BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 1844 Page 1 Date of Hearing: April 27, 2016 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Lorena Gonzalez, Chair AB 1844 (Gallagher) - As Amended March 10, 2016 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Policy |Water, Parks and Wildlife |Vote:|11 - 2 | |Committee: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------| | |Veterans Affairs | |9 - 0 | | | | | | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: NoReimbursable: No SUMMARY: This bill requires the Department of Fish and Wildlife (DFW) to reduce the fees required to obtain hunting licenses and various sport fishing entitlements for veterans of the Armed Forces of the United States. Specifically, this bill: 1)Requires DFW to reduce the fee required to obtain a lifetime sportsman's license, an annual or lifetime hunting license, or AB 1844 Page 2 an annual or lifetime sport fishing license, by 25%, for any resident of the state who is a Veteran of the United States Armed Forces and who was honorably discharged. 2)Requires DFW to reduce the fee required to obtain any sport fishing report card, validation, or other entitlement required in addition to a sport fishing license by 25% for any resident of the state who is a Veteran of the United States Armed Forces and was honorably discharged, and by 50% for a Veteran who has a 50% or greater service-connected disability. 3)Prohibits the Fish and Game Commission (FGC) from increasing license fees for non-veterans to make up the loss of revenue to DFW from the Veteran discounts. FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown significant revenue loss, potentially in the millions of dollars, to DFW from discount sales of hunting and fishing licenses (Fish and Game Preservation Fund, and Lifetime License Trust Account). According to the Department of Veteran Affairs, there are approximately 1.8 million Veterans living in California, with 331,645 receiving monthly disability compensation as of 2014. This bill increases eligibility from a universe of approximately 331,600 to 1.8 million Veterans. As an example, an annual hunting license currently costs $47.01and under this bill would be discounted to $35.26. If only 1% of eligible California Veterans purchase a discounted hunting license, the associated annual revenue losses would be $211,500. AB 1844 Page 3 Because this bill prohibits the FGC from increasing the fees for hunting and fishing licenses and sport fishing report cards sold to nonveterans in order to recoup the loss of revenue, it is likely to result in significant revenue loss. COMMENTS: 1)Purpose. According to the author, this bill provides Veterans more access to outdoor recreation opportunities in California by providing discounted hunting and fishing license fees to all Veterans. This bill also provides discounts to Veterans for sport fishing report cards that are required to take specific fish or to fish in certain areas, in addition to a sport fishing license. The author also contends that this bill will provide more access to California Veterans and by increasing access, will expand participation in hunting and fishing by Veterans, their families, and friends. This expanded participation may lead to increased sales of licenses in future years. 2)Background: The DFW reports that in 2015, California issued approximately 14,174 disabled Veteran sport fishing licenses, which are issued on a calendar year basis. For the 2014/15 hunting license year, approximately 3,500 disabled Veteran hunting licenses were issued. Hunting licenses are issued on a fiscal year basis, from July through June. DFW also AB 1844 Page 4 indicates that fewer than 50 recovering service member licenses have been issued each year since that program began in 2013. 3)Related Legislation. AB 1972 (Chau) would extend eligibility for the state's existing Distinguished Veteran State Park day use pass, which currently is available to Veterans with disabilities who served during war time, to also includes Veterans with a service-connected disability who served during peace time. AB 1972 is on suspense in this Committee. Analysis Prepared by:Jennifer Galehouse / APPR. / (916) 319-2081