Bill Text: CA AJR23 | 2017-2018 | Regular Session | Chaptered
Bill Title: National Park System.
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Republican 2-1)
Status: (Passed) 2017-09-25 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Res. Chapter 210, Statutes of 2017. [AJR23 Detail]
Download: California-2017-AJR23-Chaptered.html
| Assembly Joint Resolution No. 23 |
| CHAPTER 210 |
Relative to the National Park System.
[
Filed with
Secretary of State
September 25, 2017.
]
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AJR 23, Bigelow.
National Park System.
This measure would strongly encourage the Congress of the United States to support the National Park Service Legacy Act of 2017 (S. 751 and H.R. 2584) to create a reliable, predictable stream of resources to address deferred maintenance needs in America’s National Park System.
Digest Key
Fiscal Committee: NOBill Text
WHEREAS, America’s National Park System is a living testament to our citizens’ valor and nation’s hardships, victories, and traditions as Americans, and has been called “America’s Best Idea”; and
WHEREAS, The National Park System preserves the diversity, culture, and heritage of all Americans and serves as a living classroom for future generations; and
WHEREAS, In 2016, the National Park Service celebrated its centennial and currently manages 417 nationally significant sites and an invaluable collection of more than 75,000 natural and cultural assets that span 84 million acres across all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and several United States territories and insular areas; and
WHEREAS, The National Park Service’s mission is “to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations”; and
WHEREAS, In 2016, 330 million visitors to the National Park System spent more than $18 billion in the states and local communities adjacent to national parks; and
WHEREAS, In 2016, 42 million visitors to California’s national parks spent an estimated $2 billion in local gateway regions, supporting 28,900 jobs, and $2.9 billion in economic output in the California economy; and
WHEREAS, The National Park Service has the obligation to preserve our nation’s history, promote access to national parks for all citizens, stimulate revenue to sustain itself and nearby communities, educate the public about America’s natural, cultural and historical resources, and provide safe facilities and environs to enjoy these resources; and
WHEREAS, The National Park Service estimated a deferred maintenance backlog of nearly $12 billion, which includes repairs to aging historical structures, trails, sewers, drainage, thousands of miles of roads, bridges, tunnels, and other vital infrastructure; and
WHEREAS, California’s national parks have a deferred maintenance backlog of more than $1.7 billion; and
WHEREAS, It is the responsibility of the Congress of the United States to maintain America’s national parks to ensure that our natural places and history are preserved and documented for future generations and for the adjacent communities that rely on the direct and indirect economic benefits generated by visits to national parks; and
WHEREAS, The Congress of the United States is currently considering bipartisan, bicameral legislation (S. 751 and H.R. 2584) called the National Park Service Legacy Act of 2017, which would establish and fund the National Park Service Legacy Restoration Fund to address the maintenance backlog of the National Park Service; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Assembly and the Senate of the State of California, jointly, That the Legislature strongly encourages the Congress of the United States to support the National Park Service Legacy Act of 2017 (S. 751 and H.R. 2584) to create a reliable, predictable stream of resources to address deferred maintenance needs in America’s National Park System; and be it further
Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of this resolution to each Senator and Representative from California in the Congress of the United States, and to the author for appropriate distribution.
