July 2017 - Parks & Recreation - 23

GOMESA has helped fund the State Assistance Program since its adoption in 2006,
the amounts during the first decade (Phase
I) of the program have been miniscule - for
instance, a total of $85,972 was contributed
in 2016. However, with the start of Phase II,
the restrictive caps have come off and State
Assistance will begin seeing millions of dollars in mandatory funding coming into the
program, each year.
In fact, State Assistance will receive
up to $125 million in mandatory funding
annually. Compare that to the $110 million appropriated by Congress in 2016
and 2017 (highest amount in decades)
and you can see why receiving up to $125
million in guaranteed funding each year
can have a major, and lasting, impact
when it's apportioned out to every state
and territory in support of close-to-home
outdoor recreation and conservation. A
stream of dependable funding will allow
states to truly plan how best to use their
annual State Assistance apportionment.
While the maximum amount of annual
funding that State Assistance may receive
is $125 million, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) - the federal
agency in charge of administering annual
OCS revenues - reports that GOMESA
is not expected to generate that maximum level of funding for at least two or
three years. The latest estimates project
approximately $88 million in mandatory
GOMESA funding will go to the State
Assistance Program this year; that means,
that amount will be included in the
state-by-state apportionment in FY2018.
NOTE: This amount, alone, is twice as much
as the pre-2016 average of about $40 million
being appropriated by Congress.
Finally, the president's fiscal year 2018
budget request takes aim at GOMESA
in two ways: (1) eliminating the revenue-sharing portion of the program to the
four Gulf Coast states and (2) suggesting
the incoming revenues intended for State
Assistance be " in lieu " of further appro-

priations by Congress. The president's
budget would also effectively eliminate
discretionary funding for the LWCF
overall. This plan has been roundly criticized by Gulf Coast lawmakers and major environmental groups, as well.
NRPA has gone on record strongly opposing these and other major cuts to key
federal priorities. We're explaining to the

new administration that the GOMESA
revenues were always viewed as " in addition " to whatever Congress appropriated
to the LWCF, including the State Assistance Program, and not as a substitute
for regular annual funding.
There is much more to share about
GOMESA - and what it means for
LWCF State Assistance. For more information on the basics of GOMESA, visit
the BOEM website, www.boem.gov/
Revenue-Sharing/.
NRPA will host an educational webinar,
Tuesday, July 18, which will provide additional background and resources about this
critically important component for funding
the State Assistance Program. Visit www.
nrpa.org/webinars/ to register.
David Tyahla is NRPA's Senior Government
Aﬀairs Manager (dtyahla@nrpa.org).

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July 2017 - Parks & Recreation

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