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OFF-ROAD BUSINESS ASSOCIATION, Inc. (ORBA) and The American Motorcyclist Association, D37 Competition (AMA D37)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATORS CONSIDERING USING OHV FUNDS TO OPERATE STATE PARKS WHERE OHV USE IS NOT ALLOWED

California residents are urged to call their representatives and members of the Budget Conference Committee to ask them to not take money out of the OHV Trust Fund to operate CA State Parks where OHV use is NOT allowed

BAKERSFIELD, CA (June 12, 2009) The State of California is in the midst of a severe budget crisis. Some legislators in the State would like to destroy one of the only programs in the State that is self funded and does not use any general fund money. In 1971 the Off-Highway Vehicle (OHV) community agreed not use general fund dollars to operate and maintain their system of recreation areas. Instead, this segment of the recreating public chose a pay to play system. The OHV Division of California State Parks is funded exclusively by taxes paid on gasoline used recreating off-highway, red and green sticker registration fees and entrance fees to the State Vehicular Recreation Areas (SVRA’s).

Earlier this year the OHV trust fund was already raided by the Legislature to lend the general fund $90 million that had been set aside for acquiring new properties. And now after that money has been sacrificed to the current budget crisis, the OHV community in California is being asked to give more! When will this madness stop? Why destroy one of the only successful and fully self funded programs in the State? Instead, our representatives are looking to steal the money of hard working OHV recreating families. The leaders of this State should attempt to emulate the success of the OHV program in order to properly fund other non OHV State Parks that are in need of operating funds.

Below you will find the contact information for the members of the Budget Conference Committee who will be considering this irresponsible action. Please contact them as well as your local representatives and express your displeasure with the idea of using OHV trust funds to operate California State Parks where OHV use is not allowed. Below you will find a template letter that can be personalized and faxed or e-mailed to the members of the Committee. This template letter can also be found on the AMA D37 message board at http://www.district37ama.org/forums/ in both the off-road and dual sport forums. Together the OHV community can make a difference!

2009 Budget Conference Committee Members

Assembly

Noreen Evans - Fax 916-319-2107 (phone 916-319-2007) (Chair)

Roger Niello - Fax 916-319-2105 (phone 916-319-2005)

Bob Blumenfield – 916-319-2140 (phone 916-319-2040)

Kevin de Leon - Fax 916-319-2145 (phone 916-319-2045)

Jim Nielsen – Fax916- 319-2102 (phone 916-319-2002)

Senate

Denise Ducheny - Fax 916-327-3522 (phone 916-651-4040) (Chair)

Bob Dutton - Fax 916-327-2272 (phone 916-651-4031)

Mark Leno - Fax 916-445-4722 (phone 916-651-4003)

Alan Lowenthal - Fax 916-327-9113 (phone 916-651-4027)

Mimi Walters - Fax 916-651-4033 (phone 916-445-9754)

Above you will find a list of the 2009 Budget Conference Committee Members. If one of your legislators is on this committee then please send a letter to them. If not, please send a letter to the chair of either of the committees or both.

Dear (insert name of Legislator):

My family enjoys recreating together on off-highway vehicles. This is one of the few activities that everyone in our family can participate in together. I am also aware of the fact that the state of California is in the midst of a serious financial crisis. It is my understanding that the state is considering using OHV trust fund dollars to fund parks that do NOT allow OHV use. I am strongly opposed to this idea.

In 1971 the Off-Highway Vehicle (OHV) community agreed not use general fund dollars to operate and maintain their system of recreation areas. Instead, the OHV recreating public chose a pay to play system. The OHV Division of California State Parks is funded exclusively by taxes paid on gasoline used recreating off-highway, red and green sticker registration fees and entrance fees to the State Vehicular Recreation Areas (SVRA’s).

Earlier this year the OHV trust fund was already raided by the Legislature to lend the general fund $90 million that had been set aside for acquiring new properties. And now after that money has been sacrificed to the current budget crisis, the OHV community in California is being asked to give more! When will this madness stop? Why destroy one of the only successful and fully self funded programs in the State? Why are these representatives looking to steal the money of hard working OHV recreating families, like mine? The leaders of this State should attempt to emulate the success of the OHV program in order to properly fund other non OHV State Parks that are in need of operating funds.

Sincerely,

Your name

& address

###

ORBA is a national trade association composed of off-road related businesses united to promote common goals that support the prosperity and growth of the off-road industry.

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Will this madness ever end? A few years ago we recalled the governor of California. Its time to recall ALL the legislators in the state. While we're at it lets take out the feds too. What have they done for us lately? Always late on the budget, seriously lacking in funds, poor service, continuously approving more unneeded laws, driving us in to more debt, etc. Have they been trimming any of the pork out of the budget? Not that I've heard. I'm sure all their pet projects are still being funded while our kids, the fire fighters, cops and other worthwhile public services are all taking the hits. Who elected these idiots?

A few years ago when I bailed from SDORC most of their money (as well as most of the other local so called offroad advocacy groups) were spending a lot of money on political lobbyists. That was something I didn't agree with. Didn't and still don't see what it has ever done for us. I think its time to start spending the majority of the money on lawyers and start sueing for our rights. We might not win many cases but at least we can start tying things up in the court system, generate some publicity and slow things down a bit.

OK, I feel much better now that I've gotten that out. Back to your regularly scheduled programs...

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you think legislators would pull their collective heads out and figure it out... there are a LOT of people with OHVs, and they have money... the OHV funds have 100 MILLION (somebody post a pic of Dr Evil) dollars. We have clout... and we STILL get hosed!!

Seriously... I would love for the Sierra Club to FUND wilderness areas!!! That's right! They can buy the area, and close it off?

That 100 million should not have BEEN THERE to be raided... real estate is at a very low point... get on the balll and buy some OHV areas... BUY ANZA BORREGO, or at least some of it!

If the state wants to close some parks, go ahead... I'll "pay to play".... abolish the OHV system... it's clearly a scam

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That 100 million should not have BEEN THERE to be raided... real estate is at a very low point... get on the ball and buy some OHV areas... BUY ANZA BORREGO, or at least some of it!

While active in SDORC I was on a number of committees looking into buying land in SD Co to open a new OHV area. The money was there waiting to be spent. All we had to do was find a location that could be approved. Bottom line was that ANYWHERE we found a location there were always the NIMBYs and enviro whackos that got it shot down. We looked at 25 -30 good sites in the county but none had a chance. I was even a member of a local county planning group that was supporting going ahead of doing feasability studies to determine if a couple of areas in our district could be considered. Man you would have thought we were approving a permanent open pit strip mine being put in immediately. I thought some of us were going to be lynched at a couple of the public information meetings. After that I knew there was absolutely no chance of us ever getting any new riding areas approved. Not around southern California.

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While active in SDORC I was on a number of committees looking into buying land in SD Co to open a new OHV area. The money was there waiting to be spent. All we had to do was find a location that could be approved. Bottom line was that ANYWHERE we found a location there were always the NIMBYs and enviro whackos that got it shot down. We looked at 25 -30 good sites in the county but none had a chance. I was even a member of a local county planning group that was supporting going ahead of doing feasability studies to determine if a couple of areas in our district could be considered. Man you would have thought we were approving a permanent open pit strip mine being put in immediately. I thought some of us were going to be lynched at a couple of the public information meetings. After that I knew there was absolutely no chance of us ever getting any new riding areas approved. Not around southern California.

Wasn't it not too long ago that they were proposing a dirt riding area not far from Lake San Vicente? I remember that the residents of Poway were afraid of there being too much dust and noise. Poway proper is pretty far away from the proposed sight. B)

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That 100 million should not have BEEN THERE to be raided... real estate is at a very low point... get on the ball and buy some OHV areas... BUY ANZA BORREGO, or at least some of it!

While active in SDORC I was on a number of committees looking into buying land in SD Co to open a new OHV area. The money was there waiting to be spent. All we had to do was find a location that could be approved. Bottom line was that ANYWHERE we found a location there were always the NIMBYs and enviro whackos that got it shot down. We looked at 25 -30 good sites in the county but none had a chance. I was even a member of a local county planning group that was supporting going ahead of doing feasability studies to determine if a couple of areas in our district could be considered. Man you would have thought we were approving a permanent open pit strip mine being put in immediately. I thought some of us were going to be lynched at a couple of the public information meetings. After that I knew there was absolutely no chance of us ever getting any new riding areas approved. Not around southern California.

sounds like OHV charges need to be lowered or eliminated, then... or... how about some new trails in Corral? How about opening up the East side of Mc Cain valley? How about some non-riparian singletrack in Pine Valley? These are all so close to existing OHV, it makes no sense for any NIMBY types to bitch... How about expanding Wildomar? How about buying a moto track, and putting in improvements, camping facilities, etc. Fact is, the state likes the money sitting in the bank; so they can take it to pay for the programs that get no support... if they really wanted to spend it, they could... if they can't, maybe they should drop the program

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you think legislators would pull their collective heads out and figure it out... there are a LOT of people with OHVs, and they have money... the OHV funds have 100 MILLION DREVIL.jpg

dollars. We have clout... and we STILL get hosed!!

Seriously... I would love for the Sierra Club to FUND wilderness areas!!! That's right! They can buy the area, and close it off?

That 100 million should not have BEEN THERE to be raided... real estate is at a very low point... get on the balll and buy some OHV areas... BUY ANZA BORREGO, or at least some of it!

If the state wants to close some parks, go ahead... I'll "pay to play".... abolish the OHV system... it's clearly a scam

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If OHV Areas are adequately covered (by moto fees) , and the other parks are not... I wonder then what the theoretical shortfall is per non-OHV State Park Visitor?

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If OHV Areas are adequately covered (by moto fees) , and the other parks are not... I wonder then what the theoretical shortfall is per non-OHV State Park Visitor?

yep...sounds like the answer is to open MORE state parks to moto use!

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Wasn't it not too long ago that they were proposing a dirt riding area not far from Lake San Vicente? I remember that the residents of Poway were afraid of there being too much dust and noise. Poway proper is pretty far away from the proposed sight. :good:

That is right. It was north of the lake and east of highway 67. Access is from Foster Truck Trail on highway 67. It was land then owned by the Boys and Girls Club of Lakeside. The people just to the north of there in the community of Iron Mountain were highly opposed to it too. The Lakeside Planning Group had visited the site and gave approval to do a preliminary feasability study but it got shot down by the public at the meeting. Soon after that some enviro group came in and made a back door offer to the B&G Club people and bought the land. Prior to that site Slaughterhouse Canyon just south of there was being considered. The NIMBYs in Eucalyptus Hills killed that one.

After those setbacks a new group of local folks formed a committee to continue to look for new sites but by then I saw the handwriting on the wall and decided not to waste anymore of my time on a futile effort to try and make something impossible like that happen. Bottom line was the state had the money but not the cojones to follow through.

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