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Health & Fitness

Celebrating 10 Years of Advocacy for State Parks - and Continuing That Activism

The 10th annual Park Advocacy Day took place in Sacramento on Tuesday, March 20, and a record turnout of park supporters from around the state came to be lobbyists for a day.

Supporters of state parks traveled from all over California to take part in Park Advocacy Day on Tuesday, March 20. Sponsored by the California State Parks Foundation (CSPF), this annual event celebrated its 10th year of advocacy for state parks. There was a record turnout, with approximately 180 people participating in the all day event. They represented dozens of state parks from around California, including China Camp, , Sugarloaf Ridge, Annadel and Sonoma Coast State Beach.

It was a full day of rallying supporters, attending a hearing, meeting with legislators in the State Capitol Building, and discussing strategies for protecting and funding our state parks. This was my third time taking part in the event, which hardly makes me a veteran. Many of the attendees had participated in the event all 10 years.

We began our day at 8 a.m. at the Elks Tower Ballroom, meeting our team members and having a quick breakfast, with introductory remarks by CSPF Vice President, Government Affairs Traci Verardo-Torres and President Elizabeth Goldstein. My team consisted of Avery Dinauer from Bodega Bay, along with M.J. Wickham, Kirsten Schultz, and George Loyer, all from Santa Rosa. We were joined for the first two meeting by CSPF staffers Scott and Elise. After breakfast, we walked over to the Capitol Building to begin our work.

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After going through security to get into the building, we went upstairs to the Assembly Committee Room on the fourth floor. We attended a hearing of the Assembly Water, Parks & Wildlife Committee, on AB 1589, authored by Assemblymember Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael). This legislation, termed the Omnibus Park Revenue Bill, would streamline and modernize revenue collection in the parks, allow people to buy annual park passes when they file their taxes, and create a new specialty state parks license plate with scenic vistas from the parks. I had the opportunity to testify at the hearing on behalf of Friends of China Camp and the Mount Tamalpais Interpretive Association in strong support of the bill. It passed out of committee unanimously that morning, with eight Democrats and four Republicans voting for it. It was a great experience to see the legislative process move forward so smoothly.

After the hearing we went back to the Elks Tower Ballroom for a working lunch and preparation for a full afternoon of meeting with legislators. My team started off with a meeting in the office of Assemblyman Donald Wagner (R – Irvine), where we met with his Legislative Director Matt Hedges. Wagner had supported AB 42 last year and Matt assured us that he would almost certainly support AB 1589. It was a very friendly and supportive meeting.

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After this, we had a group meeting with Huffman, in which our team joined with several other teams from around the Bay Area and northern California. This was followed by a meeting with David Miller, senior consultant to Assemblymember Michael Allen (D-Sonoma County). Then we had another group meeting with the office of Senator Noreen Evans (D-Santa Rosa). The final meeting was with Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco, Marin), a big state park supporter who praised our efforts to save parks from closure. All of the legislators we met are big park supporters, so our meetings were warm and fuzzy, with an enthusiastic sense that we have a significant momentum going to protect our state parks.

The meetings were each about half an hour in length, one after another, so it was a pretty hectic afternoon. We had to quickly navigate the State Capitol Building, going from the historic rotunda to the more recent annex that serves as an office building. We had a short break between the fourth and fifth meetings, so we went up to the Senate Gallery on the fourth floor to fill out evaluation forms for each of the meetings. The ornate Senate Chambers was all quiet below us, so we had a relaxing break while various school group tours passed through.

Our rounds of appointments were followed by a Speakers Series in the Assembly Gallery, where Assembly members Kristin Olsen (R-Modesto) and Roger Dickinson (D-Sacramento) spoke about their support for state parks. Traci Verardo-Torres of CSPF gave us a recap of the day’s accomplishments, and we wearily enjoyed our opulent surroundings.

At 5:30 p.m. we went back to the Elks Tower Ballroom for a dinner reception and the Legacy Awards, an annual honor given to an outstanding legislator who has helped state park issues. It was no surprise that the award was given to Assemblymember Jared Huffman this year. Huffman authored AB 42 last year, and , dozens of nonprofit organizations have started the process of partnering with the Department of Parks and Recreation to operate parks that are slated for closure on July 1 of this year. He is following that legislative success with AB 1589, which seems to have early bipartisan support among everyone we met today. Huffman spoke about his ongoing support for state parks and his optimism for the success of our efforts.

It was an unusually busy day in Sacramento, with many groups coming to the Capitol Building to meet with legislators and lobby for various different causes. There were several other hearings taking place in addition to the one we attended, relating to such diverse issues as hazardous waste and redistricting legislative boundaries. An Agricultural Festival filled the west steps and plaza in front of the Capitol Building.

After a long day of being a lobbyist, I was so exhausted that I could have sworn I saw people dressed as tomatoes strolling through the streets of Sacramento.

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