BILL ANALYSIS
SB 1179
Page 1
Date of Hearing: June 15, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON WATER, PARKS AND WILDLIFE
Jared William Huffman, Chair
SB 1179 (Hollingsworth) - As Amended: June 21, 2010
SENATE VOTE : 28-6
SUBJECT : Free Hunt Days
SUMMARY : Requires the Department of Fish and Game (DFG) to
designate two free hunt days per year. Specifically, this bill :
1)Requires the director of DFG to designate 2 free hunt days per
year, one during the Fall hunt season and one during the
winter. Requires DFG to publish the dates of the free hunt
days.
2)Authorizes a California resident who has never previously held
a California state hunting license to hunt during a free hunt
day if accompanied by a licensed hunter who meets certain
requirements, and the unlicensed hunter stays in close visual
and verbal contact with the licensed hunter at all times.
Requires that the licensed hunter accompanying the unlicensed
hunter be at least 18 years old and licensed to hunt for the
last 3 consecutive years.
3)Provides that the unlicensed hunter would be subject to all of
the limitations, restrictions, conditions, statutes, rules and
regulations applicable to licensed hunters, except the
requirement to possess a valid hunting license.
4)Authorizes DFG to require an unlicensed hunter to demonstrate
the safe operation of the firearm prior to being authorized to
hunt on a free hunt day. Persons authorized to evaluate
whether the person has demonstrated safe operation of the
firearm include any person who has held a hunting license for
the last 3 years, a licensed firearms dealer or dealer's
employee, or a hunter education instructor. Authorizes DFG to
prohibit unlicensed hunters from taking species that require a
draw or lottery to obtain a tag or require a federal stamp.
5)Makes legislative findings and declarations regarding the
contributions of hunters and fishermen and the fact that the
state allows for 2 free fishing days, and states legislative
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intent to similarly allow for 2 free hunting days.
6)Requires an unlicensed hunter to complete an online hunter
safety course.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires possession of a hunting license to take birds or
mammals in California. Provides for issuance of hunting
licenses to residents and nonresidents upon payment of
specified fees.
2)Requires completion of a hunting education course as a
condition of obtaining a hunting license. Hunter education
courses are a minimum of 10 hours and cover firearm safety and
handling, sportsmanship and ethics, wildlife management and
conservation, archery, black powder, wildlife identification,
game care, first aid, and survival.
3)Requires possession of a fishing license to take fish.
Authorizes DFG to designate 2 free fishing days per year.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee analysis, increased enforcement costs to DFG of up to
$130,000 per year, and reduced license and tag fee revenue of
likely more than $180,000 per year.
COMMENTS : This bill requires DFG to designate 2 free hunt days
per year, during which any California resident who has not
previously been licensed to hunt in California could hunt
without a hunting license for free. Unlicensed hunters would
be required to be accompanied by a licensed hunter who is at
least 18 years of age, but there would be no minimum age limit
for the unlicensed hunter. This bill is also silent as to how
many unlicensed hunters one licensed hunter would be authorized
to supervise at a time, thereby presumably allowing one person
to supervise multiple unlicensed persons at one time.
This bill would allow persons to hunt two days a year without
first completing and passing the standard DFG approved hunter
education course which is otherwise required to obtain a hunting
license, though the June 21st amendments would require that the
person take a shorter online course. Currently, the hunter
education course requirement serves as a quasi-age limit for
hunters, since very young children are not generally capable of
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completing the course. The course includes both an online and
an in-person component. According to DFG's website, hunting
accidents of all types have declined substantially with the
hunter education course requirement. Although this bill allows
DFG to require an unlicensed hunter to demonstrate the safe
operation of the firearm they intend to use prior to being
authorized to hunt on a free hunt day, any licensed hunter who
has been licensed for the last three years, or any licensed
firearms dealer or employee, would be authorized to evaluate
whether the unlicensed person has demonstrated safe operation of
the firearm, and to provide an affidavit to DFG to that effect.
This bill would also allow one licensed person to supervise
multiple younger unlicensed hunters on the 2 free hunt days.
Currently, DFG on its junior hunt days requires one
hunting-licensed adult chaperone for every 2 youth, and also
requires young people participating in the junior hunt days for
the first time to complete a hunter education course. Even with
these adult to child ratio requirements, and the requirement for
the hunter education course, accidents have occurred on junior
hunt days. In 2006, an 11 year old boy lost his left eye and
had to undergo 12 hours of surgery when another boy accidentally
shot him on a state-organized junior pheasant hunt north of
Sacramento. That case ultimately resulted in a judgment of
substantial liability against the state. According to DFG at
that time, an average of 20 hunting accidents occur in
California yearly with 2 fatalities.
Hunter education courses also cover more than just safe
operation of firearms, and also include education on wildlife
management and conservation, sportsmanship and ethics, and other
related topics. The Legislature enacted hunting education
requirements in order to ensure the health and safety of hunters
and to reflect the Legislature's intent that hunters be aware of
their responsibilities to others, towards wildlife, and toward
their natural environment. In light of this intent, the
committee may wish to consider whether this bill contains
appropriate safeguards to warrant exempting unlicensed hunters
from the requirement to complete and pass the full hunter
education course.
Under this bill, persons who are interested in only hunting one
or two times per year could elect to just hunt on the two free
hunt days each year and never obtain a hunting license. To the
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extent persons who would otherwise be required to obtain a
hunting license elect not to, this bill could result in a
reduction of hunting license fee revenue to DFG. DFG's related
enforcement costs, however, would increase.
DFG would likely face additional enforcement challenges in the
field were this bill to become law. Currently, at least until
DFG's Automated License Data System (ALDS) is fully operational,
DFG has no way of tracking whether someone has previously held a
hunting license and would be eligible to hunt for free, and no
way of tracking whether a proposed supervising hunter has been
continually licensed for the prior three years and therefore
meets the eligibility criteria to be a supervisor.
Amendments adopted in the Senate changed the bill from a mandate
to an authorization for DFG to allow 2 free hunt days, and also
authorized DFG to adopt additional minimum requirements by
regulation. The June 21st author's amendments strike these
Senate amendments and return the bill to a mandate, and also
strike the authority for DFG to adopt additional minimum
requirements through regulation. By comparison, the
authorization for free fishing days is permissive rather than
mandatory on DFG.
Arguments in Support : Supporters assert that this bill provides
parity with fishing since DFG is already authorized to designate
2 free fishing days per year. They also contend that by
allowing persons who have never hunted before to try it out
before purchasing a license, this bill could introduce new
hunters to the sport who may then elect to purchase licenses in
the future. The author also cites statistics from the National
Shooting Sports Foundation indicating that accidental firearms
fatalities are at an all time low, the injury rate of hunting
compared to other types of recreation, and the impact of the
firearms industry on California's economy.
Arguments in Opposition : DFG opposes this bill unless amended.
They note this bill as currently drafted could expose the state
to liability by not fully addressing hunter education
requirements, including lax requirements for the supervising
hunter, additional requirements applicable to take of certain
species such as duck and upland game, and the lack of an
effective tracking system to prevent abuse. DFG indicates that
at a minimum a licensed hunter should be allowed to accompany
only one unlicensed hunter in the field at a time, and the
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unlicensed hunter should be required to possess a certificate of
completion of a hunter education class. They further note the
firearms certification component is in direct violation with
existing statute.
Policy Issues : The policy questions for the committee to
consider include: Should children or adults who do not possess
a hunting license, and have not completed and passed a full
hunter education course, be allowed to hunt without a hunting
license on two days per year, as designated by DFG? Should the
minimum age for licensed supervisors be greater than 18 years of
age? Should there be a limit on the number of unlicensed
persons one person can be responsible for supervising at a time?
Should persons authorized to supervise unlicensed hunters be
subject to background checks for prior violations, and be
required themselves to have recently completed a hunter
education course? Does the potential benefit of introducing
more people to the sport of hunting outweigh the increased
enforcement obligations and potential public safety issues this
bill could create?
If the committee elects to approve this bill, the committee may
want to consider the following amendments:
1) Clarify that completion and passage of the complete
state approved hunter education course is a required
prerequisite for any person to be eligible to hunt on a
free hunt day.
2) Require that persons desiring to participate in free
hunt days, and to supervise unlicensed hunters, register
with the department.
3) Require supervisors of unlicensed hunters to be at least
25 years of age.
4) Require that a supervisor only be authorized to
supervise one unlicensed hunter at a time.
5) Postpone authorization for free hunt days until DFG's
ALDS is fully operational.
6) Authorize rather than require DFG to establish 2 free
hunt days, and authorize DFG to adopt additional minimum
requirements or restrictions applicable to free hunt days.
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REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Association of Firearms Retailers
California Sportsman's Lobby, Inc.
National Rifle Association of America
National Shooting Sports Foundation, Inc.
Outdoor Sportsmen's Coalition of California
Safari Club International
Sierra Club
2 individuals
Opposition
Department of Fish and Game (unless amended)
Analysis Prepared by : Diane Colborn / W., P. & W. / (916)
319-2096