BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 345
Page 1
Date of Hearing: June 28, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON WATER, PARKS, AND WILDLIFE
Marc Levine, Chair
SB
345 (Berryhill) - As Amended June 2, 2015
SENATE VOTE: 39-0
SUBJECT: The Sport Fishing Stimulus Act of 2015.
SUMMARY: Allows, for a period of five years beginning in 2018
and until 2023, for persons age 16 or 17 years old to purchase a
junior fishing license. Also allows a charitable organization
to possess fish in excess of a possession limit if the fish was
donated. Specifically, this bill:
1)States legislative findings and declarations regarding the
state's fisheries and fishing communities.
2)Authorizes a donor intermediary, defined as a recipient of
fish taken under a sport fishing license from a donor to give
to a charitable organization or nonprofit, to possess fish
taken under a sport fishing license in excess of any
possession limit if the donor intermediary has certain
required documentation. Similarly, allows a charitable
organization or nonprofit to possess fish taken under a sport
fishing license in excess of any possession limit if the
charitable organization or nonprofit received the fish from a
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donor intermediary or the person who caught the fish under a
sport fishing license, and the organization has a copy of the
donor's current or prior year's sport fishing license and any
applicable tags signed and dated by the donor confirming the
donation, or a document signed and dated confirming the
donation and the donor's name, address, sport fishing license
number, and applicable tags.
3)Effective January 1, 2018, and continuing until January 1,
2023, allows persons age 16 years of age or older and under 18
years of age to purchase a junior sport fishing license for
$10. Provides that the junior fishing license shall remain
valid for the calendar year, regardless of whether the person
will become older than 18 years of age during that year.
4)Requires the Fish and Game Commission to recommend legislation
or adopt regulations to clarify when a possession limit is not
violated by processing into food lawfully taken sport fish.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Makes it unlawful to exceed the bag limit or possession limit
for take of fish established by the code or state regulations.
Makes it unlawful to possess fish except during the open
season for fishing or for 10 days thereafter.
2)Requires every person age 16 years or older to obtain a sport
fishing license to take fish. The current base fee for an
annual fishing license is $31.25 for residents and $84 for
nonresidents, which fees are adjusted annually for inflation.
Licenses are effective for the calendar year in which issued.
3)Authorizes issuance of a 10-day fishing license to a
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nonresident for the same fee as a resident one year license.
Authorizes issuance of a 2-day license to residents or
nonresidents for a fee of one half that amount, and authorizes
issuance of a 1-day license to a resident or nonresident for
$10.
4)Allows purchase of a lower cost junior hunting license by
persons under 18 years of age.
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee:
1)One-time costs of less than $150,000 from the Fish and Game
Preservation Fund (special fund), likely in Fiscal Year
2016-17, for programming costs of the Automated Licensing Data
System. These costs may be offset by increased license fees.
2)Annual revenue reductions of approximately $660,000 to the
Fish and Game Preservation Fund as a result of lower fishing
license fees for 16- and 17- year olds.
COMMENTS: This bill would create a lower-cost junior fishing
license for persons age 16 or 17, and clarify the law regarding
donations of fish to charitable organizations.
1)Author's Statement: The author introduced this bill to
encourage more individuals to become sport fishers by, among
other things, establishing a lower cost junior fishing
license. The author notes that the Legislature, recognizing
that cost is a barrier for young hunters, adopted a junior
hunting license in 2014 and that the same consideration should
now be given to young anglers. The author also states that an
exemption from possession or out-of-season limits for
charitable organizations is needed so that bona fide
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charitable organizations may use fish donated by recreational
anglers at their functions without fear of being in violation
of possession or out-of-season limit requirements.
The author asserts that sport fishing license sales in
California have plummeted at an astonishing rate. According
to the author, in the last 35 years sales have dropped by 55%
while the cost of an annual license has increased 840%. With
this decline, the author asserts, important conservation, fish
stocking and wildlife programs funded by license revenues and
numerous economic benefits are threatened.
2)Background: Recent legislation enacted last session, as
described below, allows young people ages 16 and 17 to hunt in
California with purchase of a junior hunting license. Prior
to that change in law, all hunters age 16 or older were
required to purchase an adult hunting license, and hunters
under age 16 were authorized to hunt with purchase of a junior
hunting license. There is currently no minimum age limit for
purchase of a hunting license, but all hunters, regardless of
age, must complete and pass a hunter education course as a
precondition to obtaining a hunting license.
The analogy drawn by the author and sponsors of this bill
between the junior hunting license enacted last year, and the
junior fishing license proposed in this bill, is not a
complete analogy since currently persons under age 16 are not
required to purchase a fishing license at all. The existing
law requires a fishing license for any person age 16 or over.
Currently, the base fee for a residential fishing license is
$31.25. With statutory adjustments for inflation, the 2015
fishing license fee was $47.01 for residents, and $126.36 for
nonresidents. This bill would allow persons age 16 and 17, to
instead, fish with purchase of a $10 ($15.12 with adjustments)
junior fishing license.
The DFW estimates that approximately 22,000 16 and 17 year
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olds purchase resident fishing licenses and 100 purchase
non-residential licenses, each year. While this bill will at
least initially result in a loss of licensing revenue to the
DFW, the author's intent is that by offering the lower cost
junior fishing licenses to young people ages 16 and 17, more
young people will be encouraged to take up fishing, and that
over time this will result in an increase in the number of
fishing licenses sold, potentially offsetting the loss of
revenue from the lower cost junior fishing licenses. Whether
offering junior fishing licenses to 16 and 17 year olds will
encourage more individuals to take up fishing is unknown.
Data maintained by the DFW shows that the trend since the
1980s to the present has been a steady decline in the number
of sport fishing licenses sold in California, even as the
population has increased since that time. The numbers are as
follows:
---------------------------------------------------------------
|Year |Number of Sport Fishing |
| |Resident Fishing Licenses Sold |
| | |
| | |
|-------------------------------+-------------------------------|
|2015 (half year) |459,664 |
| | |
| | |
|-------------------------------+-------------------------------|
|2014 |990,474 |
| | |
| | |
|-------------------------------+-------------------------------|
|2013 |1,030,016 |
| | |
| | |
|-------------------------------+-------------------------------|
|2012 |1,035,224 |
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| | |
| | |
|-------------------------------+-------------------------------|
|2011 |999,968 |
| | |
| | |
|-------------------------------+-------------------------------|
|2010 |1,112,783 |
| | |
| | |
|-------------------------------+-------------------------------|
|2009 |1,179,195 |
| | |
| | |
|-------------------------------+-------------------------------|
|2008 |1,203,586 |
| | |
| | |
|-------------------------------+-------------------------------|
|2007 |1,283,454 |
| | |
| | |
|-------------------------------+-------------------------------|
|2006 |1,256,784 |
| | |
| | |
|-------------------------------+-------------------------------|
|2005 |1,245,997 |
| | |
| | |
|-------------------------------+-------------------------------|
|2004 |1,268,728 |
| | |
| | |
|-------------------------------+-------------------------------|
|2003 |1,124,024 |
| | |
| | |
|-------------------------------+-------------------------------|
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|2002 |1,180,641 |
| | |
| | |
|-------------------------------+-------------------------------|
|2001 |1,229,770 |
| | |
| | |
|-------------------------------+-------------------------------|
|2000 |1,265,420 |
| | |
| | |
|-------------------------------+-------------------------------|
|1990 |1,497,691 |
| | |
| | |
|-------------------------------+-------------------------------|
|1980 |2,225,389 |
| | |
| | |
---------------------------------------------------------------
Other issues for consideration: The provisions of this bill
allow donor intermediaries to possess fish in excess of
possession limits for purposes of transmitting the fish to
charitable organizations. This provision could conceivably
create potential enforcement challenges for DFW enforcement
personnel. Some threatened fish species in California, such
as sturgeon and abalone, face commercialization pressures, and
the DFW expends considerable resources on combatting poaching
of such species. While this bill only allows donor
intermediaries to possess fish in excess of lawful possession
limits for purposes of transmitting the fish to charitable or
nonprofit organizations, and requires specified documentation
to be maintained for such purposes, it is conceivable that the
use of intermediaries for such purposes could give rise to
unintended enforcement challenges. Once a fisherman has
collected their daily limit, they may not continue to fish for
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that species on that day, regardless of whether they have a
plan to donate the additional fish. However, the process of
verifying claims and required documentation would conceivably
increase DFW enforcement workload. Moreover, it's unclear if
there is a real problem this provision would solve, as the DFW
is not aware of any situations where nonprofits or charitable
organizations have been fined for being in violation of
possession limits for accepting donated fish.
3)Prior and related legislation: AB 1709 (Frazier), Chapter
456, Statutes of 2014, raised the eligibility for a lower cost
junior hunting license from under age 16 to under age 18. SB
392 (Berryhill), Chapter 346, Statutes of 2013, allowed
charitable organizations and donor intermediaries to possess
game birds and mammals in excess of possession limits if they
can provide documentation showing these animals were legally
caught and transferred to the organization.
4)Support Arguments: Supporters believe this bill will provide
important incentives for youth to participate in fishing.
This bill will also make it easier for charitable
organizations to accept donations of game fish, subject to
record keeping requirements. The author has introduced this
bill to increase participation in sportfishing. Most of the
support letters received by the committee emphasize support
for the prior version of this bill which proposed to make
fishing licenses valid for one year from the date of purchase,
as opposed to the annual fishing license currently available
from January 1 through December 31st. That provision was
deleted from this bill in the Senate Appropriations Committee.
The version before the committee at this time only includes
the junior fishing license provisions and clarification of the
rules regarding use of donor intermediaries to make donations
of fish to charitable organizations.
5)Opposition Arguments: None received
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REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
American Sportfishing Association
California Aquaculture Association
California Asian Pacific Chamber of Commerce
California Association for Recreational Fishing
California Association of Boutique and Breakfast Inns
California Hotel & Lodging Association
California Lodging Industry Association
California Parks Hospitality Association
California Sportfishing League
California Travel Association
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California Waterfowl Association
California Yacht Brokers Association
Coastal Conservation Association of California
County of El Dorado
Eagle Claw Fishing Tackle Company
Fred Hall Shows, Inc.
Lip RipperZ, Inc.
SEIU Local 1000
Los Angeles Rod and Reel Club
Marina Recreation Association
National Federation of Independent Business
National Marine Manufacturers Association
Oxnard Chamber of Commerce
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Pure Fishing
Rural County Representatives of California
Sacramento Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce
San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce
San Francisco Chamber of Commerce
Southwest California Legislative Council
Tackle Warehouse
The California Parks Company
Turner's Outdoorsman
Visit Huntington Beach
Western Outdoor News
Worldwide Boaters Safety Group
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Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by:Diane Colborn / W., P., & W. / (916)
319-2096