PHEASANT HUNTING STAMP PROGRAM                                                                                                 H.B. 4126 (H-1):

                                                                                                                                                                                                      SUMMARY OF BILL

                                                                                                                                                                        REPORTED FROM COMMITTEE

House Bill 4126 (Substitute H-1 as reported without amendment)

Sponsor:   Representative Gary Howell

House Committee:   Natural Resources and Outdoor Recreation

Senate Committee:   Natural Resources

CONTENT

The bill would amend Part 435 (Hunting and Fishing Licensing) of the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act to require the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to deposit the fee collected from each pheasant hunting license, except as otherwise provided, into the pheasant subaccount of the Game and Fish Protection Account.

Under the Act, an individual 18 years of age or older may not hunt pheasants without a current annual pheasant hunting license. The fee for the pheasant hunting license is $25. The DNR must deposit 100% fee collected from each pheasant hunting license into the pheasant subaccount of the Game and Fish Protection account. The money within the subaccount must be spent, upon appropriation, only to release live pheasants on State-owned land suitable for pheasants.

Under the bill, except as provided in Sections 43541 and 43555, the DNR would have to deposit the fee collected from each pheasant hunting license into the pheasant subaccount. Money within the subaccount would have to be spent, upon appropriation, only for the costs associated with the purchase and release of live pheasants on suitable State-owned land. (Section 43541 allows a person authorized by the DNR to issue licenses to retain 7.5% of the fee for each sportscard, license, duplicate license, application, or permit that the person sells. Section 43555 generally requires $0.35 from each license and stamp fee under Part 435 to be transmitted to the DNR for deposit into the Wildlife Resource Protection Fund.)

MCL 324.43525c                                                                                                                   Legislative Analyst:   Dana Adams

FISCAL IMPACT

The bill would have a negative fiscal impact on the DNR and no fiscal impact on local units of government. The bill would amend the Act by modifying the pheasant subaccount allocation of funds and by broadening the purposes for which the revenue could be used. The funding source for the subaccount would be the $25 pheasant hunting license fee, which is set to begin on March 24, 2021. The law will require 100% of the revenue collected to be sent to the subaccount, but the bill would bring this hunting license into alignment with how other hunting fees are administered. The bill essentially would allow 7.5% of the fee to be retained by a person authorized to issue the license and would require $0.35 per license to be deposited into the Wildlife Resource Protection Fund. The exact amount of the decreased revenue to the Department would depend on the number of licenses issued, which currently is unknown.

Date Completed:   3-22-21                                                                                                       Fiscal Analyst:   Ben Dawson

This analysis was prepared by nonpartisan Senate staff for use by the Senate in its deliberations and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent.