The state parks funding train may be moving again, after apparently being stalled for months. The Texas House finally gave "preliminary approval" to Rep. Hilderbran's bill to remove the cap on funding for our parks via the sales tax on sporting goods -- a bill which amassed the vast majority of representatives as co-authors months ago. I'm not quite sure what "preliminary approval" means exactly, but apparently full passage at this point is a mere formality.
From the Houston Chronicle today:
Texas' crumbling public parks system could get a much-needed financial boost under a bill given preliminary approval Wednesday by the state House that frees up millions of dollars lawmakers have spent elsewhere in recent years.
State parks officials and environmentalists have lobbied for months to ask lawmakers to pump more cash into the state's 600,000-acre parks system of lakes, rivers and trails.
The bill still needs a final vote Thursday before it is sent to the Senate for consideration.
Parks officials want the state to spend all of the estimated $105 million collected annually on sporting goods sales taxes to revitalize the parks system.
The sporting goods sales tax fund for parks was created in 1993, but lawmakers limited how much money could be spent on parks at $32 million and spent most of the money elsewhere. Just $20.6 million from the fund went to state parks last year.
The bill passed Wednesday removes the $32 million cap, allowing lawmakers to spend more of that money on parks.
How much money still depends on House and Senate budget negotiations, although leaders on both sides have said it will be substantially more than what parks get now.
Unfortunately, current funding is so pitiful that "substantially more" could still mean nowhere near enough.
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