SB 249: Off-highway motor vehicle recreation.

The Off-Highway Motor Vehicle Recreation Act of 2003 creates the Off-Highway Motor Vehicle Recreation Commission and the Division of Off-Highway Motor Vehicle Recreation within the Department of Parks and Recreation. The act gives the division certain duties and responsibilities, including the planning, acquisition, development, conservation, and restoration of lands in state vehicular recreation areas. Existing law requires the division to develop and implement a grant and cooperative agreement program with other agencies funded from no more than ¹/₂ of the revenues in the Off-Highway Vehicle Trust Fund, with specified percentages of these revenues to be available, upon appropriation, for various purposes related to off-highway vehicles. Existing law requires the remaining revenues in the Off-Highway Vehicle Trust Fund to be available for the support of the division and for the planning, acquisition, development, construction, maintenance, administration, operation, restoration, and conservation of lands in state vehicular recreation areas and certain other areas. The act is repealed on January 1, 2018.

This bill would revise and recast various provisions of the act. The bill would expand the duties of the division by requiring it to, among other things, (1) prepare and implement management and wildlife habitat protection plans for lands in, or proposed to be included in state vehicular recreation areas, as specified, (2) post on the departments Internet Web site all plans, reports, and studies related to off-highway vehicle recreation developed by the division, (3) in consultation with specified bodies and departments, review, and if deemed necessary, update the 2008 Soil Conservation Standard and Guidelines to establish a generic and measurable soil conservation standard by December 31, 2020, and subsequently review and update that standard when deemed necessary by the department, (4) monitor annually in each state vehicular recreation area to determine whether soil conservation standards are being met and the objectives of wildlife habitat protection plans are being met, and (5) protect natural, cultural, and archaeological resources within state vehicular recreation areas. The bill would require the division to take other specified measures to protect natural and cultural resources within state vehicular recreation areas, as specified. The bill would extend the operation of the acts provisions indefinitely, except for the provision establishing the Off-Highway Motor Vehicle Recreation Commission, which the bill would repeal on January 1, 2023.