After a meeting with U.S. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall on May 8, the National Governors Association (NGA) said on May 9 that it is urging the Air Force again to drop the service-backed Legislative Proposal 480 (LP 480) as part of the fiscal 2025 defense authorization bill.
LP 480 would allow the Air Force secretary to transfer Air National Guard units to the Space Force.
Utah Republican Gov. Spencer Cox, the NGA chairman, and Democratic Gov. Jared Polis of Colorado, NGA’s vice chair, said on May 9 that “federal law requires consultation and approval from governors on any decisions to move National Guard units, plain and simple” and that, “until Air Force leaders withdraw LP 480, they are in violation of federal law.”
“We cannot have productive conversations on this matter until LP 480 is set aside,” they said.
LP 480 also is facing congressional opposition. On May 6, Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.), co-chair of the Space Force Caucus, helped spearhead a bipartisan opposition letter, signed by 29 senators and 56 representatives, to Senate and House defense authorizers.
“The recently released proposal by the Air Force seeks to transfer members of the National Guard who perform space missions and designate them as ‘part-timers’ under a full-time Space Force without regard to governor authority,” the letter said. “In doing so, the Air Force intends to disregard portions of Section 104 of Title 32, which states that no change in the branch, organization, or allotment of a unit can be made without the approval of its Governor, and Section 18238 of Title 10, which places limitations on the relocation of Army and Air National Guard units without the consent of the governor.”
The Department of the Air Force ditched the idea of a Space National Guard in favor of integrating existing units into the Space Force.
“Maintaining Air National Guard units with space responsibilities instead of forming a Space National Guard integrated with the Space Force as a whole, will only create inefficiencies and bureaucratic friction,” the Air & Space Forces Association said in September, 2022.
The Army and Air National Guard have had 17 units dedicated to space missions in Guam and seven states—Florida, Colorado, New York, California, Ohio, Alaska, and Hawaii.
Crow said that Colorado has more than one-third of those National Guard members performing space duties.