BILL ANALYSIS
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
1423 (Berryhill)
Hearing Date: 08/17/2009 Amended: 07/14/2009
Consultant: Brendan McCarthy Policy Vote: NR&W 9-0
AB 1423 (Berryhill)
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BILL SUMMARY: This bill makes several changes to statutes
relating to hunting and fishing. The bill revises several of the
components of the SHARE program, which encourages recreational
access to private lands. The bill expands the existing
prohibition on interfering with lawful hunting activities. The
bill revises the permitting requirements for commercial hunting
clubs, replacing the existing fee with a new fee schedule.
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Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 Fund
SHARE implementation $50 $50 $50 Special
*
Enforcement of hunting laws Minor and absorbable Special
**
Licensing of hunting clubs Unknown potential
revenuesSpecial **
*Fish and Game Preservation Fund. Potentially offset with fees
and/or federal funds.
** Fish and Game Preservation Fund.
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STAFF COMMENTS:
Current law establishes the Shared Habitat Alliance for
Recreational Enhancement Program (SHARE) which allows the state
to provide compensation to landowners that voluntarily make
their lands available for public hunting, fishing, and
recreation, provided that sufficient funds are available.
This bill revises the statutes governing the SHARE program.
Specifically, the bill shifts responsibility for overseeing the
program from the Fish and Game Commission to the Department of
Fish and Game. The bill requires the Department to adopt
regulations for the program and to report specified information
on the program to the Fish and Game Commission. The bill
authorizes the Department to use user fees, existing hunting and
AB 1423 (Berryhill)
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fishing license fees, federal funds, or other contributions to
fund the program. The bill also authorizes the Department to
enter into grant agreements with nonprofit organizations to
implement the bill. The bill allows the Department to compensate
landowners up to $50 per public participant per day for use of
private lands. The bill also makes a variety of technical
changes to the codes governing the program.
Currently, the SHARE program is inactive. The Department
estimates the cost to manage the program to be about $50,000 per
year, which would include the cost to develop regulations as
required in the bill. (That cost represents Department oversight
of the program, rather than the cost to provide incentives to
landowners, which is already authorized under law and would
occur only to the extent that funding is available.)
Under current law, it is unlawful to interfere with lawful
hunting activities. (Such a violation of the law is an
infraction.) This bill expands the types of activities that are
deemed interference with hunting activities (for example,
intentionally frightening away wildlife or preventing access to
private lands without the landowner's permission). The bill
also increases the penalty for such violations to a misdemeanor
punishable by a fine of not more than $1,000 or six months in
jail, with a penalty of up to one year in jail for subsequent
violations. The Department does not anticipate any additional
enforcement costs due to these changes.
Under current law, operators of commercial hunting clubs are
generally required to apply for a permit from the Department and
pay a permit fee. There are several existing exemptions to this
requirement in statute. The permit fee is set by statute at $165
per property and may be adjusted for inflation. According to the
Department, the number of permits issued is far below the number
of commercial hunting clubs in the state. In part, this may be
due to the fact that statute requires a permit fee for each
property. However, if a single club encompasses many individual
parcels, that applicant could be charged many multiples of the
intended fee.
For the purposes of regulating commercial hunting clubs, this
bill would define "property" as a number of contiguous parcels
held by an owner for a common purpose. The bill would set out
the information that a commercial hunting club permit applicant
must provide to the Department. The bill allows an operator to
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file a single application for multiple "properties" (e.g.
multiple, separate hunting clubs or clubs with separate
facilities). The bill would create a new fee schedule of $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
owned or managed by a single entity.
The bill adds a number of additional exceptions from the
licensing requirements, including properties used for field dog
trials, properties covered under the SHARE program, domesticated
game bird hunting clubs, and others.
The Department indicates that the costs to implement the new
permitting requirements are absorbable within existing
resources. The Department expects the bill to result in
increased fee revenues over time, but the amounts are unknown.