We need your help with House Ways & Means this month
Doug Pizzi, Executive Director | April 5, 2022
State budget season, an annual rite of Spring, is upon us. The Legislature is now considering Gov. Charlie Baker’s proposed FY 2023 budget, which, when all is said and done, will go into effect when the new fiscal year begins on July 1.
Last month, MCV submitted testimony on Baker’s proposed Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) budget to the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Ways & Means. If you’ve been following along with us, you know there were some things we liked and things we didn’t like in Baker’s document. We liked getting rid of the growing dependence on park user fees, licenses, leases and other variable income, commonly called Retained Revenue, to run the parks on a day-to-day basis. We didn’t like the level of funding the governor proposed for the Parks and Recreation Operations account, which we think is about $10 million less than what DCR needs to even begin to catch up on more than a decade of chronic underfunding.
But as we approach July 1st, we will all have a few more bites at the apple. That’s where you, MCV’s staunchest supporters, can play a key role in bringing our parks squarely into the 21st Century. House debate on the budget will start later this month, tentatively scheduled for April 25th. House members should receive their Ways & Means Committee’s proposal on April 13th and will have two days to submit amendments to consider when the debate starts.
Assuming that MCV will not be totally pleased with what House Ways & Means puts on the table, we will be asking legislators to sponsor amendments. We will be asking you to ask your legislators to support those amendments. We can’t predict what amendments we may ask to be filed until the House Ways & Means budget becomes public. Then we all have to act quickly.
The pandemic has proven our parks are essential, and park visits continue to trend higher. Yet DCR has about $4 million less in park operating funds and 300 fewer positions than it had in FY2009, despite having about 50,000 more acres under management. The time to do right by our parks and the people who use them is now.
Combined with the unexpected financial windfall in state tax revenues, 22 percent higher than pre-covid predictions, and an estimated $13-16 billion in federal covid relief and infrastructure funds coming our way, there is no excuse for not accelerating the inexcusably sad game of catch up we have been playing for more than a decade.
So stay tuned to this space as the month progresses. We will be scouring the House Ways & Means budget and asking for your help in getting an amendment or two on to the House floor during the upcoming debate.
Now is the time to fix our parks. Now is the time to act. Never forget, the park you save may be your own.
Doug Pizzi is the executive director of Massachusetts Conservation Voters