Florida Senate - 2025                                     SM 314
       
       
        
       By Senator Wright
       
       
       
       
       
       8-00105-25                                             2025314__
    1                           Senate Memorial                         
    2         A memorial to the Congress of the United States,
    3         urging Congress to impel the National Guard Bureau to
    4         examine the present allocations of the Florida
    5         National Guard and allow an increase in its force
    6         structure.
    7  
    8         WHEREAS, the number of soldiers and airmen allocated to
    9  each state’s National Guard, known as its “force structure,” is
   10  determined by the National Guard Bureau in Washington, D.C., and
   11         WHEREAS, with approximately 21 million residents, Florida
   12  is the third most populous state in the nation but has a force
   13  structure of just over 12,000 Guardsmen, and its ratio of one
   14  Guardsman for every 1,833 residents ranks 53rd among the 54
   15  states and territories of the United States which have a
   16  National Guard component, and
   17         WHEREAS, due to the unprecedented events of 2020 and 2021,
   18  including COVID-19 response, natural disasters, and overseas
   19  deployments, the Florida National Guard expended the same number
   20  of workdays in 18 months as it had expended during the previous
   21  20 years, and
   22         WHEREAS, the Florida National Guard continues to meet its
   23  mission goals; however, the shortage of these invaluable
   24  “citizen soldiers,” combined with the state’s growing population
   25  and increased need for National Guard activation and response,
   26  has resulted in the repeated redeployment of the same soldiers,
   27  which ultimately leads to excessive stress and fatigue and
   28  negatively impacts recruitment, retention, and readiness, and
   29         WHEREAS, the National Guard Bureau’s report titled “Impact
   30  of U.S. Population Trends on National Guard Force Structure,”
   31  released to Congress in April 2021, acknowledges the
   32  aforementioned concerns within Florida and other regions,
   33  stating that “the National Guard may need to evaluate re
   34  allocating mission sets to other geographic areas to keep pace
   35  with changing demographics across the country,” NOW, THEREFORE,
   36  
   37  Be It Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   38  
   39         That the Florida Legislature respectfully urges the United
   40  States Congress to impel the National Guard Bureau to examine
   41  the present allocations of the Florida National Guard and allow
   42  an increase in its force structure.
   43         BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of State dispatch
   44  copies of this memorial to the President of the United States,
   45  the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the
   46  United States House of Representatives, and each member of the
   47  Florida delegation to the United States Congress.