This was the best attended commission meeting in the last 3 years and it showed the high level of concern by the OHV community regarding the $10 million dollar “shift” out of the OHV Trust Fund to the General Fund and the potential loan of $21 million dollars from the OHV Reserve Fund.
HQ noted four reoccurring themes in most of the public testimony and commission comments.
1 – Stealing money from the OHV Trust Fund violates the public trust
2 – Stealing money from the OHV Trust Fund is a double tax
3 – Stealing money from the OHV Trust Fund is illegal
4 – Stealing money from the OHV Trust Fund violates the legislative intent of SB742
After an hour or two of public testimony the commission voted to send a letter to the Governor and legislature regarding their opposition to taking the money which violates the public “trust” in the Trust Fund. They are also going to send a letter seeking to resolve the fungible issue based on what many feel is an illegitimate decision made by the Legislative Analyst’s Office in 2009.
After taking a short break, the commission reconvened and took additional public comment on non-agenda issues. BRC’s Don Amador updated the commission on some recent developments regarding Clear Creek. Those updates and issues included the congressional hearing last week where the BLM Director was asked about the closure of Clear Creek, the commission and public should receive an update or status report on the OHMVR Division’s Asbestos Study, and the FEIS is on the brink of being published in the Federal Register.
HQ believes the commission is considering a meeting in the Hollister area in the next 3-4 weeks to review the Clear Creek issue. That is a good thing.
Thanks to all for taking time off work to attend this meeting. Your commitment to the program made a lasting impression on state park staff, the OHV commission, and me.
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Thanks to everyone that could attend!
ReplyDeleteDave Pickett (AMA D36) made a good observation at the hearing about how OHV “has helped share the pain” over the last 40 years with other state programs. Since the program started about $200 million dollars have been “borrowed” from OHV. On average that means $5 million dollars per year or $100,000 dollars per week have been taken from the OHV Trust Fund over the last 40 years. That’s enough pain in anybody’s book.
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