Current Status Introducing Body:House Bill Number:3616 Primary Sponsor:Hutson Type of Legislation:HR Subject:Charleston Naval Base Date Bill Passed both Bodies:19930304 Computer Document Number:436/11029AC.93 Introduced Date:19930303 Last History Body:House Last History Date:19930304 Last History Type:Adopted Scope of Legislation:Statewide All Sponsors:Hutson Type of Legislation:House Resolution
Bill Body Date Action Description CMN Leg Involved
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3616 House 19930304 Adopted
3616 House 19930304 Committee Report: Favorable 24
3616 House 19930303 Introduced, referred to 24
Committee
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TO URGE THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE, THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS, AND THE PRESIDENT TO REMOVE FROM ANY FURTHER CONSIDERATION FOR BASE CLOSURE THE CHARLESTON NAVAL BASE AND OTHER MILITARY INSTALLATIONS AND TO HALT THE ACTIVITIES OF THE BASE CLOSURE COMMISSION UNTIL ITS MISSION CAN BE REEXAMINED.
Whereas, the Charleston Naval Base and forces afloat; the Navy Shipyard; the Naval Electronic Systems Engineering Center; the Naval Weapons Station; the Polaris Missile Facility Atlantic; the Naval Facilities Engineering Command; the Naval Supply Center; the Supervisor of Shipbuilding, Conversion and Repair; and the Naval Hospital and branch clinics are purported to be among those bases and facilities being considered by the United States Department of Defense for closing; and
Whereas, these Navy facilities and presence substantially impact the economy in South Carolina and particularly in the Charleston Trident area with well over a billion-dollar payroll for over thirty-five thousand active duty, civilian, and contract civilian employees; and
Whereas, the multiplier effect of this one billion-dollar payroll is an additional two billion dollars for a total of three billion dollars, a substantial contribution to South Carolina's economy; and
Whereas, the shipyard in Charleston, one of the oldest shipyards in the country having been established about one hundred years ago, has been cited as the most efficient public shipyard in the country repairing nuclear submarines and is second in efficiency only to a nonnuclear repair shipyard with an average man-day cost of three hundred seventy dollars while the average man-day cost among the other public shipyards in the country is four hundred eighty dollars; and
Whereas, the shipyard employees include among them one of the highest percentages of minority workers compared to other shipyards; and
Whereas, presently the United States Navy uses repair facilities in foreign countries, specifically the United States Navy Ship Repair Facility in Yokosuka, Japan, to work on United States Navy ships and spent one hundred sixty-three million dollars to pay foreigners to work on these ships in 1991 and plans to spend 1.1 billion more on overseas ship repairs through 1998; and
Whereas, from 1987 through 1991 the United States Navy spent on overseas ship repairs 1.3 billion dollars, of which ninety-seven million dollars were spent on private Japanese workers at Yokosuka, one hundred three million on United States Navy Japanese workers at Yokosuka, and one hundred three million dollars on other foreign contractors; and
seventy-seven percent of the 1.3 billion dollars spent on overseas ship repairs were for the Atlantic Fleet; and
Whereas, while Charleston, Berkeley, and Dorchester Counties lost almost three thousand naval shipyard workers during a one-year period, the United States Navy paid four thousand nine hundred thirty-one foreigners to work on American ships; and
Whereas, the closure of efficient economical shipyard facilities in the United States is being threatened, in particular the Charleston Naval Shipyard, and the American work force is being deprived of continued livelihood while naval ship repair is being directed to foreign facilities; and
Whereas, closure of Charleston's Naval Base Shipyard and associated facilities would directly displace not only Navy personnel and employees but would also affect thousands of dependent families in the area. Now, therefore,
Be it resolved by the House of Representatives:
That the Department of Defense, the United States Congress, and the President are urged to remove from consideration for closure by the Department of Defense the vital Naval Base, shipyard, and associated facilities in Charleston, as well as any other military installations elsewhere in the United States.
Be it further resolved that the activities of the Base Closure Commission be halted until the Congress can reexamine the Commission's mission in order to give it a constructive role based on a thorough understanding of current and anticipated national security needs and the implications of potential changes in military forces and infrastructure to the national, state, and local economies.
Be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution be forwarded to the President of the United States, the Clerk of the United States House of Representatives, the President of the United States Senate, the Secretary of Defense, and the South Carolina Congressional Delegation.