Bill Text: CA AB2267 | 2013-2014 | Regular Session | Amended

---

Bill Title: State park system: budgeting.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2014-04-01 - Re-referred to Com. on BUDGET. [AB2267 Detail]

Download: California-2013-AB2267-Amended.html

---

BILL NUMBER: AB 2267	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MARCH 28, 2014

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member  Bigelow   Beth
Gaines 

                        FEBRUARY 21, 2014

    An act to amend Section 5002.4 of the Public Resources
Code, relating to the state park system.   An act to add
Section 5004.3 to the Public Resources Code, relating to state
parks. 



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 2267, as amended,  Bigelow   Beth Gaines
 .  State park system.   State park system:
budgeting.  
   Existing law places responsibility of the state park system, which
includes all parks, public camp grounds, monument sites, landmark
sites, and sites of historical interest established or acquired by
the state, with the Department of Parks and Recreation. Existing law
requires the department to gather, digest, and summarize, in its
annual reports to the Governor, information concerning the state park
system and the relation to the state park system of other available
means for conserving, developing, and utilizing the scenic and
recreational resources of the state. Existing law requires each state
agency to submit to the Department of Finance a complete and
detailed annual budget setting forth all expenditures and estimated
revenues for the ensuing fiscal year.  
   This bill would require the department, commencing with the
2015-16 budget proposal, to annually develop and publish state
operation expenditures for the state park system to assist in the
development of the Governor's annual budget proposal. The bill would
require the department, in cooperation with the Department of
Finance, to provide individual park unit expenditures analyses, as
specified. The bill would require the department, by January 1, 2016,
to develop and implement a plan to annually track expenditures made
at park units and report the park unit expenditures that were made in
the prior fiscal year, that were made and anticipated to be made in
the current fiscal year, and that are presented in the Governor's
current budget proposal for the next fiscal year.  
   Under existing law, the Department of Parks and Recreation
controls the state park system, which is made up of units. Existing
law requires the department to prepare or revise a general plan for a
unit, as specified, and requires the department to furnish a copy of
the general plan for any unit of the state park system for which a
plan has been prepared to any Member of the Legislature upon request.
 
   This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to these
state park system provisions. 
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee:  no
  yes  . State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

   SECTION 1.    The Legislature finds and declares the
following:  
   (a) The California State Auditor's Office, in its February 2013
audit of the Department of Parks and Recreation (department),
documented and reported all of the following:  
   (1) Over the years, the department has reported different fund
balance amounts, usually lesser amounts, to the Department of
Finance, which are used in preparing the Governor's budget, than it
reported to the Controller's office, which are used in the Controller'
s budgetary report, for both the State Parks and Recreation Fund and
the Off-Highway Vehicle Trust Fund. The difference in reported
amounts created confusion among the public and decisionmakers
regarding the actual balance in each fund. Additionally, the
differences may have resulted in the Legislature and the Governor
using inaccurate financial information when making budgetary
decisions concerning the department.  
   (2) The department does not budget or track expenditures at the
park level and uses outdated information to develop estimated
operating costs for its parks.  
   (3) The estimated operating costs used by the department only
include the direct costs of the parks, not indirect costs, such as a
park's share of statewide costs for accounting, payroll processing,
and procurement. The department asked the districts to develop new
estimated operating costs for parks on the closure list. However, the
estimates were difficult to compare to the department's earlier
estimates because the districts' estimates were not consistent in
terms of the time periods they covered or their completeness. 

   (b) Following the February 2013 audit, the department developed a
process to calculate each park's past expenditures and future costs,
which would, when fully implemented, provide the department with
necessary criteria to complete an analysis regarding the closure of
parks required by state law. However, in its September 2013 audit,
the California State Auditor's Office found that the department had
not fully implemented the process for tracking expenditures at the
park level and, without a complete and fully implemented process to
calculate park unit costs, the department cannot comply with the
provisions of state law or provide accurate information to
decisionmakers.  
   (c) To assure the Legislature and the public that future proposed
park service reductions and closures are appropriate to achieve any
required budget reduction, the California State Auditor recommended
that the department develop individual park operating costs and
update those costs periodically. The California State Auditor found
that the individual park costs should include all direct and indirect
costs associated with operating the park, and that the aggregated
costs of all the individual parks should correspond with the related
fiscal year's actual expenditures needed to operate the department's
park system. Additionally, when proposing service reductions or
closures and to determine the actual amount of reduction of funds or
closures of park units needed, the department should compare the most
recent cost estimates to the amount the department determines is
necessary to fully operate all 278 parks at the 2010 level. 
   SEC. 2.    Section 5004.3 is added to the  
Public Resources Code   , to read:  
   5004.3.  (a) Commencing with the 2015-16 budget proposal, the
department shall annually develop and publish state operation
expenditures for the state park system to assist in the development
of the Governor's annual budget proposal.
   (b) To supplement the requirements of subdivision (a), the
department, in cooperation with the Department of Finance, shall
provide individual park unit expenditure analyses that detail the
direct and indirect expenditures for each park unit and include, at a
minimum, all of the following:
   (1) Staffing and operation expenses of each park unit.
   (2) Costs of administrative activities that are budgeted by the
department and implemented by individual park units.
   (3) The share of the department's overhead costs, which include
the costs associated with maintaining the department, attributable to
the individual park units. For purposes of this section, overhead
costs include direct and indirect costs to the department of the park
units, as well as the costs to operate the department as a whole.
   (4) Expenditures mandated by the department to perform its core
programs, as defined by the department's mission statement, and
incurred by the individual park units.
   (c) By January 1, 2016, the department shall develop and implement
a plan to annually track park unit expenditures through department
accounting personnel and personnel located at, or dedicated to, a
particular park unit. The plan shall account for, and list
specifically, all expenditures made at park units and shall report
the specific park unit expenditures that were made in the prior
fiscal year, that were made and anticipated to be made in the current
fiscal year, and that are presented in the Governor's current budget
proposal for the next fiscal year. The tracking shall not include
estimates of district allocations made to park units, but shall
reflect unit worksheets, timesheets, statements, and spreadsheets
that document actual park unit expenditures made by the park unit
itself.  
  SECTION 1.    Section 5002.4 of the Public
Resources Code is amended to read:
   5002.4.  The department shall provide a copy of the general plan
for any unit of the state park system for which a plan has been
prepared to any Member of the Legislature upon request.