Statement on Introduced Bill and Joint Resolutions

Floor Speech

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Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, I rise to introduce legislation to better tailor the HUBZone program to meet the needs of communities affected by the closure of U.S. military installations through the Base Closure and Realignment, or BRAC, process. I am pleased to be joined by my colleague from Maine, Senator King, in introducing this legislation, the HUBZone Expansion Act of 2015.

This issue hits close to home for both Senator King and me. When Loring Air Force Base closed in 1994 through the BRAC process, my home of Aroostook County lost 15 percent of its population. Senator King lives in Brunswick, ME, which also experienced a considerable drop in population when it lost a major naval air station in 2011.

Military bases are often the economic heart of the towns and cities in which they are located, and communities can struggle for years to overcome the closure of those facilities as the redevelopment process is often lengthy and riddled with bureaucratic hurdles.

In recognition of these challenges, Congress passed legislation providing HUBZone status for 5 years to military facilities closed through the BRAC process. This status allows small businesses located on former military bases or in ``economically distressed communities'' with high rates of poverty or unemployment to obtain certain Federal contracting preferences.

According to the Small Business Administration, there are currently 107 BRAC-related HUBZones in the U.S. Unfortunately, for many of the communities surrounding closed military bases, HUBZone status has not always had the intended effect. One of the reasons is simple. The law defines the geographic boundaries of a BRAC-related HUBZone to be the same as the boundaries of the closed base. When combined with the requirement that 35 percent of the employees of a qualifying business live within the HUBZone, redevelopment efforts are slowed or stalled. Very few people actually live on these former bases, making it difficult, if not impossible, for businesses and job seekers alike to meet the HUBZone requirements.

We have seen this very situation play out following the closure of the former Brunswick Naval Air Station, which closed as a result of the 2005 BRAC round. When the Navy left, Brunswick and its neighbor, Topsham, lost more than 2,400 military and civilian personnel. These two towns have a combined population of just 22,000, so losing these jobs has taken a significant economic toll. Because so few people live within the actual boundaries of the former naval air station, its HUBZone designation does not provide the help these communities need.

To address this first concern, our legislation would permit prospective employees who live just outside of the boundaries of the closed base to count toward the 35 percent requirement. Employees who live in the census tracts touching the boundaries of the closed base, and in census tracts that touch those census tracts, would be included, providing a large enough pool of potential workers for qualifying businesses to locate within the HUBZone.

A second reason that businesses have difficulty benefiting from the HUBZone program is because closed bases are given HUBZone status for a limited time, only 5 years. Local economic development agencies working to attract new businesses to a former base cannot begin until a base is closed, and this process can take many years. Because HUBZone preferences only apply for 5 years from closure, businesses often lose years of program eligibility. In fact, the Association of Defense Communities reports that in the seven years following the 2005 BRAC round, only 1/3 of former base property has been transferred to local authorities for redevelopment. Our legislation would address this problem by extending the period of time for which a closed base is eligible for HUBZone status from 5 years after closure to 8 years.

Steve Levesque, the Executive Director of the Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority, oversees the redevelopment of the former Brunswick Naval Air Station. Steve supports this legislation, explaining that BRAC facilities do not have adequate residential areas needed to support the 35 percent residency requirement and that businesses cannot ``realize the HUBZone benefits for BRAC'd installations as envisioned by Congress.''

Heather Blease is a Mainer who has explained the need for these changes as well. Heather is an entrepreneur who opened a small business at the former Brunswick Naval Air Station in 2013. She has described the HUBZone law as ``flawed,'' because the limited number of residences on the base make it nearly impossible to meet the 35 percent residency requirement. She says that this proposed legislation ``would make all the difference in the world'' for her business, and would create needed jobs for Mainers.

The Association of Defense Communities also supports our effort to tailor the HUBZone program to make it more usable by closed military bases.

I ask my colleagues to support the HUBZone Expansion Act of 2015 to help communities and the people most affected get back on their feet after the loss of a military installation, closed through the BRAC process.

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