Folks – I want to reach far and wide across the Washington state outdoor sector to assure that our industry has good representation at an important event near Olympia on Wednesday May 13, 2015 at 12:30pm.

This bill creates an outdoor recreation policy advisor position in the Governor’s office and adds programs that utilize veterans for at least 50 percent of their program implementation to the list of criteria for the Parks and Recreation Director to use when awarding grants from the Outdoor Education Recreation grant program. Having a senior policy advisor to the Governor creates a voice for outdoor recreation that can work to build partnerships, identify opportunities, increase participation and develop incentives to increase the economic impact of outdoor recreation. Statewide, there are 199,000 jobs and $21.6 billion in annual spending related to outdoor recreation. No RSVP necessary.  Questions: call Simon Vila, 360.902.4137 or simon.vila@gov.wa.gov.

Date:                     Wednesday, May 13^th, 2015

Time:                    12:30 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.

Location:             Tolmie State Park, 7730 61st Ave. N.E., Olympia, WA 98506

Parking:               Limited parking is available on site.

We have great news to share regarding the passage of a bill we at the Big Tent Outdoor Recreation Coalition have been supporting.  The bill is Engrossed Substitute Senate Bill 5843 on outdoor recreation - and its on its way to the Governor's desk!

A day after the House insisted on its position on 5843, the Senate took a vote to concur with the House Amendments to the bill. The vote count from the Senate yesterday is below. What this means:

• Creation of a new Outdoor Recreation senior policy adviser in the Governor's Office.  There will be performance metrics the outdoor job will have to strive for and report on;
• Specific statutory eligibility language in the No Child Left Inside for programs that utilize veterans in their implementation or administration;
• An earlier Senate amendment to require confirmation of the new senior policy adviser, is dropped out of the bill;
• There is specific funding in the Senate's budget - $1M for the NCLI and $331K for the new outdoor recreation position - will still need to work to ensure that in the final budget.

Save the Date: June 11, 2015 - Denver CO.  Sponsored by Governor Hickenlooper, the Colorado Department of Natural Resources, and Great Outdoors Colorado, The Outdoors Summit is an unprecedented gathering of national and state leaders, advocates and visionaries to launch new initiatives to protect, preserve and enhance Colorado’s great outdoors, and to close the widening gap between our youth and nature that threatens their future and the future of Colorado’s way of life and outdoor brand.

(Sent to staff Thursday April 2, 2015)

Now that we've seen all three operating budget proposals from the Governor, House and Senate, I want to provide you a little more detail.