Public Lands Preservation Act, State Budget Updates
Doug Pizzi | August 4, 2022
The following are updates on the Public Lands Preservation Act and the State Budget.
PLPA: The coalition supporting the Public Lands Preservation Act (PLPA), which includes MCV, has weighed in on the Legislature’s inability to come to an agreement between the House and Senate versions of the bill before the legislative session ended in the early morning hours of Aug. 1.
We are disappointed the legislative conference committee named to bring the respective versions into agreement could not finish before the clock ran out. The coalition supporting the bill has urged legislators to continue working so that the bill can come up for approval in informal session. The conferees have committed to as much. The reason to avoid missing the end of session deadline is that for a bill to pass in an informal session the vote must be unanimous. More succinctly, one no vote can scuttle a bill. But the differences are so small that we do not think an agreement is a bridge too far. We will continue to follow and report on PLPA through the end of 2022.
Budget update: Gov. Charlie Baker has reviewed the FY2023 state budget he received from the Legislature last month, and it is now the law of the land. We applaud the governor for leaving intact the Legislature’s conference committee budget for the state Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR).
As we’ve been reporting, the Parks and Recreation Operations line item (2810-0100) will see an approximately $10 million increase to $85 million, an increase MCV has been calling for since last calendar year. DCR has committed to using some of that money to hire 50 new full-time staff across the agency to begin making up for the 300 positions it lost following the Great Recession.
Just as important as getting more money, every cent is coming from general revenue tax dollars. For the first time in more than a decade, DCR knows from the outset how much money it has to spend for the entire fiscal year and does not have to waste staff time and energy funding a Retained Revenue account by thinking up new ways to balance its budget on the backs of park users.
It is apparent that both the Baker Administration and the Legislature took seriously the hue and cry from advocates, including you and MCV, along with the Special Legislative Commission on DCR, which painstakingly detailed years of neglect of one of our most important assets. While it will take years to climb out of the hole the agency is in, including eliminating the $1.0 billion deferred maintenance backlog, this is a major step in the right direction, and it would not have happened without your help.
Thank you for your past and continuing support for MCV and our state parks. And never forget, the park you save may be your own.
Doug Pizzi is the Executive Director of Massachusetts Conservation Voters
[…] is grateful to the Governor and Legislature for their significant contributions to reforming and renewing a commitment to DCR in the 2023 budget. The elimination of the Retained Revenue account and the increase in the park’s operations […]