Bill Text: CA AB594 | 2013-2014 | Regular Session | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: State parks: operating agreements: park closures.

Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 9-4)

Status: (Passed) 2013-09-28 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 407, Statutes of 2013. [AB594 Detail]

Download: California-2013-AB594-Introduced.html

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BILL NUMBER: AB 594	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Hueso

                        FEBRUARY 20, 2013

   An act to amend Sections 541.5 and 5080.42 of the Public Resources
Code, relating to state parks.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 594, as introduced, Hueso. State parks: operating agreements.
   Existing law prohibits the Department of Parks and Recreation from
closing or proposing to close a state park in the 2012-2013 or
2013-2014 fiscal year. Existing law authorizes the department to
enter into an operating agreement with a qualified nonprofit
organization for the purposes of operating the entirety of a park
unit, as identified by the director of the department, to the extent
the operating agreement would enable the department to avoid closure
of a unit or units of the state park system that may otherwise be
subject to closure.
   This bill would provide that the prohibition to close, or propose
to close, a state park in the 2012-13 or 2013-14 fiscal year does not
limit or affect the department's authority to enter into an
operating agreement during the 2012-13 or 2013-14 fiscal year, for
purposes of the operation of the entirety of a state park, as agreed
to by the director, during the 2012-13 or 2013-14 fiscal year.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


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

  SECTION 1.  Section 541.5 of the Public Resources Code is amended
to read:
   541.5.  (a) The department shall not close, or propose to close, a
state park in the 2012-13 or 2013-14 fiscal year. The commission and
the department shall recommend all necessary steps to establish a
sustainable funding strategy for the department to the Legislature on
or before January 1, 2015.
   (b) There is hereby appropriated twenty million five hundred
thousand dollars ($20,500,000) to the department from the State Parks
and Recreation Fund, which shall be available for encumbrance for
the 2012-13 and 2013-14 fiscal years, to be expended as follows:
   (1) Ten million dollars ($10,000,000) shall be available to
provide for matching funds pursuant to subdivision (c).
   (2) Ten million dollars ($10,000,000) shall be available for the
department to direct funds to parks that remain at risk of closure or
that will keep parks open during the 2012-13 and 2013-14 fiscal
years. Priority may be given to parks subject to a donor or operating
agreement or other contractual arrangement with the department.
   (3) Up to five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000) shall be
available for the department to pay for ongoing audits and
investigations as directed by the Joint Legislative Audit Committee,
the office of the Attorney General, the Department of Finance, or
other state agency.
   (c) The department shall match on a dollar-for-dollar basis all
financial contributions contributed by a donor pursuant to an
agreement for the 2012-13 fiscal year for which the department
received funds as of July 31, 2013, and for agreements entered into
in the 2013-14 fiscal year. These matching funds shall be used
exclusively in the park unit subject to those agreements.
   (d) The department shall notify the Joint Legislative Budget
Committee in writing not less than 30 days prior to the expenditure
of funds under this section of the funding that shall be expended,
the manner of the expenditure, and the recipient of the expenditure.

   (e) The prohibition to close, or propose to close, a state park in
the 2012-13 or 2013-14 fiscal year, pursuant to paragraph (a), does
not limit or affect the department's authority to enter into an
operating agreement, pursuant to Section 5080.42, during the 2012-13
or 2013-14 fiscal year, for purposes of the operation of the entirety
of a state park during the 2012-13 or 2013-14 fiscal year. 
  SEC. 2.  Section 5080.42 of the Public Resources Code is amended to
read:
   5080.42.  (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this article,
the department may enter into an operating agreement with a
qualified nonprofit organization for the development, improvement,
restoration, care, maintenance, administration, or operation of a
unit or units, or portion of a unit, of the state park system, as
 identified   agreed to  by the director.
If the department enters into an operating agreement that involves
the operation of the entirety of a park unit, that agreement may be
entered into pursuant to this section only to the extent that the
agreement would enable the department to avoid closure of a unit or
units of the state park system that may otherwise be subject to
closure.  The prohibition on park closures, pursuant to
subdivision (a) of Section 541.5, does not limit the department's
authority to enter into an operating agreement pursuant to this
section, as provided in subdivision (e) of Section 541.5.  The
department may only enter into an operating agreement that involves
the operation of the entirety of a park unit for no more than 20 park
units. An operating agreement with a qualified nonprofit
organization shall include, but shall not be limited to, the
following conditions:
   (1) The district superintendent for the department shall provide
liaison with the department, the nonprofit organization, and the
public.
   (2) The nonprofit organization shall annually submit a written
report to the department regarding its operating activities during
the prior year and shall make copies of the report available to the
public upon request. The report shall be available on the Internet
Web sites of both the department and the nonprofit organization. The
report shall include a full accounting of all revenues and
expenditures for each unit of the state park system that the
nonprofit organization operates pursuant to an operating agreement.
   (3) (A) Except as provided in subparagraph (B), all revenues that
the qualified nonprofit organization receives from a unit shall be
expended only for the care, maintenance, operation, administration,
improvement, or development of the unit. The qualified nonprofit
organization may additionally contribute in-kind services and funds
raised from outside entities for the care, maintenance, operation,
administration, improvement, or development of the unit.
   (B) If the qualified nonprofit organization determines that the
revenues it has received from a unit are in excess of the revenues
that are needed for the care, maintenance, operation, administration,
improvement, or development of that unit, and that these funds are
not already specified for or committed to specific purposes pursuant
to an existing agreement or contract restricting the use of those
funds, the qualified nonprofit organization may dedicate those excess
revenues to another state park unit for that unit's care,
maintenance, operation, administration, improvement, or development.
   (4) No General Fund moneys shall be provided to a nonprofit
organization to subsidize the operation or maintenance of a park
unit. This paragraph applies to state parks, the full operation of
which are turned over to a nonprofit organization, but does not apply
to or preclude the department from entering into agreements with
nonprofit organizations to operate a portion of a state park unit, or
from entering into comanagement agreements with nonprofit
organizations that involve the sharing of operational and financial
responsibilities for the park unit and that have the effect of
reducing state costs. This paragraph does not apply to park entrance
fees, concession revenues, or any other revenues generated within a
park operated by a nonprofit organization pursuant to this section.
   (b) An operating agreement entered into pursuant to subdivision
(a) shall honor the existing term of a current concession contract
for the state park unit subject to the operating agreement.
   (c) An operating agreement entered into pursuant to subdivision
(a) shall specify the duties that the nonprofit organization shall be
responsible for carrying out relative to management and protection
of natural, historical, and cultural resources, and shall identify
those management duties that shall continue to be conducted by the
department, so that all core operations of the park are delineated.
Scientific, architectural, and engineering functions that require
special expertise or professional training shall only be conducted by
or under the supervision of qualified persons with applicable
expertise or training and subject to oversight by the department.
   (d) This section does not supersede the requirements of Section
5019.53 regarding the protection of natural, scenic, cultural, and
ecological values.
   (e) The nonprofit organization and the district superintendent for
the department shall, following submittal of the annual report
pursuant to subdivision (a), hold a joint public meeting for
discussion of the report.
   (f) If the department intends to enter into an operating agreement
for the development, improvement, restoration, care, maintenance,
administration, or operation of a unit or units, or a portion of a
unit, the department shall notify the Member of the Legislature in
whose district the unit is located, the Chair of the Senate Committee
on Natural Resources and Water, the Chair of the Assembly Committee
on Water, Parks and Wildlife, and the chairs of the Assembly and
Senate budget committees of that intention. The notification shall
include estimated operating costs and revenues and core duties and
responsibilities that are likely to be assigned to the nonprofit
organization and the department.
   (g) For purposes of this section, a qualified nonprofit
organization is an organization that is all of the following:
   (1) An organization that is exempt from taxation pursuant to
Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
   (2) An organization that has as its principal purpose and activity
to provide visitor services in state parks, facilitate public access
to park resources, improve park facilities, provide interpretive and
educational services, or provide direct protection or stewardship of
natural, cultural, or historical lands, or resources.
   (3) An organization that is in compliance with the Supervision of
Trustees and Fundraisers for Charitable Purposes Act, Article 7
(commencing with Section 12580) of Chapter 6 of Part 2 of Division 3
of Title 2 of the Government Code.
   (h) (1) Notwithstanding Section 10231.5 of the Government Code,
the department shall provide a report to the Legislature, on a
biennial basis, of the status of operating agreements it has entered
into pursuant to this section. The report shall include a list of
units of the state park system with operating agreements, discussion
of the management and operations of each unit subject to an operating
agreement, an accounting of the revenues and expenditures incurred
under each operating agreement, and an assessment of the benefit to
the state from operating agreements entered into pursuant to this
section.
   (2) A report submitted pursuant to paragraph (1) shall be
submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.
   (i) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1,
2019, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted
statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2019, deletes or extends
that date.