Assembly Bill A10453

                                BILL NUMBER:A10453

TITLE OF BILL:  An act authorizing the transfer of funds from the commu-
nity projects fund for the operation of state parks

PURPOSE  OR  GENERAL  IDEA OF BILL: This bill would authorize and direct
the Comptroller to transfer $12 million dollars  out  of  any  available
funds  within  the  Community  Projects  Fund  (the source of monies for
legislative member items) to the General Fund for the purposes of  oper-
ating the State Parks.

SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:

§1  authorizes  and  directs  the Comptroller to transfer the sum of $12
million dollars out of any available funds within the Community Projects
Fund to the General Fund.

§2 provides for an immediate effective date.

EXISTING LAW: The Comptroller does not currently have the  authority  to
transfer available funds from the Community Project Funds to the General
Fund for the purpose of operating parks.

JUSTIFICATION:    At a recent press conference, hosted by the Senate and
Assembly committees charged with oversight of  the  state  park  system,
advocates  highlighted  the  system's contribution to our state economy.
              

Every year, visitors bring much-needed business to  the  communities  in
and around the parks and historic sites as they shop at local stores and
patronize other businesses.

According to the New York State Council of Parks, Recreation and Histor-
ic Preservation, a record 56 million people visited New York State parks
and  historic  sites  in  2009, an increase of over 2 million from 2008.
Trends in tourism show that during times of economic  recession,  people
tend  to stay closer to home for their vacations; indeed, a new word was
coined over the last year to describe these  stay-at-home  vacations  or
"staycations."  This trend is nothing new:  during the Great Depression,
Governor Franklin Roosevelt increased  the  size  of  the  state's  park
system.  Furthermore, his successor, Governor Herbert H. Lehman used the
park system expansion as an opportunity to put to  work  many  of  those
unemployed by the collapse of the private sector,

While  the  State  struggles  to  seek  funds for parks, schools, health
facilities, and many other priorities, our working  families  and  small
businesses  cannot  withstand  additional taxes. The solution is simple:
use member item money to fill this gap.

Balancing the budget and building our economy  will  not  happen  unless
everyone is willing to give, including members of the State Legislature.

PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY: New Bill.

FISCAL  IMPLICATIONS  FOR  STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:  The State Parks
Operating Budget for State Fiscal Year  2009-2010  was  $331.6  million.
The  Governor's  proposed  Budget  for  this  year  is $271.2 million, a
decrease of $60.4 million.  As  part  of  the  reduction,  the  Governor
instructed the Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation to
achieve agency savings of $19.8 million in operating funds. In response,
the  agency  proposed to close and make additional service reductions at
as many as 132 State Parks and Historic Sites of the 214  total  facili-
ties the State operates.

Based  on  changes  proposed  in  the  Governor's 21 day amendments, the
roughly $20  million  gap  prompting  the  proposed  closures  has  been
narrowed  to  roughly  6 million dollars. This legislation would support
those amendments, while backing out the Governor's $5  million  raid  of
the  Environmental  Protection Fund by authorizing the transfer of up to
$12 million dollars of state monies used for  legislative  member  items
from the Community Projects Fund.

EFFECTIVE DATE: This bill would take effect immediately.