BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
AB 240 (Wilk) - Department of Parks and Recreation: free day
use entry
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|Version: March 16, 2015 |Policy Vote: N.R. & W. 9 - 0 |
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|Urgency: No |Mandate: No |
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|Hearing Date: July 6, 2015 |Consultant: Marie Liu |
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This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill
Summary: AB 240 would offer free day use entry to state parks
for vehicles with specified special recognition license plates.
Fiscal
Impact: Unknown revenue losses, potentially in the low hundreds
of thousands of dollars, to the State Park and Recreation Fund
(special) for reduced day-use fee collection.
Background: Existing law entities honorably discharged war veterans with
50 or greater service-connected disability, veterans who were
prisoners of war, or recipients of the Congressional Medal of
Honor to free lifetime access to the state park system. The
Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) is also authorized to
offer a veteran or active duty or reserve military personnel
free or reduced day use of any unit of the state park on
Memorial and Veteran Days. (PRC §5011.6) Veterans and Memorial
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Day are the highest revenue generating days for the state park
system.
The average day use for state parks facilities is $12, with
rates varying from $8 to $20.
Existing law requires DPR to develop a revenue generation
program as an essential component of a long-term sustainable
park funding strategy (PRC §5010.7). Specifically, DPR is
required under the California Park Stewardship Act of 2012 to
develop an action plan to increase revenues and collection of
user fees at state parks (PRC §5019.92).
Proposed Law:
This bill would require that vehicles with the following valid
specialty license plates be allowed free day use entry to all
units of the state park system:
Pearl Harbor Survivor - issued to Pearl Harbor survivors.
Legion of Valor - issued to recipients of the Army Medal of
Honor, Navy Medal of Honor, Air Force Medal of Honor, Air
Force Cross, Navy Cross, or Army Distinguished Service Class.
May be retained by a surviving spouse.
Former Prisoner of War - issued to former prisoners of war.
Congressional Medal of Honor - issued to recipients of a
Congressional Medal of Honor. May be retained by a surviving
spouse.
Purple Heart Veteran- issued to veterans who recognized for
being wounded in action. May be retained by a surviving
spouse.
Gold Star Family - issued to qualified family members whose
relative lost their life in the line of duty while serving in
the Armed Forces, including spouses, parents, children,
siblings, grandparents, and grandchildren.
Staff
Comments: This bill will result in unknown revenues losses to
the state park system. Actual revenue losses would be dependent
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on the extent to which owners of the special recognition license
plates utilize this benefit and how many valid specialty
recognition license plates are currently registered. According
to the Department of Motor Vehicles, as of May 31st, there were
634 Gold Star Family plates, 7,449 Purple Heart plates, 218
Pearl Harbor plates, and 58 Legion of Valor plates currently
registered. The number of POW and Congressional Medal of Honor
plates could not be determined without a manual review of
registration. Thus, there are at least 8,359 special recognition
plates that would be eligible free state park access. Assuming
that the plate owners will utilize the free state park use an
average of one to three times in a year, and an average day use
rate of $12, there could be revenue losses between $100,000 and
$300,000 annually.
Only a small percentage of eligible people currently receive the
specialty recognition plates. For example, according to the
California Department of Veteran Affairs, in 2013 there were
approximately 60,000 California residents have been awarded the
Purple Heart. Less than 15% of these residents have the Purple
Heart license plates. Given that there is no costs to receive
the specialty license plates above the regular DMV registration
fees, if there are benefits attached to owning these plates,
such as free park access, plate issuance could go up and could
ultimately increase the fiscal impact to state park fee
revenues.
Staff notes that the State Park system continues to operate with
a structural deficit with revenues covering approximately half
of the system's operating costs. Additionally at the beginning
of this year, there was over $1.3 billion in deferred
maintenance for the system. Under the direction of the
Legislature, DPR is currently developing and implementing plans
to increase state park revenues, including increasing paid day
use of the parks. Any restriction on to DPR's ability to
increase revenues, including the collection of day-use fees,
arguably goes counter to recent Legislative direction to
increase revenues to improve the fiscal sustainability of the
system. Additionally, the more certain users are exempted from
fees, the more other users will need to contribute in order to
keep the parks system sustainable.
Staff notes that the Department of Motor Vehicles also issues
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Veterans Organization license plates. This plate is available to
any person regardless of military service. This plate would not
be eligible for free day use under this bill.
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