State parks supporters to launch 7 city, 13 park tour to promote Prop 5

The constitutional amendment would guarantee funding for state parks

AUSTIN - Environment Texas today announced a statewide tour to build public support for Proposition 5, a constitutional amendment on the ballot November 5, which would guarantee sales taxes on sporting goods go to fund state and local parks. The group will visit 13 different state parks and hold events in seven cities to encourage Texans to help make sure parks are properly funded.

“From camping under the stars at Big Bend Ranch to exploring the cypress swamps of Caddo Lake, our state parks make life better here in Texas,” said Luke Metzger, Executive Director of Environment Texas. “They protect the clean water we depend on and provide a home for some of Texas' most wondrous wildlife, like the black bear and the leatherback sea turtle. But chronic underfunding has placed a strain on an aging system with outdated infrastructure. Prop 5 is a historic opportunity to make sure our parks get the funds they need and deserve.”

Texas parks already have a dedicated funding stream—sales taxes on sporting goods. But from 1993 to 2017, the state collected nearly $2.5 billion in revenues from the sporting goods sales tax (SGST), yet only 40 percent has been appropriated for parks.

Proposition 5 will amend the Texas Constitution to dedicate revenue from the SGST, so those dollars can only be used by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and the Texas Historical Commission on public parks and historic sites, and not for any other purposes.

“The Legislature has done its part, and so now the measure goes to the people,” wrote Sen. Lois Kolkhorst and Representative Cyrier in a recent Dallas Morning News Editorial. “Surely we can all agree that these special places are vital to our economy and to our Texas heritage, culture and way of life.”

Environment Texas will kick off the tour with an event in McKinney Falls State Park in Austin on Oct. 7 and continue with events in Houston and Dallas on Oct. 8, in San Angelo Oct. 10, in Midland Oct. 11, in El Paso on Oct. 14. The tour will then conclude with an event in Government Canyon State Park in San Antonio on Oct. 16.