Hello 2024! We said goodbye to an eventful 2023, where we saw advancing climate impacts and several important budget and legislative wins for parks. Now, it’s vision board time for the current year, where we lay out our most important wishes for parks.
Governor Newsom and First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom are rightly proud of their efforts to expand access to state parks. The California State Park Adventure Pass, California State Library Parks Pass, and expanded Golden Bear Passes the Administration has championed have demonstrably lowered cost barriers to visiting a California state park and encouraged new visitors. California State Parks Foundation has excitedly worked with California State Parks to market these passes and incentivize park visitors to fill out surveys about their experiences, to help us learn more about the effectiveness of these programs. However, additional funding for the passes was not included in the budget proposal the Governor sent to the Legislature, so unless we can secure new funding, the Adventure Pass will end August 31 and the Library Pass will end December 31. We are stepping up our advocacy to ensure that these popular and impactful programs can continue over the long term.
In the coming weeks, California State Parks Foundation will be releasing important new research about the work that must be done to ensure our parks are resilient to the climate impacts we are already experiencing and expect to experience in the coming years. California’s state parks have an important role to play in climate resilience in our state. The state park system includes a quarter of our world-renowned beaches and coastline, at risk due to sea level rise, and it serves as important habitat for the plants and animals that make up our incredible biodiversity. Our forests and wilderness areas are experiencing hotter and more frequent wildfires, and parks all over the state serve as important refuges for people, plants, and animals during extreme heat events. Last year, Governor Newsom signaled that he is open to a climate resilience bond measure appearing on the November 2024 ballot, and several proposals are moving through the Legislature. We strongly support any climate bond proposal that provides specific funding for state parks to acquire and conserve new land, and to improve and update infrastructure in parks to ensure that buildings, roads, trails, and other facilities are in optimal condition to withstand a changing climate.
2023 marked the second annual California State Parks Week, where California State Parks and its partners host themed events all over the state — many of them free or very low cost — to celebrate the park system and welcome all Californians to experience their parks. With themes like Explore New Experiences, Celebrate Community and Culture, and Care for our Shared Lands, California State Parks Week enables Californians to have a new experience and feel welcomed into the park system. To support this amazing weeklong celebration, California State Parks Foundation has been proud to make grants to individual parks and partners and is looking forward to providing this support again in 2024.
Governor Newsom recently released his 2024–25 budget proposal to the Legislature. Because California’s tax system is highly reliant on individual personal income taxes, our revenue outlook is volatile. Just two years ago, we were talking about a $100 billion budget surplus. But because of a cooling economy in the last 18 months, the state is now looking at a budget shortfall of almost $38 billion in the fiscal year starting July 1, 2024. On the bright side, that projected shortfall is much smaller than the $68 billion shortfall that was projected in December.
Less money in the state budget means we must be vigilant and ready to push back on any other proposals that cut an already underfunded park system. By signing and sharing our petitions, reaching out to your legislators, and writing letters to the editor, you can help remind Sacramento that our state parks are an essential part of a healthy, thriving California. Parks give us so much, and they require our care and stewardship in return. Our overarching park wish is for California to provide the same care and support to the state park system that parks offers us all, in terms of mental and physical health, tourism revenue, learning, and cherished experiences with friends and family.
