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 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Author: |Berryhill | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Version: |April 6, 2015 | ----------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes | ----------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Consultant:|Angee Doerr | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- 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 SB 345 (Berryhill) Page 2 of ? 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 SB 345 (Berryhill) Page 3 of ? 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 SB 345 (Berryhill) Page 4 of ? 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 SB 345 (Berryhill) Page 5 of ? 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 SB 345 (Berryhill) Page 6 of ? 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 -- SB 345 (Berryhill) Page 7 of ?