00 SENATE BILL NO. 137 01 "An Act restricting the use of certain funds deposited in the fish and game fund; 02 relating to the powers and duties of the commissioner of fish and game; and 03 relating to management of fish and game." 04 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 05 * Section 1. AS 16.05.050(a) is amended by adding a new paragraph to read: 06  (20) to cooperate with sportsmen's organizations and other 07 organizations to increase game populations in the state and to introduce new 08 populations into suitable habitat. 09 * Sec. 2. AS 16.05.130(a) is repealed and reenacted to read: 10  (a) Except as provided in (c) of this section, money accruing to the state from 11 sport fishing, hunting, and trapping license, tag, or permit fees may not be diverted to 12 a purpose other than the protection, propagation, investigation, and restoration of sport 13 fish and game resources and the expenses of administering the sport fish and game 14 divisions of the department and shall be expended only as provided by appropriation. 01 Money subject to this subsection 02  (1) shall be used only for projects that provide for 03  (A) management of sport fish stocks and game populations for 04 sustained yield for human harvest and for nonretention fisheries; 05  (B) propagation, reintroduction, restocking, transplantation, 06 manipulation of habitat, predator removal, consumptive use and hunter safety 07 education, public access to sport fishing and hunting areas, or restoration of 08 sport fish and game resources; 09  (C) direct benefits to purchasers of sport fishing, hunting, and 10 trapping licenses, permits, and tags that increase sport fish stocks and game 11 populations, increase human harvests of sport fish and game, or decrease 12 predation upon sport fish or game; 13  (D) construction, operation, and maintenance of 14  (i) facilities used solely for the propagation or rearing 15 of sport fish or game for restocking, enhancement, or transplantation; 16  (ii) shooting ranges; or 17  (iii) facilities, including sanitation facilities, to improve 18 public access to areas where either consumptive uses of sport fish and 19 game or nonretention fisheries for sport fish are allowed; or 20  (E) administration of the fish and game license function and 21 payment of license vendor compensation; the amount of money expended under 22 this subparagraph may not exceed 10 percent of the total amount of money 23 appropriated by the legislature from the fish and game fund and federal funds 24 received by the state through the federal aid to fish restoration program and the 25 federal aid in wildlife restoration program; and 26  (2) may not be expended for 27  (A) projects or programs in an area where neither consumptive 28 uses of sport fish and game nor nonretention fisheries are allowed except for 29 projects described under (1)(D) of this subsection; 30  (B) law enforcement activities; or 31  (C) advertising. 01 * Sec. 3. AS 16.05.130(b) is amended to read: 02  (b) Money accruing to the state from waterfowl conservation tag fees from 03 hunters may not be diverted to a purpose other than (1) the [CONSERVATION AND] 04 enhancement of waterfowl; (2) the acquisition, by lease or otherwise, of wetlands that 05 are important for waterfowl and  consumptive uses  [PUBLIC USE] of waterfowl in the 06 state;  and  (3)  projects related to consumptive uses of  waterfowl [RELATED 07 PROJECTS APPROVED BY THE COMMISSIONER; (4) THE ADMINISTRATION 08 OF THE WATERFOWL CONSERVATION PROGRAM; AND (5) EMERGENCIES 09 IN THE STATE AS DETERMINED BY THE GOVERNOR]. The department shall 10 maintain a state waterfowl tag fee account within the fish and game fund to permit 11 separate accounting records for the receipt and expenditure of money derived from the 12 sale of waterfowl tags. [THE DEPARTMENT SHALL PREPARE A REPORT 13 BEFORE APRIL 15 OF EACH EVEN-NUMBERED YEAR FOR THE PUBLIC AND 14 THE LEGISLATURE ON THE USE OF MONEY DERIVED FROM WATERFOWL 15 CONSERVATION TAGS AND LIMITED EDITION PRINTS. THE DEPARTMENT 16 SHALL NOTIFY THE LEGISLATURE THAT THE REPORT IS AVAILABLE.] 17 * Sec. 4. AS 16.05.130 is amended by adding new subsections to read: 18  (e) Except as otherwise required by federal law, federal funds received by the 19 state through the federal aid to fish restoration program or the federal aid in wildlife 20 restoration program may not be expended except as provided by appropriation. Funds 21 subject to this subsection 22  (1) shall be used only for projects that provide for 23  (A) management of fish stocks and game populations for 24 sustained yield for human harvest and for nonretention fisheries; 25  (B) propagation, reintroduction, restocking, transplantation, 26 manipulation of habitat, predator removal, consumptive use and hunter safety 27 education, public access to sport fishing and hunting areas, or restoration of 28 sport fish and game resources; 29  (C) direct benefits to purchasers of sport fishing and hunting 30 licenses, permits, and tags that increase sport fish stocks and game populations, 31 increase human harvests of sport fish and game, or decrease predation upon 01 sport fish or game; or 02  (D) construction, operation, and maintenance of 03  (i) facilities used solely for the propagation or rearing 04 of sport fish or game for restocking, enhancement, or transplantation; 05  (ii) shooting ranges; or 06  (iii) facilities, including sanitation facilities, to improve 07 public access to areas where either consumptive uses of sport fish and 08 game or nonretention fisheries for sport fish are allowed; and 09  (2) may not be expended for projects or programs in an area where 10 neither consumptive uses of sport fish and game nor nonretention fisheries are allowed 11 except for projects described under (1)(D) of this subsection. 12  (f) The department shall prepare an annual report of expenditures from the fish 13 and game fund and provide the report to each member of the legislature. The report 14 must contain a detailed accounting of expenditures and a description of the proportion 15 of the fund expended for each project and of the benefits of each project to purchasers 16 of hunting, trapping, and sport fishing licenses. 17  (g) A person may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction 18 against a state agency or public official for an injunction to compel compliance with 19 this section or to compel remedial action to correct the consequences of a violation of 20 this section. 21 * Sec. 5. AS 16.05.940 is amended by adding new paragraphs to read: 22  (37) "high level of human harvest" means the opportunity with a high 23 probability of success for humans to harvest at least one-third of the harvestable 24 surplus of an animal population; in this paragraph, "high probability of success" means 25 a probability greater than 50 percent that a hunter will take an animal of the species 26 being hunted during a general hunting season or a subsistence hunting season other 27 than a drawing permit hunting season or subsistence hunting season established under 28 AS 16.05.258(b)(4); 29  (38) "intensive management" means management, consistent with the 30 sustained yield principle, of an identified big game prey population through active 31 management measures to enhance, extend, and develop the population to maintain high 01 levels or provide for higher levels of human harvest, including control of predation and 02 prescribed or planned use of fire and other habitat improvement techniques, but not 03 including restrictions on methods or means of taking game, access to game, or human 04 harvest of game; 05  (39) "sustained yield" means the achievement and maintenance in 06 perpetuity of a high level of human harvest on an annual basis of game, other than 07 mammalian predators or of fish. 08 * Sec. 6. AS 16.05.130(d), 16.05.255(h)(2), 16.05.255(h)(4), 16.05.255(h)(5), and 09 16.05.340(a)(17)(B) are repealed.