BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 549
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Date of Hearing: April 28, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON WATER, PARKS, AND WILDLIFE
Marc Levine, Chair
AB 549
(Levine) - As Introduced February 23, 2015
SUBJECT: State park system: revenue generation program:
reports
SUMMARY:
1)States legislative intent to enact changes in law necessary to
facilitate and expedite implementation of reforms recommended
by the Parks Forward Commission to ensure a sustainable state
park system for California.
2)Requires the Department of Parks & Recreation (DPR) to report
to the Legislature annually by December 31st on the revenue
distributed to each state park district pursuant to DPR's
revenue generation program.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Called for creation of the Parks Forward Commission to
undertake an independent, comprehensive review of the state
park system and make recommendations to the Legislature and
Governor to provide for long-term sustainability of state
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parks.
2)Requires DPR to develop a revenue generation program as an
essential component of a long-term sustainable park funding
strategy. Requires DPR to develop revenue generation targets
for each district. Requires revenue generated by the revenue
generation program to be deposited in the State Parks &
Recreation Fund. Revenue in excess of the revenue targets is
to be transferred to the State Parks Revenue Incentives
Subaccount. 50% of the revenues in the subaccount are
allocated to those districts that exceeded their revenue
targets, for improvement of the parks in that district.
3)Requires DPR to report to the Legislature by July 1 of each
year on the revenue distributed to each district from the
revenue generation incentives subaccount.
FISCAL EFFECT: None; this bill is tagged non-fiscal.
COMMENTS: This bill changes the due date for an annual report
that DPR is required to submit to the Legislature on revenue
generation incentive payments distributed to park districts as
part of DPR's revenue generation program. Currently, the report
is due annually on July 1st. However, because of the timing of
receipts of earned income and final accountings from various
contractors and vendors, which are received after the end of the
fiscal year, this date is not practical. By requiring the
report to be submitted by December 31st, DPR will be able to
report accurately on actual payments made as opposed to
estimated or projected revenues.
This bill also contains legislative intent to implement changes
that may be identified as necessary to implement recommendations
of the Parks Forward Commission. DPR established a
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transformation team that is working on implementation of the
Commission's recommendations, and other reforms, to improve
operations and efficiency, and ultimately the long-term
sustainability of state parks. That effort is a work in
progress. If this bill is subsequently amended to address
issues identified as that process progresses, it can be brought
back to this committee for further review, as desired.
Prior and related legislation: AB 1589 (Huffman), Chapter 533,
Statutes of 2012, among other things, declared the policy of the
Legislature to promote formation of a multidisciplinary advisory
council, to conduct an independent assessment and make
recommendations to the Legislature and Governor on reforms
needed to ensure the long-term sustainability of the state park
system. The Parks Forward Commission was subsequently appointed
by the Secretary of Natural Resources to conduct that review in
2013. The Commission released its final report on January 30,
2015. This committee held a joint oversight hearing on the
report's findings and recommendations on February 24, 2015.
AB 594 (Assembly Water, Parks & Wildlife Committee), Chapter
407, Statutes of 2013, among other things, required that the
incremental revenue generated from DPR's revenue generation
program be deposited in the State Parks Revenue Incentives
Subaccount. It also provided that in the event that future
budget reductions necessitate changes in the continued operation
of state park units, that DPR should achieve any required budget
reductions by implementing efficiencies and increasing revenue
collection or reducing services, and that full park closures be
considered only as a last resort.
SB 204 (Pavley), which is pending in the Senate, makes several
changes that are also intended to facilitate implementation of
recommendations of the Parks Forward Commission, including but
not limited to, authorizing DPR to accept donations or real
property or money from public or private sources to fund
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programs to benefit youth, and to enter into cooperative
agreements with public or nonprofit organizations to provide
service and learning opportunities for youth.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
None on file.
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by:Diane Colborn / W., P., & W. / (916)
319-2096
AB 549
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