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Cal4Wheel Access Alert

Letters needed in opposition to SB-249

From John Stewart, Cal4Wheel Natural Resources Consultant

Senate Bill 249 is scheduled for a hearing before the Assembly Committee on Water, Parks, and Wildlife on July 11, 2017.

The OHMVR Division has administered the OHV program for the last 35 years using its team of highly-skilled environmental scientists, law enforcement officers, recreation planners, trail specialists, and grant administrators to partner with federal land agencies, county sheriffs, conservation groups, and OHV organizations in providing California residents and tourists from throughout the world with access to world-class motorized and non-motorized outdoor recreation opportunities on public lands. The OHMVR Program is completely self-funded and does not rely on any General Fund support.

Cal4Wheel views the proposed legislation (SB 249) as a very punitive bill that ignores the exceptional value this program has delivered to California in ensuring that quality OHV recreation opportunities exist in this state and are managed and controlled in a manner that emphasizes environmental sustainability and protection, as well as public safety and local government engagement. The current bill language can best be described as punitive and destructive to what has become a nationally acclaimed success story for delivering quality recreational opportunities while maintaining the strictest environmental standards.

Proposed legislation SB-249 drifts from the original intent of the program and would lead to its ultimate demise. The proposed legislation contains many fallacies and misguided priorities.

The immediate need is for people that live within the districts of Members of the Assembly Committee on Water, Parks, and Wildlife to send letters asking them to OPPOSE SB-249. A list of those members is provided below.

However, if you do not live in their district, please feel free to contact any or all and express your opposition.

You can either write and mail a letter, send an email with the below text (about 1505 characters) or leave a posting on the Member’s Facebook Wall.

SB-249 Info
Download Cal4Wheel Position

Locate your legislators

  • Go to this link to look up your assembly member and state senator.
  • Enter your address, city, and zip code
  • Click "Locate"
  • On each legislators' website will be a "Contact" link with the ability to send an email to your representative.

Assembly Committee on Water, Parks, and Wildlife

ADDRESSING YOUR LETTER

The members are addressed as:
Honorable (first name) (last name)
Assembly Committee on Water, Parks, and Wildlife
Capitol Office, Room ____
PO Box 942849
Sacramento, CA 94249

The heading across from the address will say:
SB 249 (Allen) Oppose

Letter Contents & Instructions

  • Please copy and paste the below information and send an email to your elected representative.
  • Most legislators maintain a social media (Facebook) presence.
  • Also, please copy and paste the below information and post it to the Facebook Wall of your elected representative.

Dear Assembly Member:

Since 1971, the OHV Program has been a success and hailed as a national model. The program assures that quality recreational opportunities are available for future generations by providing education, conservation, and law enforcement efforts that balance OHV recreation impact with programs that conserve and protect cultural and natural resources.

I encourage you to listen to concerns expressed by OHV stakeholders. Regulatory mandates and related compliance requirements place the entire program (SVRAs and units managed by the FS/BLM/counties) in both legal and fiscal jeopardy.

CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act) is defined as the fundamental guidance law for compliance, which requires the disclosure of potential impacts to the natural environment to the extent practicable.

As such, the SB-249 creates a new administrative regulatory (legal) construct that is not supported by other legislation. This is excessive administrative regulation overreach, with an adverse impact on federal partner participation in the OHV program. The proposed administrative regulations cause confusion in the defined intent of the OHV program and the guidelines to manage the OHMVR program.

I urge your office to work with the OHV community to provide legislation that honors the history, spirit, and intent of the current OHV program that is looked to as a national model of managed 21st Century OHV recreation. Please OPPOSE SB-249.

Respectfully submitted,

(NAME)
(City), (State) (Zip Code)