BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1423
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Date of Hearing: May 20, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Kevin De Leon, Chair
AB 1423 (Tom Berryhill) - As Amended: May 5, 2009
Policy Committee: WPW Vote:12-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
Yes Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill changes commercial hunt club licensure requirements;
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.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)Ongoing annual costs of approximately $50,000 to DFG to manage
SHARE Program. (SHARE Account)
2)Potential annual revenue increase from enhanced enforcement
and fees for large property owners, possibly in the tens of
thousands of dollars. (Fish and Game Preservation Fund.)
3)Unknown, likely minor, increased nonreimbursable costs for
increased local incarceration, offset to a degree by increased
fine revenue.
SUMMARY (continued)
Specifically, this bill:
1)Commercial Hunting Clubs
a) Exempts certain properties from the requirement to
obtain a commercial hunting club license.
b) 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 10 properties, and
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$2,000 for 11 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.
2)SHARE Program
a) 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.
b) 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.
c) Authorizes DFG to use existing hunting and fishing
license stamps or tag fees from the Fish and Game
Preservation Fund (FGPF).
d) Modifies the 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.
3)Interference With Hunting
a) 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.
b) 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.
COMMENTS
1)Rationale. The author intends to clarify existing law
pertaining to commercial hunting license requirements and
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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.
2)Background.
a) SB 1200 (Hollingsworth, Chapter 396, Statutes of 2006)
was intended to (1) ease the process of obtaining a
commercial hunting club license in order to make private
lands available for hunting, and (2), clarify that renters
or lessees of such properties, not the landowner, are
responsible for applying for and obtaining a license.
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 this committee to require that a separate fee be charged
for each property.
b) SHARE Program. AB 396 (Harman, Chapter 758, Statutes of
2003), created the Shared Habitat Alliance for Recreational
Enhancement (SHARE) Program to encourage private landowners
to voluntarily open their properties to the public for
hunting and other wildlife-dependent recreational
activities. AB 396 authorized several funding sources for
the SHARE Program, including the use of federal funds. The
SHARE Program has had limited implementation because of a
lack of funding.
c) Hunter Harassment. The author and sponsor report
several recent incidents of hunter harassment. Hunters
engaged in legal hunting activity encountered gates or
barricades blocking access to lands that were placed
without authorization from the landowner and hunting dogs
were distracted or delayed. These incidents seem to have
been committed not by antihunting activists but rather by
other hunters competing for hunting ground or game. In any
case, it is not clear that there has been a recent,
significant increase in hunter harassment.
3)Support. The California Outdoor Hunting Alliance, the sponsor
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of this bill, asserts that SB 1200, 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. They also claim that the bill's provisions
relevant to the SHARE Program will help California compete for
federal funds under the 2008 Farm Bill. Finally, the sponsors
contend that the bill, by strengthening penalties for
interfering with lawful hunting activities, will help to
address increasing interference with hunting by other hunters
competing for scarce hunting grounds ands game.
4)Opponents, including animal rights and antihunting groups,
believe this bill weakens requirements for obtaining
commercial hunting licenses and will reduce fee revenue to
DFG.
Analysis Prepared by : Jay Dickenson / APPR. / (916) 319-2081