BILL ANALYSIS
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
1179 (Hollingsworth)
Hearing Date: 05/27/2010 Amended: 04/19/2010
Consultant: Brendan McCarthy Policy Vote: NR&W 6-3
SB 1179 (Hollingsworth), Page 2
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BILL SUMMARY: SB 1179 establishes two free hunting days per
year, on which any California resident may hunt in the state
without a hunting license.
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Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 Fund
Increased enforcement Up to $130 per year Special
*
Reduced license and tagUnknown, likely more than $180 per
yearSpecial *
revenues
* Fish and Game Preservation Fund.
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STAFF COMMENTS: SUSPENSE FILE.
Current law requires individuals to possess a hunting license to
take birds or mammals in the state. In order to get a hunting
license, individuals must complete a hunter education course and
pay a license fee. (The hunter education course must only be
taken once.) In addition to the licensing requirement, hunters
are required to purchase a "tag" for certain species, allowing
them to take that species under specified criteria (e.g. in
specified seasons, in certain areas, and in certain numbers).
Some tags are offered for sale to any licensed hunter, while
others are available only by lottery. The current license fee
for California residents is $39.50 and common tags generally
range in price between $8 and $30 for California residents.
(Certain tags, particularly those that are only available by
lottery, cost considerably more.)
SB 1179 requires the Fish and Game Commission to establish two
free hunting days per year. On those days, any California
resident is eligible to hunt without a hunting license, provided
that the unlicensed hunter is accompanied by a licensed hunter
who is over 18 years of age and has had a hunting license for
three years. The bill authorizes the Department of Fish and Game
to required that unlicensed hunters demonstrate that they are
SB 1179 (Hollingsworth), Page 2
capable safely operating a firearm. The bill authorizes
federally licensed firearm dealers, their employees, certified
hunter education instructors, and licensed hunters who have had
a license for three consecutive years to certify that an
unlicensed hunter is capable of safely operating a firearm. The
bill allows the Department to prohibit unlicensed hunters from
taking species that require a tag granted by lottery or draw or
species that also require a federal tag to take.
Given the potential for a large number of inexperienced hunters
in the field on the proposed free hunting days, the Department
is likely to increase Game Warden staffing levels on those days.
The Department indicates that it would likely attempt to put up
to 90 percent of its wardens into the field on those days, which
would be almost double the number of personnel in the field on
any given day. If the Department does not reduce other
enforcement activities on non-free hunting days, much of the
additional hours worked by wardens on the free hunting days
would be overtime hours and would result in increased staff
costs. The Department estimates the additional cost for
enforcement could be up to $130,000 per year.
Because this bill authorizes unlicensed hunting twice per year,
it is possible that some currently licensed hunters may elect
not to purchase a hunting license and instead would go hunting
only on the free hunting days. The number of hunters who would
do so is unknown. However, if only one percent of licensed
hunters elected not to purchase a hunting license (and related
tags), the revenue loss would be about $180,000 per year.