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Senate OKs Office Of Military Affairs
Bill Must Still Receive Approval By House
By Ted Mann , Published on 6/2/2007
Hartford — The Senate voted unanimously Thursday to create a new Office of Military Affairs in the state Department of Economic and Community Development, intended to enhance and support defense installations in Connecticut.
The proposal also would increase, from $10 million to $50 million, the current bonding authorization for state-funded improvements to the Naval Submarine Base in Groton, intended to help prevent future efforts to shut down the facility, which has survived two rounds of base-closing by the Department of Defense.
The bill still must be approved by the House of Representatives, and funding for the ongoing expense of the military affairs office will likely be included in the budget currently under negotiation among legislative leaders and staff for Gov. M. Jodi Rell.
A threatened effort to gut the bill never materialized. Republicans, led by Sen. John McKinney, R-Fairfield, had earlier argued that the responsibilities the current bill would assign to the new military affairs office could be performed by the existing state Business Advocate, former U.S. Rep. Rob Simmons, who was a member of Congress when state officials fought the latest attempt to close the sub base. The amendment was not called during debate Thursday night.
Bill Must Still Receive Approval By House
By Ted Mann , Published on 6/2/2007
Hartford — The Senate voted unanimously Thursday to create a new Office of Military Affairs in the state Department of Economic and Community Development, intended to enhance and support defense installations in Connecticut.
The proposal also would increase, from $10 million to $50 million, the current bonding authorization for state-funded improvements to the Naval Submarine Base in Groton, intended to help prevent future efforts to shut down the facility, which has survived two rounds of base-closing by the Department of Defense.
The bill still must be approved by the House of Representatives, and funding for the ongoing expense of the military affairs office will likely be included in the budget currently under negotiation among legislative leaders and staff for Gov. M. Jodi Rell.
A threatened effort to gut the bill never materialized. Republicans, led by Sen. John McKinney, R-Fairfield, had earlier argued that the responsibilities the current bill would assign to the new military affairs office could be performed by the existing state Business Advocate, former U.S. Rep. Rob Simmons, who was a member of Congress when state officials fought the latest attempt to close the sub base. The amendment was not called during debate Thursday night.