October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 27

troducing bills and letting committees
of expertise discuss, debate and amend
it (preferably improving the legislation
in the process) prior to bringing it before the House and Senate for a vote.
What does this mean for park and
recreation advocates? Well, it means
that no matter how frustrated we may
be, we can't become complacent and
stop sending messages to our Congressional leaders about the needs
that exist in our communities and the
importance of providing funding for
park and recreation projects in order
to address those needs. The Constitution requires that Congress attend
to and pass spending bills each year,
and while the political process is often slower than molasses in January,
authorizing legislation does eventually get passed. We can't wait until the
11th hour to advocate for our priorities, as doing so gives the impression
that funding for park and recreation
programs is not important. And, if
we wait until the 11th hour to have
our voices heard, it will likely be too
late, and parks and recreation will be
omitted from the discussion.
Currently, a real opportunity exists
for parks and recreation relative to a
bipartisan bill (H.R. 2727) introduced
in July by Representatives David
McKinley (R-WV), Gene Green (DTX), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) and
Alan Lowenthal (D-CA), which requires that a minimum of 40 percent
of total LWCF annual appropriations
be allocated to the State Assistance
Program. Because this bill does not
increase spending, it has a real chance
of becoming law. In order for the bill
to become law, however, we must garner a significant number of co-sponsors, and to accomplish that, we need
NRPA members to weigh in with
their members of Congress about the
importance of this bill and explicitly

ask them to sign on as co-sponsors.
The FY 2014 spending bills, the municipal bond interest tax exemption
and the transportation reauthorization
are all issues that pose a significant
threat to park and recreation funding
and are issues for which park and recreation advocates can't wait to have
their voices heard. Specifically, the
House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee has threatened to zero out
LWCF, which means no funding for
the State Assistance Program. We can't
just be silent on the elimination of this

While phone calls and
emails to your elected
officials are always
helpful, pictures and
real-life experiences are
worth a thousand words.
capstone program. Yes, it is true that
the LWCF State Assistance Program
has received meager amounts of funding in the past few years, but the State
Assistance Program remains the only
federal program that provides funding
specifically for state and local parks.
Additionally, there is much at stake
for park and recreation projects relative to tax reform. Serious discussions
are taking place about eliminating or
capping the municipal bond interest
exemption. Such a move would significantly decrease the amount of municipal bond funding available for parks,
recreation and many other projects. It's
important that members of Congress
hear from you regarding the types of
park and recreation projects that have
been funded with municipal bonds in
your community.

A final issue in the " threat " category is the reauthorization of the transportation law, due to be reauthorized
in September 2014. The current transportation law makes approximately
$800 million available for bike, pedestrian and other types of trails. As the
current law was being debated, there
was fierce opposition to the inclusion
of trail money, and all indications
are that the opposition may be more
fierce during the next reauthorization.
While the bill is not due for reauthorization until next year, Congressional
leaders are already starting to discuss
components of the bill, and now is the
time to act. Your members of Congress need to hear from you about the
importance of trails to your community now - before the bill is drafted.
Admittedly, there are a lot of issues on which park and recreation
advocates need to lend their voices.
While phone calls and emails to your
elected officials are always helpful,
pictures and real-life experiences are
worth a thousand words. All of you
do incredible work every day, and
your park and recreation agencies are
truly changing the lives of everyone
in your community. Don't be afraid
to show off a bit: Invite your member
of Congress or his/her district staff to
tour your park and recreation system
to see for themselves the projects that
have been funded by the State Assistance Program, municipal bonds or
transportation money. If you can't
arrange a tour, then put some pictures together and send a packet that
tells your story. In the end, what truly
averts threats, delivers opportunities
and provides funding for parks and
recreation are the stories you tell.
Stacey Pine is NRPA's Vice President of
Government Affairs (spine@nrpa.org). Dave
Tyahla is NRPA's Senior Government Affairs
Manager (dtyahla@nrpa.org).

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Parks & Recreation

October 2013 - Parks & Recreation

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