AB 1589 offers several strategies to prevent state parks from being closed
Sacramento - Assemblymember Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael) today introduced legislation that offers several funding opportunities and other creative strategies to help prevent state parks from being closed.
"We have an opportunity with this legislation to not only prevent park closures, but to begin to reinvigorate our neglected California State Parks system," said Assemblymember Huffman. "This bill is about charting a more sustainable approach to managing and financing our treasured state parks so that they will continue to be there for our economy and quality of life, and so that we can protect the valuable natural and cultural resources our parks contain."
Assembly Bill 1589, also known as the California State Parks Stewardship Act of 2012, contains several proposals that address short and long term needs for California State Parks in order to achieve substantial budget savings without wide scale park closures.
Here are some key provisions of the new bill:
- Encourages formation of a state compact that guarantees an ongoing level of state funding for operations and maintenance of state parks.
- Creates a State Park Enterprise Fund to be used for construction and installation of modern revenue and fee collection equipment and technologies to increase park visitation and revenues.
- Produces a California State Park environmental license plate which individual vehicle owners could purchase and have the fees go towards support of state parks.
- Provides the option for taxpayers to voluntarily purchase an annual state park access pass when they file their state tax returns.
- Requires the Department of Parks and Recreation to be more transparent on how it evaluates and selects specific parks for closure, and places a cap of 25 state park units on the number of park closures allowed from 2012 to 2016 without legislative approval.
"The recent parks closures disproportionately impact rural California, and nowhere is that more true than on the North Coast," said Assemblymember Wesley Chesbro (D-North Coast), who is a joint author of AB 1589. "The economies of many of our small communities depend on state parks and the millions of visitors they draw every year. We must find a way to keep them open, safe and accessible."
"Keeping state parks open is vital to our local and state economies," said Caryl Hart, Director of Sonoma County Regional Parks. "While our communities are working hard at the local level to partner with the state to help keep the parks open, it is also imperative that the state identify new revenue opportunities and strategies to ensure the long term sustainability of our state parks."
"Our local economy centers on visitor service and if we lose our only state park, Hendy Woods, every business in our community will be badly affected," said Kathy Bailey, representing the Anderson Valley Chamber of Commerce. "AB 1589 recognizes that closing parks should be the last choice, not the first, when trying to balance the budget. We’re very happy that the authors want the State to formulate common sense approaches to management reform and revenue enhancement before taking the drastic step of shuttering a vital component of our community’s economy."
AB 1589 will be considered by the Assembly at a policy committee hearing later this session. It is also joint-authored by Assemblymember Roger Dickinson (D-Sacramento).
Assemblymember Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael) represents the 6th Assembly District, which encompasses southern Sonoma County and all of Marin County. First elected in 2006, Huffman chairs the Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee and also serves as Co-Chair of the Legislative Environmental Caucus.
CONTACT: Dan Okenfuss, (916) 319-2006
