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 ----------------------------------------------------------------- | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- |--------------------------------+--------------------------------| | | | |Version: March 16, 2015 |Policy Vote: N.R. & W. 9 - 0 | | | | |--------------------------------+--------------------------------| | | | |Urgency: No |Mandate: No | | | | |--------------------------------+--------------------------------| | | | |Hearing Date: July 6, 2015 |Consultant: Marie Liu | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- 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 AB 240 (Wilk) Page 1 of ? 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 AB 240 (Wilk) Page 2 of ? 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 AB 240 (Wilk) Page 3 of ? 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. -- END --