EL PASO –  On Tuesday, May 13, El Paso Community College—Transmountain Campus will host a Senate and House joint committee hearing on Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC).  At the hearing, testimony will be taken from state and local community leaders about our region's response to the amazing growth at Fort Bliss.  

"BRAC will impact education, public health, workforce, infrastructure and mental health agencies.  To meet the challenge, we must prepare now," said Senator Eliot Shapleigh (SD29-El Paso), Chair of the Senate Subcommittee on BRAC.       

Participating in the hearing will be members of the Senate Subcommittee on BRAC and Senate Veteran Affairs & Military Installations Committee, as well as members of the House Committee on Defense Affairs and State-Federal Regulations.  Senator Shapleigh organized the historic joint committee hearing of the committees in El Paso.  The hearing will present the El Paso community with a unique opportunity to speak with both House and Senate leaders about BRAC's local impact and how the state can provide assistance.

The 2005 round of BRAC and the Grow the Army initiative are bringing to Fort Bliss and El Paso an historic amount of change and growth.  As a result of these changes, Fort Bliss will grow by over 28,000 soldiers and will eventually become an installation over four times its previous size.  Current estimates place the total net population gain by 2013 at over 65,000 soldiers and dependents.

The hearing begins at 9:00 a.m. in the Forum Theater at the El Paso Community College—Transmountain Campus at 9570 Gateway Blvd. North.  

What: Joint Senate-House Committee Hearing on BRAC

When: Tuesday, May 13, 2008 at 9:00 a.m.

Where: El Paso Community College – Transmountain Campus Forum Theater, 9570 Gateway Blvd. North

(Click on the icon below for a chart which provides estimates of growth through 2012.)