BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES AND WATER
Senator Fran Pavley, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: SB 345 Hearing Date: April 28,
2015
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|Author: |Berryhill | | |
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|Version: |April 6, 2015 |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant:|Angee Doerr |
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Subject: The Sport Fishing Stimulus Act of 2015
BACKGROUND AND EXISTING LAW
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) is
responsible for managing California's diverse fish, wildlife,
and plant resources, and the habitats upon which they depend,
for their ecological values and for their use and enjoyment by
the public.
The California Fish and Game Commission (CFGC) is responsible
for developing regulations to manage sport fishing and hunting,
including amongst other things, sport fishing in California, to
include licenses, fish stamps, daily bag limits, and possession
limits.
Several sections of the Fish and Game Code authorize CDFW and
CFGC to set sport fishing license, stamp, permit, and tag fees,
and to increase these fees annually in accordance with the costs
of implementing these programs (See Sections 713 and 7149,
specifically).
Current law (Fish and Game Code §7145) requires a sport fishing
license for any person, over the age of 16, attempting to take
fish, mollusks, crustaceans, invertebrates, amphibians, or
reptiles in inland or ocean waters. Additional validations and
report cards are required for certain species and areas. These
licenses are valid from January 1st until December 31st of a
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calendar year. In addition, California offers one-day fishing
licenses and two-day fishing licenses (half the fee of an annual
license) to residents and non-residents, as well as a ten-day
non-resident fishing license that is priced equivalently to the
annual resident fishing license.
§2001 and §12013 of the Fish and Game Code define violations of
bag and possession limits and set appropriate fees for these
violations. They allow for the transfer of a fish by a person
within the bag and possession limits to another individual,
provided that both individuals remain within these limits. Title
14 of the California Code of Regulations prohibits the
possession of "more than one daily bag limit of each kind of
fish, amphibian, reptile, mollusk or crustacean named in these
regulations?regardless of whether they are fresh, frozen, or
otherwise preserved."
SB 345 contains language similar to AB 1709 (Frazier 2014),
which changed the transition age from junior hunting licenses to
full price hunting licenses from 16 to 18, as well as SB 392
(Berryhill 2013), which allowed charitable organizations and
donor intermediaries to possess game birds and mammals in excess
of the possession limit, provided they had documentation showing
these animals were legally caught and transferred to the
organization.
SB 583 (Berryhill 2013) and AB 1786 (Mansoor, 2011) also
required CFGC to switch from a calendar year based fishing
license to a license that was valid for 12 months from the date
of purchase. Both of these bills passed the Natural Resources
and Water Committee 9-0.
PROPOSED LAW
This bill would accomplish four primary goals:
1. Exempt charitable organizations and donor intermediaries from
the possession limit for fish taken under a sports fishing
license, as long as those organizations or individuals had a
record of who lawfully caught and donated the fish.
2. Transition from a calendar-based annual sport fishing license
to an annual license valid for twelve consecutive months from
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the date of purchase.
3. Introduce a "junior sport fishing license" at a reduced rate
to any resident or non-resident that is either sixteen or
seventeen years of age at the time of purchase. This license
would also be good for twelve consecutive months from the date
of purchase, as long as the purchaser was under 18 at time of
purchase.
4. Direct the commission to develop regulations clarifying when
fish that had been lawfully taken and then processed (e.g.,
filleted, frozen, smoked) no longer violated the possession
limit.
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT
According to the author, "cost and value are among the greatest
barriers to participation" in sport fishing in California, "as
licenses that can expire just months after being purchased
provide little value to anglers, especially at a base price of
$47.01, or more than $120 with permits." This bill would
encourage more sport fishers by established a
twelve-consecutive-month license, as well as a junior fishing
license. They state that "recognizing that cost is a barrier for
young hunters, the California State Legislature adopted a junior
hunting license in 2014. The same consideration now should be
given to young anglers." Finally, the authors state the need to
exempt
"bona fide charitable organizations from possession or
out-of-season limits" as "angler clubs support various
charitable causes that include, but are not limited to,
environmental and habitat restoration, youth, veterans,
education and those with disabilities. This bill would allow
bona fide charitable organizations to use fish donated by
recreational anglers at their functions without fear of being
above possession or out-of-season limits."
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION
None received
COMMENTS
Does this bill accomplish its stated goal? This bill, referring
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to itself as the Sport Fishing Stimulus Act of 2015, states that
it is time to "invest in [the] future of California's fisheries
and fishing communities." Towards that end, it seeks to
encourage more individuals to get involved in sport fishing in
California by creating a junior fishing license and
transitioning from the current calendar year licensing system to
a 12 consecutive month from purchase date system.
How will these changes impact revenue? This bill has the
potential to affect current funding for CDFW programming through
both of its changes to the licensing programs. The price
recommended for a junior sport fishing license ($8.25) is less
than the current price of a single day fishing license ($15.12),
and would require at least five junior fishermen to sign up to
replace every one sixteen or seventeen year-old currently in
possession of a standard fishing license ($47.01). In addition,
CDFW License Program Analyst Glenn Underwood recently stated
that, following the transition from calendar licensing to 12
consecutive month licensing, "license sales declined from 10 to
30 percent in the three years following implementation." Sport
fishers would "wait until the last minute to purchase a license,
as they knew it would be valid for one year from that date. Then
when their licenses expired, customers again waited to renew
until they fished again, creating a gap in licensure. After a
few years the sum of the gaps was often greater than a year and
a complete license sale was lost."
Is the junior sport fishing license equivalent to the junior
hunting license? Currently, all hunters, regardless of age, are
required to purchase a hunting license. AB 1709 (Frazier 2014),
which was chaptered last year, raised the age limit for the
junior hunting license from 16 to 18. However, all hunters under
eighteen are required to have this license. Currently, sport
fishers under the age of sixteen are not required to have a
fishing license. As many individuals begin fishing at a very
young age, it is unclear if providing a junior fishing licenses
for sport fishers between the ages of 16 and 18 will result in
more individuals sport fishing.
Fishing stamps, tags, and reporting requirements remain
unchanged. As written, this bill currently only impacts the
sports fishing license. Validations and report cards would still
be issued on an annual basis. This bill will either need to be
amended to address this concern, or individuals will need to
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purchase new validations in January, regardless of when their
sport fishing license expires.
Is the non-profit exemption a solution in search of a problem?
Under this bill, non-profits and donor intermediaries will be
exempted from the possession limit for fish species, as long as
they have documentation of when they received the fish, as well
as the licensing information of the individual who collected the
fish and any appropriate tags. This language is nearly identical
to SB 392 (Berryhill 2013), which was chaptered last year.
Currently, Fish and Wildlife is unaware of any occurrences where
not having this exemption in place has proven to be an issue in
recent years, or of not-profits getting fined for being in
violation of the possession limit. However, this language would
prevent such an occurrence from happening in the future, as well
as provide guidance to any non-profit interesting in acquiring a
large donation of fish. Per Fish and Wildlife, once a fishermen
has collected their daily limit, they may not continue to fish
for that species on that day, regardless of if they have or plan
to donate the additional fish.
Exemptions for processed fish. If an individual collects up to
the possession limit, then processes and freezes these fish but
does not eat them, they continue to count against the possession
limit until they are eaten. Currently, these fish could count
against the possession limit indefinitely. The bill would
recommend that the Fish and Game Commission clarify when
processed fish could be exempted from the possession limit.
SUGGESTED AMENDMENTS
AMENDMENT 1
Revise §7149 and §7149.05 to provide a 5-year sunset date
of January 1, 2023. (Legislative Counsel to draft specific
language.)
AMENDMENT 2
Clarify the date ranges applicable for the junior license;
increase the price so that it is at least equivalent to a
one day fishing license
AMENDMENT 3
Revise §7149 and §7149.05 (a) (3) to read: A resident or
nonresident, 16 years of age or older and under 18 years of
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age at the time of purchase, for the period of 12
consecutive months beginning on the date specified on the
license, upon the payment of a base fee of eight dollars
and twenty-five cents ($8.25). A license issued pursuant to
this paragraph shall be known as a junior sport fishing
license . , and shall remain valid for 12 consecutive months
beginning on the date specified on the license regardless
of the individual's birthdate.
SUPPORT
California Sportfishing League (sponsor)
California Aquaculture Association
California Association for Recreational Fishing
California Association of Boutique & Breakfast Inns
California Chamber of Commerce
California Hotel & Lodging Association
California Parks Company
California Parks Hospitality Association
California Travel Association
Coastal Conservation Association
National Marine Manufacturers Association
Turner's Outdoorsman
Visit Huntington Beach
OPPOSITION
None Received
-- END --
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