Lawmakers file memorial calling for more National Guard troops

Lawmakers may soon call on Congress to beef up the Florida National Guard under a bipartisan memorial filed Thursday.

The memorial comes as lawmakers grow increasingly concerned with the Florida National Guard’s lack of manpower. Despite serving the third most disaster-prone state, the Florida Guard ranks second to last in the Guardsmen-to-citizen ratio with roughly 12,000 troops.

The issue of troop numbers, however, is a federal prerogative. If passed, the memorials (SM 826 & HM 505) would urge Congress and the U.S. National Guard Bureau to allow Florida to recruit more troops.

Republican Sen. Tom Wright and Democratic Rep. Dan Daley are leading the charge.

“Our current lack of guardsmen is based on the state of Florida’s 1958 population,” Wright said in a statement. “This effort has long been considered, and now Rep. Daley and I are working together to get the results needed for our great state of Florida.”

The memorial marks Florida’s latest attempt to garner the attention of Guard decision-makers.

In February, a collective of Florida congressional members urged Congress to act in a bipartisan letter. Gov. Ron DeSantis has also chimed in on the issue. In June, he wrote to a National Guard Bureau Chief calling for Florida’s “fair share.”

Data shared by the Guard in October suggests the state’s troop shortage is aggravated more so by federal deployments, rather than state activations.

The Florida National Guard devoted more than 2.9 million federal workdays between 2016 and 2021, but only 834,000 on state missions, according to deployment data.

With a heavy workload and few workers, the Florida Guard’s top general once warned Florida is ill-positioned to handle its next major emergency or “worst day.”

“We simply don’t have enough troops and are overworking these citizen-soldiers and putting our state and nation at risk,” Daley said.

Meanwhile, two lawmakers are proposing measures that would limit the federal government’s usage of the Florida Guard.

The bills, sponsored by Republican Rep. Melony Bell and Democratic Sen. Jason Pizzo, would prohibit the Florida Guard’s deployment into “active duty combat” without a congressional declaration of war.

Congress has not officially declared war in more than 70 years.