Previous reports of the demise of SB 742 have proven to be premature.
As was approved by the 10 major off road recreational and business groups who were actively participating in negotiating SB 742, the off road community and the environmental community continued to negotiate with the Department of Parks and Recreation acting as the facilitator after Senator Steinberg announced that he was dropping the bill two weeks ago.
An estimated 20 hours (including a weekend meeting) of negotiations have taken place since then. We have been making some progress. We were all surprised last Friday, July 6, when we were told that SB 742 was to be amended yet again.
Please be assured that neither side, especially the off road community had ever agreed to these amendments – so when you see the amendments, do not get excited.
Because of these amendments, the DPR-led negotiating group met with Senator Steinberg and his staff on July 9 to find out what was going on.
In that meeting, Senator Steinberg told us he had decided to try to keep the bill moving. He also was brought up to speed on our progress and most importantly he stated that he would accept any reasonable agreements that are worked out by the parties.
So SB 742 was heard in the Assembly Water, Parks & Wildlife committee on Tuesday, July 10, as amended with testimony by all sides that we will continue to work in good faith. The vote in committee was 8-3. (One Republican, Assemblyman Tom Berryhill, gave a courtesy “Aye” vote at the request of the OHV community so that negotiations can continue without missing a legislative deadline.)
We will continue to work on the bill and when both the enviros and OHV sides have a proposed solution, we will bring it to the OHV Leadership for discussion and a vote on the agreed upon provisions.
If we don’t reach agreement by the time the bill goes to Assembly Appropriations Committee (around August 20th) we will all walk away from SB 742 and introduce our own OHV legislation.
In order to reach an agreement, we may not get all that we want, but we should be able to support a functional OHV program that is ecologically balanced. The key provisions that we have already been successful on include:
The OHMVR Commission becomes mostly advisory in nature. This is similar to federal resource advisory councils.
The Governor gets 2 more appointments to the Commission giving him 5 appointments which effectively gives him control of the Commission (which is customary in 95% of all the state boards & commissions in California)
The restriction on red sticker vehicles has been removed.
No new rules on trespass or requiring the rider to get permission from the owner to go on private property
No license plate on motorcycles and ATVs
Increase O & M grants to 50% of the grant program. More funds will be available for on-the-ground trail projects and maintenance.
A more stewardship or holistic oriented “Restoration” pot where said funds can be used to restore or rehabilitate trails closed in a legal NEPA process. Relevant OHV studies may be funded as well.
So we need the off road community to “take the high road” and hang in there a little longer. Launching mean spirited and disingenuous attacks like the enviros did last week is not the path we should take at this time.
We will keep you posted.
You may use this information on your websites and send it to other websites
From Pete Conaty, Terry McHale, & Don Amador
As was approved by the 10 major off road recreational and business groups who were actively participating in negotiating SB 742, the off road community and the environmental community continued to negotiate with the Department of Parks and Recreation acting as the facilitator after Senator Steinberg announced that he was dropping the bill two weeks ago.
An estimated 20 hours (including a weekend meeting) of negotiations have taken place since then. We have been making some progress. We were all surprised last Friday, July 6, when we were told that SB 742 was to be amended yet again.
Please be assured that neither side, especially the off road community had ever agreed to these amendments – so when you see the amendments, do not get excited.
Because of these amendments, the DPR-led negotiating group met with Senator Steinberg and his staff on July 9 to find out what was going on.
In that meeting, Senator Steinberg told us he had decided to try to keep the bill moving. He also was brought up to speed on our progress and most importantly he stated that he would accept any reasonable agreements that are worked out by the parties.
So SB 742 was heard in the Assembly Water, Parks & Wildlife committee on Tuesday, July 10, as amended with testimony by all sides that we will continue to work in good faith. The vote in committee was 8-3. (One Republican, Assemblyman Tom Berryhill, gave a courtesy “Aye” vote at the request of the OHV community so that negotiations can continue without missing a legislative deadline.)
We will continue to work on the bill and when both the enviros and OHV sides have a proposed solution, we will bring it to the OHV Leadership for discussion and a vote on the agreed upon provisions.
If we don’t reach agreement by the time the bill goes to Assembly Appropriations Committee (around August 20th) we will all walk away from SB 742 and introduce our own OHV legislation.
In order to reach an agreement, we may not get all that we want, but we should be able to support a functional OHV program that is ecologically balanced. The key provisions that we have already been successful on include:
The OHMVR Commission becomes mostly advisory in nature. This is similar to federal resource advisory councils.
The Governor gets 2 more appointments to the Commission giving him 5 appointments which effectively gives him control of the Commission (which is customary in 95% of all the state boards & commissions in California)
The restriction on red sticker vehicles has been removed.
No new rules on trespass or requiring the rider to get permission from the owner to go on private property
No license plate on motorcycles and ATVs
Increase O & M grants to 50% of the grant program. More funds will be available for on-the-ground trail projects and maintenance.
A more stewardship or holistic oriented “Restoration” pot where said funds can be used to restore or rehabilitate trails closed in a legal NEPA process. Relevant OHV studies may be funded as well.
So we need the off road community to “take the high road” and hang in there a little longer. Launching mean spirited and disingenuous attacks like the enviros did last week is not the path we should take at this time.
We will keep you posted.
You may use this information on your websites and send it to other websites
From Pete Conaty, Terry McHale, & Don Amador