The Parks Need This Money

In the frenzied final days of a legislative session, lawmakers struggle over which proposed bond issues may be placed on the next election ballot. So far, however, only one major issue has been proposed for the March primary ballot. It is a worthy one, a $2.99-billion measure for a variety of natural resource protection projects, from state parks to clean beaches.

SB 196, by Senate President Pro Tem John Burton (D-San Francisco), has little or no opposition, but supporters worry that the legislation may be ignored by the lawmakers in the rush to adjournment on Friday. This should not be allowed to happen. The Legislature should approve SB 196 and send it on to Gov. Gray Davis for his signature and a spot on the ballot.

Resource spending was one of the victims of the recession of the 1990s. Proposition 12 on the 2000 ballot was the first parks bond in a decade. But that $2.2 billion has largely been spent, much of it to catch up with a backlog of maintenance and construction in the state parks system.

SB 196 would allocate $1.2 billion for state and local parks, $500 million for historical and cultural resources and $1.18 billion for land and water conservation, including $400 million to clean up sources of beach pollution and $50 million for air pollution reduction.

The measure wisely allocates money as block grants rather than according to a list of pork-barrel projects. But allocations must be approved by the Legislature through the regular appropriations process.

SB 196 also seeks to compensate for a historical bias toward Northern California in the allocation of park funds. It includes $40 million for the Baldwin Hills state park, $40 million each for the San Gabriel River and Mountains Conservancy and the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy and $100 million for river parkways.

A statewide Nature Conservancy poll found that Californians are more concerned than ever about protecting open space, in part because of the Bush administration’s questionable environmental commitment. With SB 196, the state would do its part to preserve the best of what is left of California’s special natural areas.