Complex at Ft. Indiantown Gap, which represents a $19 million Federal investment in training the force of the future. The Education complex includes an academic center featuring state of the art video conferencing, classrooms and computer learning centers, a high-tech battle simulation center, and two dormitories which can accommodate

560 students.

Also in September, we dedicated a new $5.2 million Helicopter-Training Center.

This facility is the new centerpiece of the Eastern Army NG Aviation Training Site 58

providing flight instruction, maintenance

training and other required courses for

cargo and utility helicopter pilots and

crew members. Over 1,000 military

students train here, making it the 2nd

busiest Aviation facility in the entire Army.

By far, the biggest success story

was meeting the challenge of the first year

of transition at Fort Indiantown Gap from

-federal to state control. All of these were

truly noteworthy accomplishments that became

a reality because of cooperative efforts of

Federal and state government.

The General Fund appropriation

provides for an increase above the current

level of funding and proposes two additional

positions: a Director of Information i Technology and a Deputy Director for

Veterans Homes. These positions are needed

to move our agency into the future of

technology and ensure our Veterans

programs are maintained at the highest

possible standard. In the Facilities arena, we are most appreciative of the $1,250,000 Backlog 59 of Emergency Maintenance and Repair

(BEMAR). I am committed to innovatively investing our assets to bring a 3-fold return on these monies. The Federal government will provide us 3 Federal dollars for every one-dollar provided by the

Commonwealth. It is my intent to maxi­ mize these 3 for 1 funds for an aggressive facilities renovation program. The potential is there to turn $1,250,000 state dollars into a total of $5 million. This approach will not only reduce the Backlog of

Emergency Maintenance and Repairs of our facilities, but also enhance the economic growth of communities and counties in which they are located.

Fiscal Year 2000-01 represents the 5th year of the Educational Assistance

Program (EAP) for qualified members of the

PA National Guard. We are hopeful that the proposed legislation which passed the

Senate will soon be enacted into law, thus providing 100% funding to enhance this already successful educational assistance program. This will put us on 60 a par with the bordering states that already have 100% education programs.

The Pennsylvania National Guard is only one side of our business. Equally as important is our support of the 1.3 million veterans in the Commonwealth provided through our Bureau of Veterans

Affairs. Our state veterans programs are unmatched in the country, thanks to your commitment. We are most appreciative to the Committee's commitment to those who gave so much and ask for so little in return.

The Veterans programs we administer, such as Veterans Assistance, Blind Veterans

Pension and Paralyzed Veterans Pension, are all funded at appropriate levels.

Governor Ridge's budget continues to fund the best Veterans Homes programs in the nation. We diligently pursue every avenue to maximize anticipated Federal augmentation to support our veterans' homes and Scotland School, permitting a matching reduction in state appropriations.

Our five veterans' homes are near full occupancy. The fifth and newest 61 home, Southwestern Veterans Center in

Pittsburgh, continues to accept residents and will achieve full capacity in March of this year.

Our sixth, newest home, the Delaware

Valley Veterans Center, will be located in

Philadelphia on 21.5 acres of land in

Rush State Park. I am pleased to report that just last week, Governor Ridge approved

$6 million for this 170-bed facility. In addition, we have been authorized $13,928,000 in Federal VA funds to start the construction process. We expect to admit the first veteran to the new facility on Veterans Day,

November 11, 2001.

SCOTLAND SCHOOL - Scotland School provides a unique, secure learning environ­ ment for children of Commonwealth veterans.

We continue to"raise the bar of excellence" at this institution and exert every effort to achieve that objective within fiscal guidelines. We established a cooperative program with Temple University this year, and continue to maintain working relation­ ships with Shippensburg University and 62

Wilson College to the mutual benefit of all four schools. As a measure of our success, 23 of a total 24 graduating seniors of our class of 1999 went on to 2 or 4-year colleges and one went into the military.

Thank you for your courtesy and attention, Mr. Chairman and members of the Committee. I would be happy to address your questions. (The hearing terminated at 5:35 p.m.)

* * *

I hereby certify that the proceedings and evidence taken by me in the above-entitled matter are fully and accurately indicated in my notes and that this is a true and correct transcript of same.

Nfk*ey a. ^frega, /RPR/mma