BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1423
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 28, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON WATER, PARKS AND WILDLIFE
Jared William Huffman, Chair
AB 1423 (Berryhill) - As Amended: April 15, 2009
SUBJECT : Commercial Hunting Clubs; Shared Habitat Alliance for
Recreational Enhancement Program; Interference with hunting.
SUMMARY : Modifies commercial hunt club licensure requirements
by adding several exemptions and adding a fee schedule; modifies
and requires implementation of the Shared Habitat Alliance for
Recreational Enhancement Program (SHARE Program); and makes it
unlawful to interfere with a field trial or hunting dog
training. Specifically, this bill :
With regard to Commercial Hunting Clubs:
1)Exempts from the requirement to obtain a commercial hunting
club license all of the following: property used for an
officially sanctioned field trial, property used in
conjunction with the SHARE Program, property licensed as a
game bird hunting club, property licensed as a migratory game
bird shooting area, property used in conjunction with the
private wildlife habitat enhancement and management program,
property subject to a state, federal or nonprofit wildlife
conservation or agricultural easement, private property
enrolled in a waterfowl habitat protection or enhancement
program, and any person who receives less than $100 per person
and less than $1,000 total per year in fees for hunting on the
property.
2)Establishes a fee schedule for commercial hunting club
licenses as follows: $200 for one property, $500 for two to
five properties, $1,000 for six to ten properties, and $2,000
for eleven or more properties. Defines property for these
purposes as a number of contiguous parcels held by an owner or
combination of owners and held out for a common purpose.
With regard to the SHARE Program:
1)Deletes the requirement for the Fish and Game Commission (FGC)
to verify sufficient interest exists before the program is
started, and requires the Department of Fish and Game (DFG) to
implement the program.
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2)Deletes requirement for the FGC to adopt regulations and fees,
and instead requires DFG to adopt regulations and report to
FGC annually on the program.
3)Deletes prohibition on use of General Fund moneys to fund the
SHARE Program, and authorizes DFG to use existing hunting and
fishing license stamps or tag fees from the Fish and Game
Preservation Fund (FGPF).
4)Modifies requirement that lands be included in the program
that are not open to hunting for participation of the
nonhunting public, and instead requires DFG, to the extent
possible, to include lands that permit multiple
wildlife-dependent recreational activities for participation
of the general public.
With regard to interference with hunting:
1)Expands prohibition on interfering with legal hunting
activities to include interfering with field trials and
related dog training activities. Expands definition of
"interfering with" to include blocking access to lands without
authority of the landowner or lessee, and placing food on
lands as bait to prevent legal hunting.
2)Increases the penalty for interfering with lawful hunting
activities from an infraction to a misdemeanor, punishable by
a fine of not more than $1,000 and/or six months in jail.
EXISTING LAW :
Commercial Hunting Clubs:
1)Requires persons in control of property for which a fee is
collected for the privilege of hunting on the property to
obtain a commercial hunting club license. Exempts from this
requirement a hunting club licensed under another code
section, a landowner who rents or leases property to a
licensed hunt club who is not involved in operation of the
club, and any person who receives less than $50 per person and
less than $500 total per year in fees for hunting on the
property.
2)Allows a commercial hunt club that leases more than one
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property for hunting to submit one application listing each
property, and requires DFG to assess a separate license fee
for each property, at a base fee of $165.
SHARE Program:
1)Requires DFG to work cooperatively with nonprofit conservation
and other interested nongovernmental organizations to plan and
develop a program to facilitate public access to private
property for wildlife-dependant recreational activities,
including hunting, fishing, wildlife observation, conservation
education and related outdoor activities. Requires FGC to
verify that sufficient private landowner and participant
interest has been shown to support the program.
2)Authorizes DFG to enter voluntary agreements with private
landowners that provide for compensation to the landowner for
public use of the land not to exceed $30 per acre, or to
facilitate public access to adjacent public land. Requires
DFG to give greatest priority to lands with the greatest
wildlife habitat value, and to include in the program private
lands on which hunting is not allowed for participation of the
nonhunting public.
3)Establishes the SHARE Account and requires the Department of
Finance to verify sufficient funds are in the account to start
the program. Requires FGC to adopt regulations and fees to
cover costs of implementation and management of the program.
Authorizes DFG to impose user fees or to apply for grants,
federal funds, or other nongovernmental sources to fund the
program.
4)Prohibits any General Fund monies from being used for the
program, and requires appropriation by the Legislature before
any other moneys are made available for the program.
Interference with hunting:
1)Makes it unlawful to interfere with lawful hunting activities.
A violation of this section is an infraction, punishable by a
fine of not less than $100 and not more than $500 for a first
violation, and not less than $100 and not more than $1,000 for
a second violation.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown potential minor loss of revenue to DFG
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for sale of commercial hunting club licenses due to exemptions.
Unknown potential loss of FGPF revenues for other programs to
extent monies in the fund are used for implementation of the
SHARE Program. Potential General Fund cost pressures due to
deletion of prohibition on use of General Fund.
COMMENTS : The author indicates the purpose of this bill is to
clarify existing law pertaining to commercial hunting license
requirements and establish a new license fee structure, to
update existing law relating to the SHARE Program so DFG can
access new federal funding for the program, and to expand
penalties for interfering with lawful hunting activities. With
regard to commercial hunting club licenses the author asserts
that passage of SB 1200 in 2006, which required DFG to charge a
separate license fee for each property, resulted in a
significant increase in license fee costs for commercial hunting
clubs.
Prior to SB 1200, commercial license clubs were required to file
a separate application for each property. SB 1200 allowed a
commercial hunting club that is leasing more than one property
to file one consolidated hunting club license application
listing each property. To ensure this did not result in a loss
of revenue to DFG, amendments were added in the Appropriations
Committee to require that a separate fee be charged for each
property. This bill would instead establish a graduated fee
schedule, based on the number of properties covered under the
license, and also add a number of exemptions.
With regard to the SHARE Program, background information
provided by the author notes that as a result of the passage of
the 2008 Federal Farm Bill, California is eligible to compete
for millions of dollars of federal funds under the Open Fields
program for voluntary state run programs that provide incentives
to private landowners to allow public access for
wildlife-dependent activities on their lands. The SHARE Program
has had limited implementation in California due to a lack of
funding in the past. This bill also makes a number of changes
to the program, as described in the summary above, including
allowing state FGPF revenues to be used for support of the
program and removing the existing prohibition on use of General
Fund monies for the program.
This bill also expands existing law making it unlawful to
interfere with legal hunting activities by including
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interference with field trials and hunting dog training
activities, blocking access to property without authority of the
landowner, and putting out bait to prevent legal hunting from
occurring. This bill also increases the penalty for such a
violation from an infraction to a misdemeanor, and increases the
maximum fine. This bill also adds potential jail time for a
violation. The committee may wish to consider whether the
numbers of incidences of this activity warrant expansion of the
law and the increased penalty, including jail time, and whether
other existing remedies, such as interference with lawful
activity or trespass wouldn't already apply.
Other Suggested Amendments :
Share Program : The language on page 4, line 36 provides that
all funding generated "pursuant to paragraph (2)" shall be
deposited in the SHARE Account. This provision is vague as to
specifically what funds are required to be deposited in the
account, as paragraph (2) refers to several potential sources of
funding, including fishing license stamp and tag fees from the
FGPF, user fees DFG may assess, and grants, federal funds, or
contributions from other sources. The committee may wish to
consider an amendment to clarify that sentence as follows:
(3) All funding generated pursuant to paragraph (2) from grants,
federal funds, or other sources, where the person or entity
providing the funds specifically designates in writing prior to
the time of transmittal of the funds to the department that the
funds are intended solely for the purposes of the SHARE program,
and any user fees assessed by the department specifically for
the SHARE Program, shall be deposited in the SHARE Account in
the Fish and Game Preservation Fund.
The SHARE Program, among other things, authorizes DFG to pay
compensation to private landowners as an incentive for allowing
public access to their lands for hunting and other
wildlife-dependent recreational activities, not to exceed $30
per acre. This bill strikes the prohibition on use of the
General Fund for this program. The committee may wish to
consider whether the prohibition on use of the General Fund for
the SHARE Program should be retained given the state's current
fiscal crisis.
Current law requires FGC to adopt regulations and fees for the
SHARE Program, and also authorizes DFG to assess fees. This
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bill addresses this inconsistency by deleting the requirement
for FGC to adopt fees, and shifting responsibility to DFG to
adopt the regulations. It also retains the authorization for
DFG to impose fees. While it makes sense that only FGC or DFG
adopt fees and not both, the rationale for shifting
responsibility for adopting the regulations and imposing the
fees from FGC to DFG is less clear. The committee may wish to
consider whether the regulatory and fee assessment authority
should remain with FGC rather than DFG.
Support Arguments : Supporters note that this bill will address
unexpected impacts of SB 1200 of 2006 which inadvertently raised
the cost of operating many commercial hunt clubs, will help
California compete for federal funds under the 2008 Farm Bill,
and will strengthen penalties for interfering with lawful
hunting activities in response to recent cases of hunter
harassment.
Opposition Arguments : The opposition believes this bill
weakens requirements for obtaining commercial hunting licenses
and will reduce fee revenue to DFG.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Outdoor Heritage Alliance (sponsor)
Opposition
California Animal Association
Paw Pac
Analysis Prepared by : Diane Colborn / W., P. & W. / (916)
319-2096