BILL NUMBER: AJR 21	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Portantino

                        MARCH 14, 2007

   Relative to the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AJR 21, as introduced, Portantino. Federal Lands Recreation
Enhancement Act.
    This measure would memorialize the President and the Congress of
the United States to repeal the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement
Act which allows the United States Forest Service, Bureau of Land
Management, Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service, and
Bureau of Reclamation to charge visitors fees for recreation on
publicly owned land under their management.
   Fiscal committee: no.



   WHEREAS, In 2004, Congress authorized H.R. 3283, the Federal Lands
Recreation Enhancement Act (act), which allows the United States
Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Service,
National Park Service, and Bureau of Reclamation to charge visitors
fees for recreation on publicly owned land under their management;
and
   WHEREAS, H.R. 3283 was never approved by the United States House
of Representatives, never had hearings, and was never approved by the
United States Senate, but was instead attached to omnibus spending
bill H.R. 4818 as an appropriations rider; and
   WHEREAS, The act fundamentally changes the way America's public
lands are funded and managed; and
   WHEREAS, These recreational fees constitute double taxation and
bear no relationship to the actual costs of certain types of
recreation such as hiking, picnicking, observing wildlife, or scenic
driving on state and county roads and public rights-of-way; and
   WHEREAS, The concept of paying fees to use public lands is
contrary to the idea that public lands belong to the American people
and are places where everyone is granted access and is welcome, a
concept that has been and should remain in place; and
   WHEREAS, The fees imposed by the act are a regressive tax that
places an undue burden on the people living in rural areas adjacent
to or surrounded by large areas of federal land, and discriminate
against lower-income and working Americans by placing financial
obstacles in the way of their enjoyment of publicly owned land; and
   WHEREAS, These public land access fees have been highly
controversial and are opposed by hundreds of organizations, county
governments, several state legislatures, and by millions of rural
Americans; and
   WHEREAS, The act establishes an interagency pass to be used to
cover entrance fees and recreational fees for federal lands and
waters, disregarding the substantially different ways in which
national parks and other federal public lands are managed and funded;
and
   WHEREAS, The limited means of expressing opposition to, and the
lack of public debate in the implementation of, the fee program
raises the concern that some citizens may be deterred from visiting
and enjoying public lands in California and throughout the United
States; and
   WHEREAS, Tourism is an important industry to California, and
recreational fees will have a negative impact on the state and local
economies; now, therefore, be it
   Resolved by the Assembly and the Senate of the State of
California, jointly, That the Legislature respectfully memorializes
the President and the Congress of the United States to repeal the
Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act, and that recreational fees
not be imposed on federal lands within the State of California under
the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act, except in national
parks; and be it further
   Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of
this resolution to the President and Vice President of the United
States, to the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives,
and to each Senator and Representative from California in the
Congress of the United States.