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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