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House votes to eliminate
state parks fee
Republican ‘commitment’ receives bipartisan
support
The state House of
Representatives voted overwhelmingly today to repeal the $5 fee charged
to visitors at state parks in Washington. House Bill 2416, one of the
key Republican agenda items for the 2006 legislative session, sailed
through the House of Representatives today by a vote of 94-2. Twentieth
District
Reps. Gary
Alexander and Richard DeBolt said they were pleased
that the measure won approval.
The $5 parking fee was enacted in 2003 after the state Parks Commission
warned it would be forced to close several state parks due to operating
deficits. The fee is scheduled to increase to $7 in 2008. The money goes
into the Parks Renewal and Stewardship Account and is used for state
parks' operations, development, and renovations.
With sufficient reserves in the state’s general fund and evidence that
the fee was keeping visitors away, Republicans called on the Legislature
to eliminate the fee.
“We’ve seen attendance at some state parks decrease by as much as 20
percent since the fee was enacted,” said Alexander, R-Thurston County.
“Fixed-income senior citizens and low-income families are impacted most.
Our parks are not meant to be money-making ventures. They are public
facilities that belong to the citizens, and we want to maintain open
access for all to enjoy our parks. The fee was not generating as much
money as the Parks Commission expected, and we are now in a better
fiscal position to maintain our parks and keep them open without
charging visitors an additional fee.”
GOP lawmakers called for repeal of the park fee in December when they
unveiled their Commitment to Washington – a legislative agenda for the
2006 session. The Democrats initially countered by proposing to
eliminate the park fee but replace it with an additional $5 fee on
vehicle license tabs.
“We were not interested in simply shifting the cost of the park fee by
sneaking in a tax somewhere else, especially license tab fees that
citizens have told us are too high,” said House Republican Leader
Richard DeBolt, R-Chehalis. “We want to deal with this issue in an
honest way, and the bill that passed the House today does that. If we
can get this measure through the Senate, we will give our parks back to
the public and allow visitors to this state unencumbered access to our
scenic environment.”
The Parks Commission expected the fees to generate $10 million a
biennium. The drop in visitors resulted in actual collections of just $7
million.
The Commitment to Washington can be viewed at
http://hrc.leg.wa.gov/priorities.htm.
# # #
For more information, contact:
Brendon Wold, Public
Information Officer: (360) 786-7698
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