Budget deal will likely spare state parks

Legislative leaders came to an agreement with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to close the $26 billion budget deficit in California on July 20.
The agreement, which was to be voted on by the Legislature after Press-Banner press time, made massive cuts to education, social services and corrections, but spared almost the entire state park system.
“We preserved 88 percent of funding for the state parks,” Assemblyman Bill Monning, D-Carmel, said. “The governor reserves the authority to close or limit operations for that 12 percent budget savings. He will decide which parks are not producing.”
The governor had proposed cutting funding to 220 of the state’s 279 state parks, including locally, Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park and Big Basin Redwoods State Park. The state park system operates on a $143 million budget.
Schwarzenegger will decide which parks will lose funding as part of the 12-percent budget cut.
“The read is that’s not really going to impact us on the Central Coast. It’s probably going to be more inland areas where some of those parks are not quite as vital,” Monning said. “If there’s any good news in this budget for local folks, it’s only a 12 percent cut to parks.”
State parks advocates lobbied legislators to keep the parks open. Local protests included the Friends of Santa Cruz State Parks, who formed a petition with 1,884 signers and inundated legislators’ offices with phone calls, e-mails and faxes.
“We are grateful the governor and legislators have heard the strong and consistent message from state parks advocates locally and across the state to keep the parks open,” Friends director Bonnie Hawley said in a statement. “From phone calls, faxes and ‘snail mail,’ to Facebook, Twitter and Web videos, our supporters responded by the thousands.”
A proposal that would have provided a State Parks Access Pass to every Californian while adding a $15 fee to vehicle registrations was taken off the table during negotiations.
Monning believes the proposal will be revisited as the state looks for long-term solutions to the budget.