[tod701]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Washington Off Highway Vehicle Alliance files lawsuit to block transfer of ORV funds to State Parks

Olympia, Washington – 5 October 2009

The Washington Off Highway Vehicle Alliance has teamed up with the Northwest Motorcycle Association to file a lawsuit against the State of Washington to block the transfer of over 9.5 million dollars in offroad vehicle funds from the Nonhighway and Offroad Vehicle Activities (NOVA) account to State Parks. Attorney James Buchal will be representing both organizations.

This spring the Legislature passed House Bill 1244, which transferred the money out of the NOVA account. The NOVA account money comes from the gas tax paid by offroad vehicle users and the license tab fees on offroad vehicles (ORV).

According to the Washington State Constitution gas tax collected must be used only for roads. To comply with that the state allows refunds on gas tax paid for other uses.

In 1972 the offroad vehicle community supported passage of legislation that waived their right to a direct refund of the taxes they paid for ORV fuel in exchanged for having those same funds “refunded” into a dedicated account to promote and protect their sport. Later on, their ORV license tab money was added to this account too. The NOVA program was established to administer these funds.

Now that all the money is going to State Parks and State Parks is not going to spend the money on offroad vehicle recreation, this is no longer a legitimate refund for the benefit of these taxpayers.

The NOVA funding is normally distributed by the State Recreation and Conservation Funding Board in the form of grants. These grants are awarded to governmental agencies such as the United States Forest Service, the Washington Department of Natural Resources and various counties. It is the primary source of funding for offroad vehicle recreation and for law enforcement on public lands in Washington.

If this funding is not returned to benefit the taxpayers that paid for it, families and their children throughout the State of Washington will lose the healthy, outdoor recreational opportunities they were promised and for which they paid their taxes and ORV tab fees, as the trails they have enjoyed together are closed. And public employees throughout Washington who maintain and patrol those trails will lose their jobs.

The Washington Off Highway Vehicle Alliance and the Northwest Motorcycle Association are nonprofit organizations dedicated to protecting and promoting off highway vehicle and offroad motorcycle recreation.

Tod Petersen
Political Action Committee Chairman – Washington Off Highway Vehicle Alliance
Legislative/Land Use Coordinator – Northwest Motorcycle Association
P.O. Box 61161
Seattle, WA 98141
tod701@aol.com
www.wohva.org
www.nmaoffroad.org

[Bryan Bosch]

Excellent Tod! Gotta fight fire with fire! :thumbsup:

[brewster]

It seems like the same arguemment could be used in California. The first big chunk of money that was "transfered", not borrowed, out of the OHV Trust fund this year contained funds from the fuel tax. Therefore, all citizens of California that paid the fuel tax but used the gas off-highway, should be eligable to request a refund from the state for the amount of fuel tax added at the pump.

For those of you that would like to do some research on this idea, check out the California Revenue and Tax Code, sections 8101 (a) and 8352.6. Also Vehicle Code 38225.

Ride on
Brewster

[tomjeeps]

It's just nice to live in a State where the OHV Leadership actually does...TJ:busted:

[sagebrush]

After reading HD1244 (the budget), the term used to describe this apparent confiscation of funds from NOVA is "state appropriation". What does this mean? Taken and used without return? Borrowed? In any case, I can't believe they can do this - essentially it boils down to ORV user fee's going to pay to keep the state park system opened which is supposed to be paid for by those users! Anyone know how a state appropriation works? Thanx.

[tod701]

After reading HD1244 (the budget), the term used to describe this apparent confiscation of funds from NOVA is "state appropriation". What does this mean? Taken and used without return? Borrowed? In any case, I can't believe they can do this - essentially it boils down to ORV user fee's going to pay to keep the state park system opened which is supposed to be paid for by those users! Anyone know how a state appropriation works? Thanx.

Every odd numbered year the Washington State Legislature passes legislation (ref: HB1244) that appropriates money to fund various programs.

They are supposed to do so within legal guidlines such as the Revised Code of Washington (RCW) and the Washington State Constitution.

ORV funds being placed in the Nonhighway and Offroad Vehicle Activities account are subject to approriation by the Legislature. (Ref: RCW 46.09.165) That means that the legislature can persuant to the RCW, they can ignore the intent of the law and not put our money into the NOVA fund.

The basis of the lawsuit is the State Constitution. Article 1, Section 40 requires that gas tax and vehicle license tabs funds be only used for road purposes. The constitution has provisions that allows refunds on gas tax paid for other non-road usage. Farmers and boater eithe don't pay or get direct refunds. ORV owners waiver the right to a direct refund in exchange to the NOVA program.

Since the ORV gas tax and licence tab funds were not appropriated into the NOVA fund, then these tax payers did not recieve their refund, thus making the appropriation to state parks an unconstitutional use of these funds.

[sagebrush]

thanks for the reply Tod. I hope the argument works. Unfortunately, it seems that trail maint. will take a hit. wish more of the fund would have spent sooner - then perhaps it would not have been such a substantial amount and caught the eye of legislators. I am going to consult my reps on this.