BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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| SENATE COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES AND WATER |
| Senator Fran Pavley, Chair |
| 2013-2014 Regular Session |
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BILL NO: SB 633 HEARING DATE: August 21, 2014
AUTHOR: Pavley URGENCY: No
VERSION: August 4, 2014 CONSULTANT: Bill Craven
DUAL REFERRAL: No FISCAL: Yes
SUBJECT: State Parks.
BACKGROUND AND EXISTING LAW
The California Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR), now
celebrating its 150th anniversary, is vested with control of the
state park system and responsibility for administering,
protecting, developing, and interpreting state parks for the use
and enjoyment of the public. DPR is also responsible for
protecting the state park system from damage and preserving the
peace.
A series of recent statutory changes augmented the department's
authority to collect fees, rents, and other returns for the use
of state parks with amounts to be determined by DPR, to sell
annual and regional passes, and to enter into concession
contracts, subject to specified conditions. Those statutory
changes also established a revenue generation program, added
ex-officio legislative members to the California State Parks and
Recreation Commission, and established a moratorium on park
closures (that would be extended by AB 2150 (Rendon) that is now
pending in the Senate).
PROPOSED LAW
This bill makes several relatively modest changes to the ongoing
efforts at the department to establish a successful revenue
generation program in ways that are consistent with the ongoing
Parks Forward Commission's recommendations. It also would
establish a separate line item for the Commission, have the
department analyze its energy infrastructure needs to determine
possible eligibility for access to cap and trade auction
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revenues, and increase public participation in making
recommendations for spending revenues generated as part of the
state parks license plate fund. Specifically, this bill would
1) State legislative findings and declarations regarding recent
and ongoing efforts to stabilize and improve the financial base
of DPR and clarifying that provisions of this bill regarding
pilot projects for sales of park passes through vendors,
creation of additional regional passes, and for mobile food and
beverage concessions, rely on the existing authority of DPR.
2) Requires the Commission's costs to be reflected separately in
the Governor's annual proposed budget to increase transparency.
3) States legislative intent that the Commission and DPR
cooperate to increase public support and participation in the
voluntary tax check-off contribution program for state parks by
soliciting public input into how the contributions should be
spent. The bill would have DPR create one or more projects per
year to be funded by the voluntary tax-deductible contributions.
The projects would be selected through a process involving
public input, and would involve one or more public hearings to
be held by the Commission along with relevant information posted
on its Internet Web site. Eligible projects would include, but
are not limited to, the repair, preservation, restoration, or
rehabilitation of natural or cultural resources, and programs
that facilitate increased park visitation by underserved
communities.
4) Requires DPR to report to the Legislature on or before July
1, 2015, on its energy costs, projects that could reduce those
costs and potential energy-related infrastructure projects that
may be eligible for funding from revenues that may be generated
through a market-based compliance mechanism adopted by the Air
Resources Board (commonly known as cap and trade). This section
would sunset on January 1, 2020.
5) States legislative intent to increase opportunities for DPR
to sell park passes through vendors. DPR has existing authority
to sell park passes through vendor contracts, and the bill
requires DPR to report to the Legislature on or before July 1,
2016, on its activities to increase such opportunities. This
section would also sunset on January 1, 2020.
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6) Requires DPR on or before December 31, 2015, and from
available appropriated funds, to establish a minimum of two
additional regional park passes that are available for purchase
through DPR's Internet Web site, park offices, or other
designated vendors. DPR shall determine the regions served by
the passes. The bill states that the recent regional passes
created by DPR such as the Surf Explorer Vehicle Day Use annual
pass, the Historian Passport Day Use Admissions annual pass, and
the California Park Experience Vehicle Day Use annual pass may
serve as useful models for future regional passes.
7) Requires DPR until January 1, 2018, and from available
appropriated funds, to establish a pilot program for mobile food
and beverage services in multiple state parks, as feasible. The
bill requires DPR to submit a report to the Legislature on the
results of the pilot program on or before January 1, 2018. This
section would sunset in 2019. There is a statement of intent
that DPR in implementing this section will not compete with
existing concession contracts that provide comparable food and
beverage services to the public.
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT
According to the author, the purpose of this bill is to continue
the bi-partisan work and the close co-operation of the Assembly
and the Senate regarding budget and policy reforms at DPR. All
of the provisions in this bill, which passed in the Assembly by
a vote of 75-0, may be viewed in that light. Three of the
provisions (food trucks, new regional passes, and vendor sales
of regional passes) build on recommendations of the Parks
Forward Commission and are designed to broaden the financial
base of the department in ways that are consistent with its
overall responsibilities and mission. The energy report is also
designed to broaden the financial base of the department by
determining if it is eligible to request auction revenues for
some of its energy-related infrastructure needs.
The budget line item for the Commission is intended to improve
the fiscal transparency of that entity so that the Legislature
can determine how much money the Commission spends and whether
that amount is adequate or not.
Supporters uniformly agree that increasing the number of
regional passes will benefit the public by allowing access to
the parks in specified regions at considerable savings compared
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to an annual pass.
Other supporters point out that the bill continues the progress
at DPR in using modern technology to sell passes, innovate
through the use of food trucks, and analyze energy
infrastructure needs.
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION
The Department of Finance is concerned about costs to the
department in implementing the bill even though the bill
requires that the department would use funds already
appropriated to it. The funds would come from the revenue
generation subaccount which was recently appropriated several
million dollars in the most recent budget.
SUPPORT
California State Parks and Recreation
California Travel Association
State Park Partners Coalition
Watershed Conservation Authority
California Park and Recreation Society
East Bay Regional Parks
Watershed Conservation Authority
Trust for Public Land
OPPOSITION
Department of Finance
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