Bill to boost funding for California fairgrounds moves forward amid emergency-response arguments

Assemblymember Connolly presented AB 258 to the Senate Committee on Tax and Revenue seeking to raise the annual funding appropriation for the state’s fairs network to 2% of gross receipts of taxable sales at fairgrounds. Sponsors and supporters told the committee that the change would bring funding closer to the $32 million level that fairs historically received and would help fairs maintain facilities that are frequently used for emergency response.

"Historically, fairgrounds have relied on funding from horse racing fees," Assemblymember Connolly said. He explained that previous statutory changes reduced a once-continuous appropriation and that AB 258 would replace that structure with a 2% allocation of fairground gross receipts to be included in the governor’s annual budget for legislative appropriation.

Norm Towne of the Western Fairs Association said the Department of Food and Agriculture estimated a roughly $250 million backlog of deferred maintenance and life-safety work at California fairgrounds. He and other witnesses noted that fairs have been used as emergency medical sites, evacuation staging and sheltering during wildfires and other disasters, and that reimbursements from state emergency services or FEMA often do not fully cover fairgrounds’ costs.

Supporters, including California State Treasurer Fiona Ma (co-sponsor), the California Fairs Alliance and other fairgrounds representatives, urged the committee to advance the bill. Committee members recognized the fairs’ role in emergency response and cultural activities; the committee voted 5-0 to send AB 258 to the Committee on Appropriations.

Witnesses described a mix of cultural and emergency-response functions for fairgrounds and emphasized that the proposed appropriation would remain subject to the legislature’s annual budgeting process.