State bill would permanently restore funding for waterfront communities

SLIF is funded through a portion of the motor vehicle fuel taxes that are estimated to come from fuel sales for boats, along with a portion of the watercraft license tax.

Prior to the great recession that occurred around 2008, Arizona State Parks & Trails distributed millions of dollars each year to local government agencies through the SLIF grant program for projects on or near bodies of water where gas powered boats are allowed. The grants paid for a wide variety of water-based improvements including boat launch ramps, piers, sanitation facilities, public campgrounds, picnic facilities and watercraft for public safety agencies.

But when the recession hit, SLIF and many of the state’s other funds, were swept into the general fund as the legislature looked for any available money it could find. SLIF continued to produce money through fuel taxes and watercraft registrations each year – between $8 million and $9 million in recent years – but the SLIF grant program disappeared for more than a decade immediately following the sweeps.

That is because a couple years after SLIF was swept, Arizona State Parks and Trails lost access to the state’s Heritage Fund and the Land Conservation Fund which had previously been used to pay for administrative and operational costs for the parks. That has left SLIF as the only funding source available that the parks are allowed to use to pay for its administrative costs.

Biasiucci made restoring the SLIF grant program one of his main priorities in each of the past three legislative sessions. He said he has taken an interest because it was one of the biggest issues that he heard about during his first run for State Representative in 2018 from former Lake Havasu City Mayor Mark Nexsen, former Bullhead City Mayor Tom Brady and multiple local law enforcement agencies.

As one of the most popular boating destinations in the state, Lake Havasu City and other government agencies in Mohave County have historically been among the largest benefactors of the grants. According to a 2016 survey, Mohave County accounts for 47% of all boating days in Arizona, followed by Maricopa (25%), La Paz (14%), Yuma (4%) and Gila (3%).

“SLIF was created to help fund things like launch ramps, waterway patrol boats, etc. and I understood from the beginning the importance of getting the money restored for our district,” Biasiucci wrote in an email to Today’s News-Herald. “Now that we have been in a surplus for numerous years, it makes little sense that these funds continue to be swept for other purposes. SLIF funding was created for a reason, and my bill states that the money should stay in the program that it was intended for. Robbing Peter to pay Paul is a poor way of managing money and I want to make sure that stops from happening again in the future.”

This is the third year in a row Biasiucci has sponsored a bill seeking to restore the SLIF grants permanently. Although the first two attempts didn’t result in any structural changes to how SLIF can be spent, Biasiucci was able to secure a $4 million appropriation from Arizona’s general fund to be used for SLIF grants during the budgeting process in each of the past two years. Biasiucci said those efforts were only successful thanks to the support from Sen. Sonny Borrelli (R-Lake Havasu City) and former Rep. Regina Cobb (R-Kingman) who reached her term limit following the 2022 legislative session.

Michele Thompson, with Arizona State Parks & Trails, said the parks were able to supplement the money from the state legislature with American Rescue Plan Act money to provide even more SLIF grants. The state parks board awarded 10 SLIF grants in Fiscal Year 2022 totaling $4,336,388 and have $4,563,612 available for SLIF grants this fiscal year.

About HB2374

HB2374 is identical to the SLIF bill Biasiucci sponsored last year. It is being co-sponsored by Borrelli, and freshman Rep. John Gillette (R-Kingman).

The bill stipulates that no more than 10% of money deposited into SLIF each year can be used by State Parks staff to plan and administer the fund, while also removing the language that currently allows the parks to use SLIF to pay for “administrative tasks and recreational plans of the board.” The bill would also add “water search and rescue operations” as an acceptable use for SLIF funds.

But the bill won’t leave the state parks without a way to pay for its administrative costs. HB2374 would make the state parks revenue fund available to pay for state parks administrative costs, instead of SLIF.

“The money for state parks administration and operations should come from the general fund, just like all other agencies are funded,” Biasiucci said.

In case the structural changes are not approved again this year, Biasiucci’s bill also includes a $3 million appropriation to continue the SLIF grant program in FY23-24.

“The $4 million was used because I wanted to backfill the dollars from previous years of neglect,” Biasiucci said. “If you look at the contracts awarded over the last couple of years, you will see that a lot of the money was awarded to our district. These were projects that were long overdue and really gave a much needed boost to our communities and to our local law enforcement. The $3 million is another injection of money, just in case the bill stalls and I need to push for more one time funding in the budget.”

Past efforts and current changes

Each of Biasiucci’s past efforts to make changes to SLIF have received wide bipartisan support before ultimately stalling and being left on the legislature’s cutting room floor.

During the 2021 legislative session, the House of Representatives passed the SLIF bill with a 51-8 vote. During the 2022 session the bill did even better, passing the House 58-1. But in both legislative sessions the bill ended up dying in the Senate without making it to the floor for a full vote before the deadline. Instead, Biasiucci negotiated for one-time funding to be given to SLIF for grants during the budgeting process in each of the past two years.

Biasiucci said former Governor Doug Ducey did not support his bills in 2021 or 2022, which made stopping the sweeps permanently nearly impossible.

“We knew ahead of time that the Governor would not support my legislation to stop the SLIF sweeps,” he said. “Although I disagreed with his administration on that decision, I knew that I could at least try and negotiate in the budget for one time funding.”

Biasiucci said in order for budget requests to be considered, a related bill usually has to be introduced during the session. He said he introduced the bill in each of the last two legislative sessions knowing that they wouldn’t be signed by Ducey, but that it would allow him to negotiate the one time finds in the budget.

Biasiucci said he believes the political landscape for this bill is similar to what it has been in the past, with the biggest change this year being a new occupant in the governor’s office. Biasiucci said he isn’t yet sure whether Gov. Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, would sign HB2374 into law if it makes it to her desk or not.

“We will find out if Governor Hobbs is willing to do what’s best for the State of Arizona by passing this legislation to restore funding, or if she is looking to veto anything that has a Republican name on it,” Biasiucci said. “Time will only tell.”