Some of you have followed barf's effort to help fight off the State taking funds from the gas tax that could put our OHV Park System in dire straight within a couple of years.
Sustainable Parks Proposal. Item # 3790 The Senator is the Chair of this committee.
I had the opportunity to present my views in a meeting with the Senator.
Here is the info on that. Budman's meeting with Senator Joe Simitian on OHV funding
The Committee is continuing its effort after our meeting and this editorial came out in the Mercury News and I believe there is some disinformation in it.
More on that below.
Mercury News editorial: Simitian-Evans plan to keep state parks open deserves support
Quote from the Mercury News editorial - "And they would divert up to $21 million a year allocated for building off-road vehicle parks." - Editorial staff at the Mercury said this is straight from Senator Simitian and confrimed by his staff as well. This is for operation of the Parks and not building new. The Senator knows that. (Note:The 21M comes out of over 5 Billion in the gas tax as part of the Steinberg Bill.)
Simitian is continuing to use the OHV Trust Fund Balance as his number ($143M). In July 2012 that number $143M) will reduced by about $112M (leaving $31M), about $100M comes out every July to fund the OHV Programs for that fiscal year. So Simitian is manipulating the facts and not telling the whole truth.
My opinion here: If their proposed reduction of the revenues is successful then the program will go into deficit within 2 years and OHV Parks could be shut down. This is a way to shut OHV recreation down without Simitian looking like he has direct action with it.
In addition to a lot of rhetoric claiming they would do nothing to the OHV Trust Fund, staff from Simitian's office stated in writing they would do NOTHING until after the Governor's May Revise came out. They lied, this action took place two weeks before the May Revise.
Simitian and his staff intentionally put off a meeting for six weeks with AMA members (me) concerned about his proposal. He finally met with them after they threatened to protest his campaign but only after he had already gotten media support by annoucing his proposal.
In the second meeting the Senator was back on his horse and seemed like the only things he took from the meeting was to work our issues with it to his advantage. If you want to watch the hearing go here: http://calchannel.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=7&clip_id=428
The OHV issue starts at 1:37.00
Here is a snippet from the Senate Budget and Fiscal Review SUBCOMMITTEE NO 2
*** From Page 14:
Item 7: Local Assistance Funding: To address concerns raised by stakeholders, this item should be amended to allow for the shift of up to $21 million from the Motor Vehicle Fuel Account prior to deposit into the Off-Highway Vehicle Trust Fund (OHVTF). The Local Assistance proposal should be reduced by $11 million, and $10 million should be made available from the OHVTF fund balance (currently projected at over $60 million) for high priority law-enforcement related local assistance grants. The department will be required to consult with the OHV Division prior to taking this action. This item also should sunset after five years.
The Department will explore to what extent funding from the AB 32 Cap and
Trade funding may be appropriately used for restoration projects on Off-Highway Vehicle use lands (local assistance) in an amount up to $10 million.
***END*****
The Senator mentioned the Cap and Trade funding at our meeting, but that is likely just a cherry being held out and there is no chance this will take place. This also is directed only at the restoration piece of the Grant Funding that comes out of the Fuel Tax money. More words to make him look like a green friendly politician at the expense of OHV users. Looks like a nice way to get votes and then let the actual funding to not be done, but he can say I tried. Politics at its best huh??
Further more the Governor has already stated that if $$$ from other sources are directed to the Parks system he would likely take it for the General Fund due to the waste and lack of leadership in the Parks Department. He did just that last year. So guess how much will actually make it there?
Many of you emailed the Senator when this first came up and go the note that the Senator was not looking to take money from the OHV fund. Guess what he did!! Not cool.
From the public hearing:
The LAO said that the OHV fund has a large balance. I doubt they even looked into the amount of funding that has been taken already and what it takes to run the OHV system on a yearly basis. :mad
The State Park representative noted that the 10M last year did not go to State Parks so they are not sure it would stay with them. She noted that more than once...!
Finance tried to explain that this is a volatilefund source and Joe kept coming back to the 300M taken from other areas.
Speakers against the move.
Director of OHV Division stated that their system are world class and very few work that well.The action today besides the 10M taken last year will decimate the system. It will creates adversarial relationship with the 1 Million users of the system that has taken legal action before.
He also stated that the current loans being paid back is fantasy. They have never had these paid back before and I think to count on that would be a mistake. There is no reason to dismantle this agency.
The Speaker from Friends of Jawbone noted that when you take your expedition of road you have become a OHV user. (Note: He was President of Corva for 10 years in the past and the OHV Comissioner appointed by two Governors). "The grants are the life line of the OHV system. Millions of acres are affected by the loss of these grants".
He noted this is a job killer with over 600,000 people who rely on these funds.
A volunteer from a search and rescue medical response team spoke as well. They work closely with all the local agencies and do joint training in So Cal. Without the grant funding they can not do what they do and the users of the OHV areas will suffer greatly. The response times will triple and the potential for these incidents will likely cause more fatalities.
Amy Granat Managing Director of Corva spoke as well:
She noted that the OHV use is the fastest growing type of recreation. Our hands are being forced and a attorney has been engaged and litigation will be taken for the 10M taken last year. Please consider the ramifications of this action. (The Senator noted that he was going to call her back) (Also note 110M is still do to be paid back)
Nick Harris from the AMA spoke as well. He stated that he has not heard that State Parks or the Administration has not stated support for this and noted there is a similar lawsuit that Amy discussed is in the State Supreme court elsewhere. (My view on this is that this legal action will end up costing the State more money and is a waste of that money).
A former OHV Director noted that the these dollars will hurt the gateway communities where users buy lunch, dinner etc. and the OHV users will likely not be buying as many of these vehicles and they will hurt economically as well. (We already know the Moto biz is suffering and this could really hurt way more people economically).
Aaron Reid representing the California Association of Highway Patrolmen state that he agrees with State Finance that this is a volatile source of funding. The increase in officers over 20 years is just 1,000 where population has increase greatly. In fact the academy has been closed and officers are not being replaced leading to greatly increased stress of his member. There have been 220 deaths in the line of duty. They disagree that article 19 allows this to be done. The LAO suggested that this be a sunset clause (temp) and please consider this or make it a loan.
Dave Pickett from the District 36 Sport Committee said the OHV Trust was set up to make sure the money went where it was suppose to be and the Sheriff's would lose money. Metcalf is so busy that the gates close early often and people turned away. That Park will be in jeopardy with the loss of the trust funds.
Senator Lowenthal stated that he thought the effort of Simitian was commendable, but he is troubled greatly by potentially damaging one of the only economically viable parts of the system. The grants being lost is very troubling.
He suggested putting this in conference and really discuss it. He does not know how the Assembly really feels about it. He does not like stop gap measures and feels there should be more discussion on this.
Senator Simitian then called Ms. Granat back and thanked her for the meeting and the changes that came out of that meeting.
He asked her what green sticker fees are for:
She explained expertly as I would have expected.
$52 dollars a year is the fee for these vehicles.
This was a very crafted portion of the Steinberg Bill in 2007 /2008. This was based on a carefully calculated look at the use of fuel.
He then asked for help to communicate this to her people that Green sticker fees are not being taken as part of this.
Amy stated that she made that before (in our meeting and she was not asked to do so in the meeting).
Joe said he is still getting commentary from individuals about this. (Beating a dead horse Senator - IMO trying to step away from this being an attack on the OHV system).
Other info I have been able to gather (because I care!):
In meetings with Senator Simitian he and his staff have told representatives of the OHV community that he does not care about OHV and he will get the money he wants.
Senator Simitian has met with the California State Parks Foundation and PEER Director, Karen Schambach. He indicate was their plan and he is moving forward to try and win over voters in Santa Clara County.
The Senator also has received an endorsement from the Sierra Club for his run and he is using this issue to make himself look good.
For this action I say vote no for Joe!
Vote no for Joe on being a county Supervisor
Sustainable Parks Proposal. Item # 3790 The Senator is the Chair of this committee.
I had the opportunity to present my views in a meeting with the Senator.
Here is the info on that. Budman's meeting with Senator Joe Simitian on OHV funding
The Committee is continuing its effort after our meeting and this editorial came out in the Mercury News and I believe there is some disinformation in it.
More on that below.
Mercury News editorial: Simitian-Evans plan to keep state parks open deserves support
Quote from the Mercury News editorial - "And they would divert up to $21 million a year allocated for building off-road vehicle parks." - Editorial staff at the Mercury said this is straight from Senator Simitian and confrimed by his staff as well. This is for operation of the Parks and not building new. The Senator knows that. (Note:The 21M comes out of over 5 Billion in the gas tax as part of the Steinberg Bill.)
Simitian is continuing to use the OHV Trust Fund Balance as his number ($143M). In July 2012 that number $143M) will reduced by about $112M (leaving $31M), about $100M comes out every July to fund the OHV Programs for that fiscal year. So Simitian is manipulating the facts and not telling the whole truth.
My opinion here: If their proposed reduction of the revenues is successful then the program will go into deficit within 2 years and OHV Parks could be shut down. This is a way to shut OHV recreation down without Simitian looking like he has direct action with it.
In addition to a lot of rhetoric claiming they would do nothing to the OHV Trust Fund, staff from Simitian's office stated in writing they would do NOTHING until after the Governor's May Revise came out. They lied, this action took place two weeks before the May Revise.
Simitian and his staff intentionally put off a meeting for six weeks with AMA members (me) concerned about his proposal. He finally met with them after they threatened to protest his campaign but only after he had already gotten media support by annoucing his proposal.
In the second meeting the Senator was back on his horse and seemed like the only things he took from the meeting was to work our issues with it to his advantage. If you want to watch the hearing go here: http://calchannel.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=7&clip_id=428
The OHV issue starts at 1:37.00
Here is a snippet from the Senate Budget and Fiscal Review SUBCOMMITTEE NO 2
*** From Page 14:
Item 7: Local Assistance Funding: To address concerns raised by stakeholders, this item should be amended to allow for the shift of up to $21 million from the Motor Vehicle Fuel Account prior to deposit into the Off-Highway Vehicle Trust Fund (OHVTF). The Local Assistance proposal should be reduced by $11 million, and $10 million should be made available from the OHVTF fund balance (currently projected at over $60 million) for high priority law-enforcement related local assistance grants. The department will be required to consult with the OHV Division prior to taking this action. This item also should sunset after five years.
The Department will explore to what extent funding from the AB 32 Cap and
Trade funding may be appropriately used for restoration projects on Off-Highway Vehicle use lands (local assistance) in an amount up to $10 million.
***END*****
The Senator mentioned the Cap and Trade funding at our meeting, but that is likely just a cherry being held out and there is no chance this will take place. This also is directed only at the restoration piece of the Grant Funding that comes out of the Fuel Tax money. More words to make him look like a green friendly politician at the expense of OHV users. Looks like a nice way to get votes and then let the actual funding to not be done, but he can say I tried. Politics at its best huh??
Further more the Governor has already stated that if $$$ from other sources are directed to the Parks system he would likely take it for the General Fund due to the waste and lack of leadership in the Parks Department. He did just that last year. So guess how much will actually make it there?
Many of you emailed the Senator when this first came up and go the note that the Senator was not looking to take money from the OHV fund. Guess what he did!! Not cool.
From the public hearing:
The LAO said that the OHV fund has a large balance. I doubt they even looked into the amount of funding that has been taken already and what it takes to run the OHV system on a yearly basis. :mad
The State Park representative noted that the 10M last year did not go to State Parks so they are not sure it would stay with them. She noted that more than once...!
Finance tried to explain that this is a volatilefund source and Joe kept coming back to the 300M taken from other areas.
Speakers against the move.
Director of OHV Division stated that their system are world class and very few work that well.The action today besides the 10M taken last year will decimate the system. It will creates adversarial relationship with the 1 Million users of the system that has taken legal action before.
He also stated that the current loans being paid back is fantasy. They have never had these paid back before and I think to count on that would be a mistake. There is no reason to dismantle this agency.
The Speaker from Friends of Jawbone noted that when you take your expedition of road you have become a OHV user. (Note: He was President of Corva for 10 years in the past and the OHV Comissioner appointed by two Governors). "The grants are the life line of the OHV system. Millions of acres are affected by the loss of these grants".
He noted this is a job killer with over 600,000 people who rely on these funds.
A volunteer from a search and rescue medical response team spoke as well. They work closely with all the local agencies and do joint training in So Cal. Without the grant funding they can not do what they do and the users of the OHV areas will suffer greatly. The response times will triple and the potential for these incidents will likely cause more fatalities.
Amy Granat Managing Director of Corva spoke as well:
She noted that the OHV use is the fastest growing type of recreation. Our hands are being forced and a attorney has been engaged and litigation will be taken for the 10M taken last year. Please consider the ramifications of this action. (The Senator noted that he was going to call her back) (Also note 110M is still do to be paid back)
Nick Harris from the AMA spoke as well. He stated that he has not heard that State Parks or the Administration has not stated support for this and noted there is a similar lawsuit that Amy discussed is in the State Supreme court elsewhere. (My view on this is that this legal action will end up costing the State more money and is a waste of that money).
A former OHV Director noted that the these dollars will hurt the gateway communities where users buy lunch, dinner etc. and the OHV users will likely not be buying as many of these vehicles and they will hurt economically as well. (We already know the Moto biz is suffering and this could really hurt way more people economically).
Aaron Reid representing the California Association of Highway Patrolmen state that he agrees with State Finance that this is a volatile source of funding. The increase in officers over 20 years is just 1,000 where population has increase greatly. In fact the academy has been closed and officers are not being replaced leading to greatly increased stress of his member. There have been 220 deaths in the line of duty. They disagree that article 19 allows this to be done. The LAO suggested that this be a sunset clause (temp) and please consider this or make it a loan.
Dave Pickett from the District 36 Sport Committee said the OHV Trust was set up to make sure the money went where it was suppose to be and the Sheriff's would lose money. Metcalf is so busy that the gates close early often and people turned away. That Park will be in jeopardy with the loss of the trust funds.
Senator Lowenthal stated that he thought the effort of Simitian was commendable, but he is troubled greatly by potentially damaging one of the only economically viable parts of the system. The grants being lost is very troubling.
He suggested putting this in conference and really discuss it. He does not know how the Assembly really feels about it. He does not like stop gap measures and feels there should be more discussion on this.
Senator Simitian then called Ms. Granat back and thanked her for the meeting and the changes that came out of that meeting.
He asked her what green sticker fees are for:
She explained expertly as I would have expected.
$52 dollars a year is the fee for these vehicles.
This was a very crafted portion of the Steinberg Bill in 2007 /2008. This was based on a carefully calculated look at the use of fuel.
He then asked for help to communicate this to her people that Green sticker fees are not being taken as part of this.
Amy stated that she made that before (in our meeting and she was not asked to do so in the meeting).
Joe said he is still getting commentary from individuals about this. (Beating a dead horse Senator - IMO trying to step away from this being an attack on the OHV system).
Other info I have been able to gather (because I care!):
In meetings with Senator Simitian he and his staff have told representatives of the OHV community that he does not care about OHV and he will get the money he wants.
Senator Simitian has met with the California State Parks Foundation and PEER Director, Karen Schambach. He indicate was their plan and he is moving forward to try and win over voters in Santa Clara County.
The Senator also has received an endorsement from the Sierra Club for his run and he is using this issue to make himself look good.
For this action I say vote no for Joe!
Vote no for Joe on being a county Supervisor
