Sacramento
- Last week, the Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 3 on Resources and
Transportation voted to steal up to $31 million dollars from the California
Off-Highway Vehicle Trust Fund and transfer it to non-OHV related programs.
This pilfering of user-pay funding is part of the
"Sustainable Parks Proposal" being championed by the California Parks
Foundation, other anti-OHV organizations and California State Senator Joe Simitian
(D-Palo Alto).
Assemblyman Jared Huffman (D- Petaluma) argued strongly in
favor of the plan which he knows will directly impact destination OHV areas
throughout the state including nearby units on the Mendocino and Six Rivers
National Forests, the BLM Cow Mountain Recreation near Ukiah and the BLM
Samoa Dunes Recreation Area near Eureka. Assemblyman Brian Jones
(R-Santee) was the lone voice on the committee that opposed the continued theft
of trust funds monies.
Don Amador, Western Representative for the BlueRibbon
Coalition, said, "I am extremely disappointed that Mr. Huffman has apparently
joined ranks with the anti-OHV community in their ongoing efforts to defund the
OHV grants program via fiscal schemes such as the Sustainable Parks plan."
Amador continued, "After witnessing today's vote, it is
clear to me that urban legislators have made the conscious decision to engage
in political warfare against rural interests, economies and local elected
officials. It also daylights the false promises made to special `user fee'
programs (e.g. OHV, boating and waterways, special license plates, etc.) that
their dedicated funds are protected. Rather, it points to the fact that
those funds will be raided in perpetuity to help mitigate the legislature's
failure to substantively address the state's fiscal crisis."
"It is also interesting to note that not one of the
Sustainable Parks Program's proponents had the courage to show up and speak in
favor of the plan at today's hearing," he said. "Equally disappointing was that
State Park leadership sat in stone cold silence while this issue was being
discussed. It is a sad commentary on the state of affairs in California." Amador
concludes.
Representatives from the following organizations attended
and spoke at the hearing: California Association of 4-Wheel Drive Clubs,
American Motorcyclist Association, American Motorcyclist Association District
36, California Off-Road Vehicle Association and the BlueRibbon Coalition.
