Politics & Government

Assembly Bill Could Save Palomar Mountain State Park

The park is one of 70 to be closed to meet the $22 million in cuts required in the governor's budget.

A proposed assembly bill could save Palomar Mountain and the other 69 parks culled for closure, according to the California State Parks Foundation.

Assembly Bill 42, sponsored by Jared Huffman, D-Marin, lets the Department of Parks and Recreation enter into operating agreements with nonprofit organizations to care for the parks. Under current law, only a public agency, such as a county or city, can do that.

“Existing law authorizes the department to enter into agreements with an agency of the United States, a city, county, district, or other public agency,” the bill reads.

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If this bill passes, it would give Palomar Mountain -- the closest state park to Temecula -- a chance to stay open, said Jerry Emory, a spokesperson for California State Parks Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting the state’s parks.

The parks were slated to close to meet the governor’s $22 million budget cuts. Read more about the cuts and closures by .

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The organization is trying to keep the parks open by any means available, said Elizabeth Goldstein, president of the foundation.

“We are not going to stand by as our state parks system is closed and dismantled,” she wrote in an emailed statement. “California’s state park system belongs to the people of California, and its existence is critical to the state’s environmental, economic and civic fabric.”

Nonprofits may have a better chance at keeping the parks open than the state has right now, she said. “AB 42 is a real solution to what is clearly a continuing crisis for our state parks,” she said.


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