Legislation
This month we will talk about State legislation and all the events that are reappearing. Our legislative coalition is closely watching three bills right now. Our own bill, AB232 has one more committee to be heard (Senate Appropriations) and we expect it to move through, be signed and become law. This bill will make it so that if your state does not recognize California off-road registration, then California does not recognize yours. We hope this bill will make the three states that do not recognize California’s to change their ways.

We are supporting SB227, Brian Jones’ red sticker bill. This bill will allow formerly red sticker bikes to continue to be registered in California. This will not allow them to be used on public land, unless they are in a race. It looks like the fee for these registrations will be $63 per year. It looks very likely that this bill will go all the way and get signed into law.

We are very disappointed that AB1512 is moving so easily. This is the bill that would have State parks “dispose” of the land purchased some 20 years ago to expand Carnegie SVRA. The language in this bill has been introduced each year since 2017 and has yet to become law. It has only the Senate Appropriations committee and then will go to the governor. Two years ago, a similar bill was vetoed by Gov Newsom, so it is possible the bill will die again. Our lobby group will be asking the governor to veto this again.
Bill SB433 would allow the California Coastal Commission to enforce their actions with higher fines. We don’t like what this could do in Oceano Dunes SVRA.

Oceano Dunes
Speaking of Oceano Dunes, while the lawsuits wait to be heard, Friends of Oceano Dunes has several fundraisers planned to help offset the cost of defending this much-loved park. Friends of Oceano Dunes (FoOD) and Rugged Radios are raffling a Polaris General XP. This raffle ends Sunday Sept 19 at midnight, with the winner being announced Friday Sept 24 at 5:00 pm. There will be a FoOD BBQ July 24 at Clovis Rodeo with an auction, raffle, BBQ and Tiki Bar. They are also hosting a Golf Tournament August 28 in Lemoore, Calif. Click here for details.

Other events
Other events coming include Jeeps at San Diego Duckfoot Brewery August 22, Jeep Bash Sept 11 at Bolsa Chica State Beach, Sand Sports Super Show September 17-19 in Costa Mesa, and Off-Road Expo October 9-10 in a new location in Ontario California. SDORC will try to attend SSSS and Expo.

Lost Lizard Fun Run
SDORC’s own Lost Lizard Fun Run will be taking place this November 13 by Superstition Mountain. Pre-entry will get you a discount, t-shirt and easy signup the day of the event. The event will have five checkpoints along a 20-mile loop. Each checkpoint will have playing cards for you to draw (best five card stud, second best and worst hand get special prizes) and a game to play that earns raffle tickets for our big drawing. We are inviting several food vendors and an ice cream truck which will give a free scoop to anyone in uniform (think Boy or Girl Scouts and any branch of military). Many make it their first trip to the desert in the season, so please join us for the fun and help us keep the desert open. Click here to Pre-register.

Ed Stovin