Committee advances bill to expand Parks Passport and add $4 for nonmotorized trail maintenance

The Resources and Conservation Committee advanced House Bill 57 to the floor with a do-pass recommendation after more than an hour of testimony and questions about funding for parks and nonmotorized trails.

House Bill 57 would expand the existing Parks Passport into a Parks and Trails Passport and raise the annual resident passport fee from $10 to $20. Under the bill, $16 of each $20 passport would go to park maintenance and operations and $4 would be earmarked for a newly created nonmotorized trail fund administered by the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation.

Representative James Petzke, who sponsored the bill, told the committee the state statute requires the Department of Parks and Recreation to maintain parks and that the passport increase is intended to provide an ongoing revenue stream to meet that duty. "This legislation will allow them to fully execute on that code," Petzke said, noting the Parks Department is "required in statute to maintain our parks." He said the bill also "establishes the first state funding mechanism for non motorized trail maintenance." (Representative James Petzke, District 21, Meridian)

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