Florida Defense Alliance Newsletter July 3, 2019 FDA Vision: To maintain and enhance the position and reputation of Florida as the most military-friendly state in the nation. NEWS Representative Mel Ponder appointed to Task Force –Last week the Speaker of the House appointed Rep- resentative Mel Ponder of the 4th District (Okaloosa County) to the Florida Defense Support Task Force. Rep- resentative Ponder will begin his term on July 1st and is replacing Representative Jay Trumbull. Governor DeSantis Signs SB 620 – Military Friendly Initiatives – The Governor signed this bill into law last week. It contains several military-friendly provisions including: • Adds two military installations to the list of those that designated local governments are required to coor- dinate with regarding compatibility of land development; • Provides that a conservation easement created to prevent encroachment to a military installation survives a sale of property for nonpayment of taxes; • Establishes the Blue Angels license plate to be developed by the Department of Highway Safety and Mo- tor Vehicles and used to fund the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation; • Requires school districts to accept a permanent change of station order as proof of residency for all public school programs including special academic programs; • Specifies the time at which active duty members, spouses, and their dependents are classified as residents for tuition purposes. Amending s. 163.3175, F.S.; specifying additional military installations that may exchange certain infor- mation with local governments regarding compatibility of land development; amending s. 197.572, F.S.; providing that an easement for certain military lands continues after a tax sale or deed execution; amending s. 1003.05, F.S.; requiring a student whose parent is transferred or pending transfer to a military installation within a school district to be considered a resident of the district and provided preferential treatment in the controlled open enrollment process under certain circumstances; amending s. 1009.21, F.S.; revising require- ments for active duty servicemembers and their families to be classified as residents for tuition purposes; and providing for a license plate commemorating the Blue Angles naval air demonstration team. Governor DeSantis Signs 2019-2020 Budget – Last week, Governor Ron DeSantis signed the FY 2019- 2020 state budget. The Bold Vision for a Brighter Future state budget totals $90.98 billion and provides near- ly $400 million in tax relief. This budget continues the funding for the Florida Defense Support Task Force ($2 million) and the Defense Reinvestment ($850,000) and Infrastructure ($1.6 million) Grants. 1 Florida Legislature Sets Interim Committee Week Schedule – The 2020 Florida Legislative Session be- gins on January 14, 2020 and ends on March 13, 2020. Here is the schedule for committee weeks: • Monday, September 16 – Friday, September 20, 2019 • Monday, October 14 – Friday, October 18, 2019 • Monday, October 21 – Friday, October 25, 2019 • Monday, November 4 – Friday, November 8, 2019 • Tuesday, November 12 – Friday, November 15, 2019 • Monday, December 9 – Friday, December 13, 2019 Florida Chamber Military, Defense and Veterans Opportunity Summit August 13-14 in Jacksonville -- Join leaders – including our own FDA leadership -- from Florida’s military and defense industry, economic development experts, policymakers and the business community to examine the challenges and opportuni- ties facing this important industry as well as strengthening Florida's position as the most veteran friendly state. Key topics to include: • Florida's economic development and expanding defense industries, • Global risks and readiness, • Briefing on Florida bases and military operations, • State and federal issues impacting veteran hiring, and • Creating and supporting veteran-owned business opportunities. More information at: https://www.flchamber.com/event_post/military-defense-veterans-opportunity-summit/ OEA Issues New Open RFI, Requests Innovative Energy Resilience Ideas from Industry— Following the success of a similar solicitation, the Air Force Office of Energy Assurance (OEA) issued a new Request for Information (RFI), solicitation number W912DY-19-U-OEA1, to collect technical and financial data as well as innovative project development concepts from industry. OEA plans to use the information provided by industry to identify new energy resilience opportunities, as well as build on its project development portfolio. This Open RFI has no deadline for responses. For more information, please visit FedBizOpps. From ADC: White House Announces Intent to Nominate Esper for Defense Secretary The White House announced Friday President Donald Trump’s intent to nominate Army Secretary Mark Esper for Secretary of Defense, Under Secretary of Defense David Norquist as Deputy Secre- tary of Defense, and Army Under Secretary Ryan McCarthy as Secretary of the Army. Earlier in the week Trump had named Esper as acting defense secretary after on Monday he an- nounced that former Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan would not continue to pursue his nomination for the Pentagon chief due to personal reasons. The announcement of the three nominations allowed the administration to informally authorize the officials into their new positions so that they would be in place this week, Military.com reported Fri- day. However, if Esper does not quickly receive a formal defense secretary nomination following Trump’s intent announcement, he would be unable to step into the role due to the Federal Vacan- cies Reform Act of 1998, according to the report. The law generally does not allow a secretary nominee to fill the roll in acting capacity, which would trigger a line of succession placing Navy Sec- 2 retary Richard Spencer as acting defense secretary if Trump does not name another formal nomi- nee. With the Senate’s July schedule a major factor prior to its annual August recess, the Pentagon con- firmed it has not yet received Esper’s formal nomination paperwork, according to a Pentagon spokeswoman. “As of right now, we don’t have anything official that he’s been nominated yet,” Jessica Maxwell told Military.com. “We’ll have just have to wait for an official nomination to come through,” she said. Esper has served as Army secretary since 2017 and as a former Army infantry officer during the Iraq War he earned the Legion of Merit and the Bronze Star. House Advances $108B VA-Milcon Bill Posted on Jun 23, 2019 06:40 pm The Democrat-led House appeared on track to pass a $108 billion fiscal 2020 VA-Military Construc- tion bill after quickly moving through a number of amendments Friday and ending floor debate on the measure, CQ reported. A summary of the bill, which is part of a larger five-bill, $383.3 billion minibus package, would pro- vide: • $10.5 billion for military construction projects, $207 million more than enacted for FY 2019. • $1.5 billion for construction, operation and maintenance of military family housing. The funding is $117.8 million below FY 2019 levels and $140.8 million above DOD’s budget request. • $217.5 billion in discretionary and mandatory VA funding, an increase of $20.3 billion above FY 2019. • $94.3 billion in VA discretionary spending alone, $7.7 billion above FY 2019. • $80.4 billion in total VA medical care funding, including: $9.5 billion for mental health; $222 mil- lion for suicide prevention; $582 million for women’s health; $1.9 billion for homeless assistance programs; $397 million for opioid abuse prevention; and $270 million in rural health initiatives. The full five-bill minibus spending package faces little chance of surviving intact, however, as the GOP-led Senate and Trump administration disagree with the House on overall discretionary spend- ing levels. House Passes $733 Billion Defense Spending Appropriations Bill Posted on Jun 19, 2019 08:19 pm The House passed a four-bill, nearly $1 trillion minibus spending package Wednesday that includes a $733 billion topline in overall defense funding for fiscal 2020, which starts Oct. 1. The package passed on a 226-to-203 vote that fell along party lines. The chamber’s entire Republi- can ranks and seven Democrats voted against the measure. The defense spending breakdown includes $645.1 billion in base funding, $261.7 billion in base nondefense spending, $68.1 billion for Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO), and $8 billion in nondefense OCO funding, according to a bill summary. “With this vote, House Democrats have honored our promise to invest for the people,” House Ap- propriations Committee Chairwoman Nita Lowey said in a press release. 3 The Democrat-crafted defense measure also sought to challenge President Donald Trump’s border emergency declaration by blocking DOD and the Army Corps from diverting defense funds to build a southern border barrier, The Hill reported. NOTES FROM THE CHAIR Summer has officially begun! Whether you bask in the sun or retreat to the shade - stay hydrated and cool. As we head into the 4th of July holiday, we have had many changes of commands and leadership at our installations and mission programs. I know many of you are having events in support of your active military members, families and communities. Once we get on the other side of the holiday, reach out to the new leadership and share our stories on how we assist our active military members and installations. What are their visions and concerns? Our Mission Sustainment and Family Support Working Groups each have conference calls in the next two weeks. Be prepared so we have engaging conversations. Call or email Mike Jones and Lynn Brannon ahead of the calls with your challenges and opportunities. Don’t wait for the call…be proactive! Action requires us to have information so we can connect the dots to be prepared to assist and have the right individuals on the call to be timely. When we are flying into the wind or going up stream, we are not leveraging our resources and time to the best of our abilities.