BILL NUMBER: AJR 2 INTRODUCED BILL TEXT INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Havice FEBRUARY 1, 2001 Assembly Joint Resolution No. 2--Relative to the defense industry. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AJR 2, as introduced, Havice. Defense industry. This measure would memorialize the President and the Congress of the United States, the Energy Secretary, and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to order interstate power generators to supply this state with the adequate flow of electricity necessary to sustain national security and the military preparedness of the defense industry. The measure would further memorialize Congress to act through legislation to designate the various contractors now engaged in vital defense work for this nation as "operating in the national interest." Fiscal committee: no. WHEREAS, California is host to a vast array of manufacturing and support industries essential to America's military preparedness and national security, not the least of which are plants engaged in the planning and production of the C-17 Globemaster airlift plane, the Delta II Rocket, the F-18 fighter, and other aerospace products; and WHEREAS, The current electrical supply crisis has negatively impacted the state's vast military industrial contractors and has resulted in temporary shutdowns and slowdowns of production lines due to the price and availability of electricity; and WHEREAS, Plant shutdowns and slowdowns due to energy policies threaten the viability of our state's military industrial complex, precisely at a time when California must gear up to meet the demands of the incoming administration's renewed focus on defense projects, including a missile defense and the joint strike fighter; and WHEREAS, Energy regulators are empowered to issue rules that delineate who is exempted from involuntary electric service outages and interruptions; and WHEREAS, Those actions may bypass the Congress of the United States' role in explicitly protecting sectors of the economy from electric service interruptions through the designation of a given sector as being essential to the national interest; and WHEREAS, It is appropriate that the Congress of the United States act through legislation to designate the various contractors now engaged in vital defense work for this nation as "operating in the national interest," thereby protecting these businesses from the threat of electric service interruption or from higher rates as a consequence of noninterruption, owing to the current energy crisis in California; now, therefore, be it Resolved by the Assembly and Senate of the State of California, jointly, That the Legislature respectfully memorializes the President and the Congress of the United States, the Energy Secretary, and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to order interstate power generators to supply this state with the adequate flow of electricity necessary to sustain national security and the military preparedness of the defense industry; and be it further Resolved, That the Legislature respectfully memorializes the Congress of the United States to act through legislation to designate the various contractors now engaged in vital defense work for this nation as "operating in the national interest"; and be it further Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of this resolution to the President and Vice President of the United States, to each Senator and Representative from California in the Congress of the United States, and to the Secretaries of Defense, State, Energy, and Commerce, as well as to the members of the State Public Utilities Commission, the members of the California Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission, and the members of the governing board of the Independent System Operator.