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National Guard seeks funds to keep rapid-response CERT teams and expand youth programs; committee asks staff review
Summary
The National Guard urged funding to retain 20–30 full-time CERT positions and to expand Youth and Job Challenge programs; the subcommittee adopted the LFC recommendation with a request for staff to examine statutory authority and phased funding options.
Major General Miguel Aguilar, the adjutant general, briefed the House Appropriations & Finance subcommittee on the Department of Military Affairs—request for expansions to its crisis-response capabilities and youth-intervention programming.
General Aguilar described heavy domestic usage of the Guard over the past year—deployments overseas coexisted with significant in-state response to floods, fires and search-and-rescue missions. He urged funding for a Community Emergency Response Team expansion that would keep roughly 20— to 30 guardsmen on full-time readiness for swift-water rescue, debris removal and other time-sensitive responses; the executive recommended $1.5 million nonrecurring while the department requested $2 million.
He also urged recurring funding to continue and expand summer challenge programs that pair Guard mentors with middle-school students to improve attendance, behavior and academic outcomes; the program reported attendance and suspension reductions in pilot sites and the department said one-time funds would expire on June 30 without new appropriations.
Committee members raised statutory-authority questions about whether youth-education programming falls within the department—s core statutory mission and whether other agencies could partner or contract for similar services. The vice chair moved to adopt the LFC recommendation with further staff investigation of statutory authority; the motion passed with no objections.
