Anyone following SB 597? Discover pass FAIL !!

[jacmmaxwell]

Looks like they are already looking to steal the funds from the discover pass funds that were "supose" to go to DNR for recreation and are now going to allow 70% of the funds received for DNR ( 8% of the total funds raised by the pass ) and allowing to the be used for things besides recreation .

So you pay 30 , DNR get's 2.40 all but 72 cents goes to things OTHER than reacreation.


Just another way for your recreation dollars to be miss spent on there budget short fall's








S-3261.2
_____________________________________________
SENATE BILL 5979
_____________________________________________

State of Washington 62nd Legislature 2011 2nd Special Session
By Senators Honeyford, Morton, Delvin, Becker, and Schoesler AN ACT Relating to ensuring that the trust beneficiaries receive their proportionate distribution of moneys received from the sale of discover passes; and amending RCW 79A.80.090.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

Sec. 1. RCW 79A.80.090 and 2011 c 320 s 10 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) The recreation access pass account is created in the state treasury. All moneys received from the sale of discover passes and day-use permits must be deposited into the account.

(2) Each fiscal biennium, the first seventy-one million dollars in revenue must be distributed to the agencies in the following manner:
(a) Eight percent to the department of fish and wildlife and deposited into the state wildlife account created in RCW 77.12.170;
(b) Eight percent to the department of natural resources ((and)), of which: (i) Thirty percent must be deposited into the park land trust revolving fund created in RCW 43.30.385; and (ii) seventy percent must be distributed equitably to the beneficiaries of state lands and state forest lands, as those terms are defined in RCW 79.02.010, as determined by the commissioner of public lands; and
(c) Eighty-four percent to the state parks and recreation commission and deposited into the state parks renewal and stewardship account created in RCW 79A.05.215.

(3) Each fiscal biennium, revenues in excess of seventy-one million dollars must be distributed equally among the agencies to the accounts identified in subsection (2) of this section.

 

[jacmmaxwell]

Things deamed "state lands" under this change.


(13) "State lands" includes: (a) School lands, that is, lands held in trust for the support of the common schools;
(b) University lands, that is, lands held in trust for university purposes;
(c) Agricultural college lands, that is, lands held in trust for the use and support of agricultural colleges;
(d) Scientific school lands, that is, lands held in trust for the establishment and maintenance of a scientific school;
(e) Normal school lands, that is, lands held in trust for state normal schools;
(f) Capitol building lands, that is, lands held in trust for the purpose of erecting public buildings at the state capital for legislative, executive, and judicial purposes;
(g) Institutional lands, that is, lands held in trust for state charitable, educational, penal, and reformatory institutions; and
(h) Land bank, escheat, donations, and all other lands, except aquatic lands, administered by the department that are not devoted to or reserved for a particular use by law.
(14) "Valuable materials" means any product or material on the lands, such as forest products, forage or agricultural crops, stone, gravel, sand, peat, and all other materials of value except: (a) Mineral, coal, petroleum, and gas as provided for under chapter 79.14 RCW; and (b) forest biomass as provided for under chapter 79.150 RCW.

 

[jeepdad]

THIS HAS BEEN MY "HOT BUTTON" SINCE WE WERE FORCED TO DEAL WITH IT.

THANKS FOR THE INFO. WHEELING IS BECOMING TOO EXPENSIVE AND NOT FROM MY BREAKAGE BUT FROM THE STATES FEES AND EXTRA TAXES.

 

[AMJ]

About typical for the state. They do every time. :face-icon-small-fro

 

[winter brew]

I'm surprised Gregoire hasn't taken the money and used it to print pink slips for the teachers, police and fire fighters she wants to lay off before cutting frivilous crap!
This is right in line with what we have come to expect in Wa. :face-icon-small-dis

 

[Matte Murder]

I believe in pay to play. You use it you pay for it. But this is where they screw us, pay to play and they use the money to build a $300,000,000 stadium to play football in. When we have a great stadium now...

 

[jacmmaxwell]

Well this is your chance ( and everyone elses too ) to go contact your senator and tell them what you think.

Right a letter or call ... I don't care if we send smoke signals. We need to show them that we care.

I was oposed to the dicover pass from the get go just for this reason but I figured they would at least wait 1 yr before robbing us.

 

[snowpatrol]

just another reason i hate riding in this state. i gladly give a lot of my sno-mo dollars every season to more snowmobiler friendly states. i ride out of state a lot. this state sucks !!

 

[tek9tim]

Alright, let's review. The first $71 million to be made off the Discovery Pass each biennium (that's 2 years, that's how they deal with their budgets) gets split up as follows: 8% to Fish and Game, 8% to DNR, and 84% to State Parks (also known as the agency administers the sno-park program) Now, being that a Discover Pass is required to visit or camp on virtually all the state lands, I venture to guess that a majority of the funds come in from state parks. Granted, places like Walker Valley yard in a lot of dollars for the DNR, but given that through the summer, all of the state parks at least in north central Washington are full to capacity every weekend, I imagine there are more dollars being made in the parks versus the DNR lands.

Also, a little reading: http://www.thenewstribune.com/2011/11/13/1903944/coming-up-short.html

So, it appears the state was only hoping to make $64 million per biennium, which falls short of the $71 million dollar point where the money starts going to all that other stuff that isn't rec related, and they aren't even hitting the $64 million mark. So this biennium, 100% of the funds will go to the agencies administering public land. Now to get to that $71 mark, that would require almost a quarter of a million people to buy an annual pass. Now, I know that a lot of people use state lands, but that's a heck of a lot. I will, however, agree with the indignation at the idea of having a banner couple of years in Discovery Pass sales and the money above $71 million going to other stuff instead of either getting saved for a bad year or getting reinvested in the state lands.

Take a good look and do some research before you get your knickers in a twist, it's a non-issue until people start using state lands heavily.

 

[jacmmaxwell]

The 71 million dollar mark is another Item and issue all together. I highlighted in red that this issue is only an issue for the FIRST 71 million ... not any funds raised after the fact.


You have to also look at the section underlined that realocates the funds across the board from the DNR funds.

This is the only fund that will have there portion ( 8% ) sectioned into the 70 / 30 structure. This bill means that the DNR can't use 70 percent of there 8% for recreation...

Yes the parks don't lose money so snowparks are OK for now. But I use the DNR lands all year around and frankly don't want a dime of this fund to fall anywere outside the intended uses.

Please also compair it to the current revision under RCW 79A.80.090 and not the changes to the 8% alocation changes ONLY under the DNR's line item.


Here is the bill

http://apps.leg.wa.gov/documents/billdocs/2011-12/Pdf/Bills/Senate Bills/5979.pdf

 

[tek9tim]

Alright, ya got me. I preached reading things thoroughly and I missed what you were talking about.

I suppose I have a disconnection from the DNR recreation side of things since they don't have any rec sites in my area, and aside from riding dirtbikes at Walker Valley a couple times, I haven't even used DNR rec sites before. I'm surrounded by federal lands, and use the heck out of them. So, I think a part of my being inconsiderate about DNR funding is that I don't use it. I am sorry for that.

 

[jacmmaxwell]

Thank you,

I know my opinion of the discover pass is not popular with every one... I don't agree with it. I'm not going to lie and say I think it's great. Many on here are in suport of the pass... that's fine.

However it is the system we have been given to manage recreation dollars in this state. With that I think we all have a common intrest in making sure our combined resource is not taken away.

We can ague about it all we want, but if your not interested in seeing this funding get lost to our sport or any other sport that may use DNR lands then contact your local senator and shoot them an email, letter of phone call to let them know how you feel.

If you don't know who your senator is try this link.

http://apps.leg.wa.gov/DistrictFinder/Default.aspx