On March 30, 2022, over fifty park supporters joined the 2022 Legislative Priorities and Strategies webinar. The webinar featured Deanna LaTour-Jarquin, California State Parks Foundation’s Government Affairs Manager, and Elena Ortiz, the Sacramento based lobbying firm Environmental and Energy Consulting’s Legislative Director, providing a Capitol update, information on legislation California State Parks Foundation is supporting, and tactics to influence the legislative process.  

Elena Ortiz began by describing the current environment in the California Legislature. Her presentation noted: 

• The legislature is abuzz while introduced legislation is debated in policy committees.  

• Recently, some policy committees and legislative offices are allowing in-person meetings 

• Nearly all state legislators and staff moved to a new office build while the state renovates the current Capitol 

• There are many current elected officials who are not seeking reelection or terming out because of re-districting. This will require more education from advocates to get new members up to speed on issues effecting parks in coming years. 

Elena Ortiz giving a Capitol update to champions across the state 

Then, Deanna LaTour-Jarquin described each of the 2022 legislative priorities for parks. More details on the legislation are available here. 

Finally, Deanna LaTour-Jarquin described tactics to engage elected officials online, in their communities, and at the California capitol. Parks need champions every day and by following these tips you can help build a movement to protect and preserve California state parks, for all. 

While online, you can: 

• Follow elected officials on social media. Twitter is one of the best platforms for this. 

• Provide constructive and relevant feedback by commenting on posts. 

• @ tag elected officials in your own social media posts. 

In your community, you can: 

• Look up your state representatives at  

• Follow their newsletters 

• Attend virtual and local in-person events and talk about the need to support legislation to support state parks 

At the California capitol: 

• Follow @Calparks on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for up-to-date information on our legislative priorities and how you can act. 

• Sign petitions from California State Parks Foundation 

• Send advocacy@calparks.org an email if you see an interesting piece of legislation 

• Give us a call -  916.442.2119, ext. 4 

If you are interested in listening to the webinar to get more details, the recording and PowerPoint are available here. 

Thank you for your interest in learning more about how to champion state parks.