Defense Base Closure and
Realignment Commission

Regional Hearings

• The purpose of a regional hearing is to allow communities facing a base closure or major realignment action (defined as loss of 300 civilian positions or 400 total positions) an opportunity to voice their concerns, counter-arguments, and opinions regarding that BRAC recommendation.
• The regional hearing locations were determined by:
• Proximity to major transportation hubs;
• Distances to bases experiencing closure or major realignment action – with sensitivity to those bases facing the greatest negative impact;
• Remoteness of the bases;
• Commission schedule constraints.
• Based on the number of proposed base closings and major realignment actions, as plotted on the map of the United States, it was determined that 15 regional hearings would appropriately accommodate the communities faced with negative impacts.
• The office of the senior Senator from the state designated as the locale for each regional hearing has been asked to serve as the point of contact in determining and arranging the regional hearing venue.
• The senior Senator will serve as the state delegation lead, unless he or she chooses to delegate that function (to the governor or other delegation member). Each delegation will be allotted a set amount of time during the regional hearing. It is up to the state delegation lead to allocate this time. In prior years, the Governor, Senators, Members of Congress with district impact, military affairs committee representatives, community representatives, and state-designated experts were given opportunities to participate as part of the hearing agenda.

Criteria For Inclusion In Regional Hearings:

• A state will be included in a regional hearing if at least one state installation meets the criteria to trigger a Commissioner base visit (net loss of 300 civilian positions or 400 personnel total).
• The Commission will allocate time to delegations based on the number of activities (closures/realignments) and numbers of jobs lost.
• States that do not meet the criteria directly (installation is not physically located in state) but suffer impact due to an installation’s proximity to the state border, should request to be included in the installation state’s delegation for purposes of advocating for that installation.
• States that will receive gains as a result of BRAC action or who have realignment actions that do not meet the 300/400 criteria (described above) will be allocated time at regional hearings only at the state’s request.
• Should the Commission decide to ADD an installation to or significantly adjust a realignment from the original DoD list, the impacted state will have an opportunity to participate in additional regional hearings that will be conducted specifically to address these changes.