OHV Supporters Line Up to Speak in in Favor of the Currrent OHV Program
and in Opposition to SB249
SB 249 Hearing Update (Video of Hearing) – Many OHVers have
heard the term to describe the ugly process of legislation as “sausage-making.” The following 45 min. video (thanks to our
OHV lobby team for making this video available!) gives the general OHV
community a good peek into the dark work of land-use politics. Having been engaged in land use politics for
the past 27 years at the state and federal level, this video (OHV starts at
50:20) starting with SB249 sponsor, Senator Ben Allen, illustrates the
political spin of trying to cast the bill as a pro-OHV bill that simply wants
to basically reauthorize the current OHV program by adding just a few simple
amendments.
LINK to SB249 on my FB Page
After Sen. Allen’s presentation you will find environmental
representatives that make false declarative statements against the OHV program
and by inference … Division staff.
At 1:03:23, you will listen to OHV lobbyist, Terry McHale,
strongly defend the current OHV program and highlight SB249’s fatal flaws. He highlights the fact that the program is a
National Model and that SB249 was created in a vacuum without input from
OHV. Terry also points out that SB249
places unreasonable environmental standards on SVRAs (which may even extend to
other “units” of the system which include FS/BLM/County riding areas). He is a
good friend of OHV and one of our best advocates in Sacto.
At 1:08:45, I highlight my concerns about the legal mine
field laid by SB249 and the fiscal impacts it would have on the program… if the
program continues at all in a SB 249-based program. I also join Terry in making a commitment to
work with Sen. Allen and the proponents in a bipartisan manner to address
remaining issues and concerns.
At 1:11, a representative for rural farm workers stated his
opposition to SB249 because of the potential impacts to the OHV grants program.
At 1:13, you will see various pro-OHV representatives from
rural counties, OHV industry, OHV clubs, and others speak in opposition to
SB249. Am very proud of the OHV
Coalition!
At 1:16, the vice chair (a rural legislator and OHVer)
restates the fact the SB249 had no real stakeholder engagement and that the
bill could impact OHV areas in his district and also impact motorized access to
non-motorized recreation. Other
legislators weighed in as well.
Maybe the most important thing at the hearing happened at
the end when Sen. Allen made a commitment to “work” in a more substantive
manner with rural legislators and OHV representatives to resolve issues. The bill did pass with an 8-5 vote, but that
vote was based on future meetings with affected parties to resolve issues. This battle is far from over. Thanks for taking time to watch this video!
Posts
