On Wednesday, Hull signed SB 1525, which requires compatible land use around the state's four military airports. The bill gives military bass more say so in the type of developed allowed in the vicinity of their bases. The measure goes into effect this summer.

"This legislation will make it very, very possible for us to have such a good land-use plan," Hull said. "We've lost one base; we don't expect to lose another."

The bill was created mostly to save Luke Air Force Base, which sits in the heart of the fast-growing West Valley. With the growing popularity of the West Valley, Luke has seen increasing encroachment by developments in the area surrounding it--mostly residential.

Luke is the largest F-16 training base in the world. It has more than 200 F-16 Fighting Falcon jets and more than 1,000 pilots graduate from the training program each year. The base has been one of the most active training bases in the military since World War II, when it was used to train thousands of pilots. The base still has an estimated impact of $2 billion annually in the local economy.

The state legislature jumped into action with the bill earlier this year after Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) introduced federal legislation calling for additional rounds of base closures in 2003 and 2005. The closures could reduce costs to the military of $20 billion by 2015, say supporters of the closures.

A decade ago, the Valley lost its other military airport, Williams Air Force Base in the far East Valley.

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Governor Enacts New Law Aimed at Saving Military Base

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