Well put Rick, CA's budget really is in shambles and to suggest the high fees is anything other than overburdened public employees trying to deal with a difficult situation is really missing the boat. I often take my family to state parks and am amazed at how full they are despite the high fees.... and then I see one poor ranger desperately trying to keep the facilities in usable order.

The problem with sharing gas money with other parks is that it was passed by ballot initiative. The legislature can't touch it. I believe the last election had a ballot initiative to allow under running projects to share there money with other projects. That initiative along with a few others that were desperately needed to balance our budget were defeated. Complain about the legislature all you want, but CA's problems almost entirely lie with the voters who keep passing unsustainable ballot initiatives.

ok, I'm stepping off my soap box now...