Evans Introduces Bill to Review Park Closures
Evans Introduces Bill to Review Park Closures
Convinces State Public Works Board to Pull Concession Agreement Plan From Agenda
SACRAMENTO – Flush from news that the State Public Works Board pulled a controversial parks item from its agenda today, Senator Noreen Evans (D-Santa Rosa) introduced SB 974, a bill that would require the California Department of Parks and Recreation (Parks) to conduct a formal review of park closures.
Currently, 70 state parks are slated for closure on July 1, 2012 to save the state $22 million—a mere two-tenths of one percent of the state’s $9.2billion budget deficit.
“There has never been a defensible criteria for the closures,” said Senator Evans, an early and ardent critic of the proposal to shutter 70 state parks, 22 of which are in her district. “I have a serious problem with Parks’ decisions. There has been no transparency, no public process, and no economic impact study. It appears arbitrary.”
SB 974 would require Parks to develop a formal and transparent process to examine potential closures using defined criteria. The criteria would include that already developed by the legislature in AB 95, public hearings, an examination of economic impacts on local communities, a CEQA analysis, and a study of the costs of closures in terms of deferred maintenance, liability, and security. Minutes of Parks meetings discussing closures would be kept and be available to the public. The legislation would also require that Parks examine other budget savings measures in lieu of closures.
Additionally, Parks would be required to demonstrate that acquisition agreements with the federal government connected with the Land and Water Conservation Act are being honored, and that public access to the coast is being protected. The bill would allow current agreements with non-profits, local public agencies and federal agencies to manage state parks to remain in effect until these contracts expire.
Using this process, SB 974 requires Parks to evaluate the status of parks closed in the May, 2011 closure list and any future closures. By July 1, 2013 Parks must present to the Parks Commission and the Legislature a revised list of closures based on the outlined process.
“Our parks are our legacy and I will fight to keep each one open to the public,” said Evans. “The bottom line is that closing our parks would have a negligible effect on the state budget. We know parks will be vandalized, deferred maintenance will result in damage, jobs will disappear, and communities that rely on park tourism will be forced into further financial peril.”
Meanwhile, in a letter dated January 5, 2012 the Department of Finance started the clock on a 20-day Notification Letter outlining a plan by Parks to the State Public Works Board (Board) to consider soliciting agreements from private organizations—including for-profits—to operate eleven state parks on the closure list. The process will significantly undermine current efforts of local non-profits who have been working with Parks to keep parks open and push the state towards park privatization. As written, the proposal would allow for-profit businesses to undertake operations of an entire, or multiple, parks.
The Board was scheduled to hear the matter at today’s meeting, but given the objections of Senator Evans and others, announced late yesterday they would remove the item from the agenda until a later date. Evans is a non-voting legislative appointee to the Board but received no notification of the plan or agenda. In a Senate budget hearing today, she spoke out about the issue.
Local non-profits, in many cases, could not compete with well-funded private organizations. Further, some of these agreements would be “bundled” to include multiple parks. The process would size-out locals who could operate one or two parks, but not several, effectively eliminating them from competing for contracts. Currently, locals would be required to put 100 percent of their revenues back into the parks they operate.
State Senator Noreen Evans represents the Second Senatorial District, including all or portions of the Counties of Humboldt, Lake, Mendocino, Napa, Solano, and Sonoma. Senator Evans Chairs the Legislative Women’s Caucus and the Committee on Judiciary.