Florida House panel approves request for national guard increase

By Owen Girard

Published Jan. 31, 2024, 4:44 p.m. ET | Updated Jan. 31, 2024

Soldiers with the 160th Transportation Company, 254th Transportation Battalion, secure a load of food to an M871A2 flatbed trailer at Bonita Springs High School in Bonita Springs, Fla., Oct. 3, 2022. (Photo/Florida National Guard, Facebook)

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – A House memorial by Rep. Dan Daley, D-Coral Springs, calling for the federal government to bolster Florida’s National Guard passed a committee assignment on Wednesday.

The House Local Administration, Federal Affairs, and Special Districts Subcommittee unanimously passed the legislation, HM 1145.

The Florida Senate already passed their version of the bill on Jan. 18.

“HM 1145 urges Congress to impel the United States National Guard Bureau to examine the resource allocations of the Florida National Guard and allow an increase in its force structure,” Daley said. “We are allocated only 12,000 guardsman for a state of 22 million residents. The second to last for ratio of guardsman to population out of the 54 national guard units.”

“The allocation of 12,000 guardsman is based on our state’s 1958 population,” he said. “We must increase the number of guardsmen for the protection of Florida, which has the fifth most declared state of emergencies over the last seven years.”

The memorial highlights concerns from the coronavirus pandemic and certain natural disasters in the past that led the guardsman to be overused due to their short supply.