SB 16: "An Act restricting the use of certain funds deposited in the fish and game fund; and relating to the powers and duties of the commissioner of fish and game."
00SENATE BILL NO. 16 01 "An Act restricting the use of certain funds deposited in the fish and game fund; 02 and relating to the powers and duties of the commissioner of fish and game." 03 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 04 * Section 1. AS 16.05.050 is amended by adding a new paragraph to read: 05 (20) to cooperate with sportsmen's organizations and other 06 organizations to increase game populations in the state and to introduce new 07 populations into suitable habitat. 08 * Sec. 2. AS 16.05.130(a) is repealed and reenacted to read: 09 (a) Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, except as provided in (c) 10 of this section, money accruing to the state from sport fishing, hunting, and trapping 11 licenses, permits, or tags fees shall be expended only as provided by appropriation. 12 The legislature shall make a separate appropriation for each project to be funded from 13 money subject to this subsection. Money subject to this subsection 14 (1) shall be used only for projects that provide for
01 (A) intensive management of sport fish stocks and game 02 populations for maximum sustained yield for human harvest; 03 (B) propagation, reintroduction, restocking, transplantation, 04 manipulation of habitat, predator removal, hunter education, public access to 05 sport fishing and hunting areas, or restoration of sport fish and game resources; 06 (C) direct benefits to purchasers of sport fishing, hunting, and 07 trapping licenses, permits, and tags that increase sport fish stocks and game 08 populations, increase human harvests of sport fish and game, or decrease 09 predation upon sport fish or game; 10 (D) construction and preservation of shooting ranges; or 11 (E) administration of the fish and game license function and 12 payment of license vendor compensation; the amount of money expended under 13 this subparagraph may not exceed 10 percent of the total amount of money 14 appropriated by the legislature from the fish and game fund and federal funds 15 received by the state through the federal aid to fish restoration program and the 16 federal aid in wildlife restoration program; and 17 (2) may not be 18 (A) expended for projects in an area where consumptive uses 19 of sport fish and game are not allowed; 20 (B) expended, borrowed, or otherwise used for a purpose not 21 expressly authorized under this section; 22 (C) expended for costs of personnel or administration, other 23 than costs of personnel or administration directly incurred in conjunction with 24 projects allowed under this subsection; the amount that may be expended for 25 costs of administration of a project may not exceed 10 percent of the amount 26 appropriated for a project; or 27 (D) expended for costs of construction, other than costs of 28 construction projects that are consistent with (1) of this subsection and that are 29 for 30 (i) facilities used solely for the propagation or rearing 31 of sport fish or game for restocking, enhancement, or transplantation;
01 (ii) shooting ranges; or 02 (iii) facilities to improve public access to areas where 03 consumptive uses of sport fish and game are allowed. 04 * Sec. 3. AS 16.05.130(b) is amended to read: 05 (b) Money accruing to the state from waterfowl conservation tag fees from 06 hunters may not be diverted to a purpose other than (1) the [CONSERVATION AND] 07 enhancement of waterfowl; (2) the acquisition, by lease or otherwise, of wetlands that 08 are important for waterfowl and consumptive uses [PUBLIC USE] of waterfowl in the 09 state; and (3) projects related to consumptive uses of waterfowl [WATERFOWL 10 RELATED PROJECTS APPROVED BY THE COMMISSIONER; (4) THE 11 ADMINISTRATION OF THE WATERFOWL CONSERVATION PROGRAM; AND 12 (5) EMERGENCIES IN THE STATE AS DETERMINED BY THE GOVERNOR]. 13 The department shall maintain a state waterfowl tag fee account within the fish and 14 game fund to permit separate accounting records for the receipt and expenditure of 15 money derived from the sale of waterfowl tags. [THE DEPARTMENT SHALL 16 PREPARE A REPORT BEFORE APRIL 15 OF EACH EVEN-NUMBERED YEAR 17 FOR THE PUBLIC AND THE LEGISLATURE ON THE USE OF MONEY 18 DERIVED FROM WATERFOWL CONSERVATION TAGS AND LIMITED 19 EDITION PRINTS. THE DEPARTMENT SHALL NOTIFY THE LEGISLATURE 20 THAT THE REPORT IS AVAILABLE.] 21 * Sec. 4. AS 16.05.130 is amended by adding new subsections to read: 22 (e) Except as otherwise required by federal law, federal funds received by the 23 state through the federal aid to fish restoration program or the federal aid in wildlife 24 restoration program may not be expended except as provided by appropriation. Funds 25 subject to this subsection 26 (1) shall be used only for projects that provide for 27 (A) intensive management of fish stocks and game populations 28 for maximum sustained yield for human harvest; 29 (B) propagation, reintroduction, restocking, transplantation, 30 manipulation of habitat, predator removal, hunter education, public access to 31 sport fishing and hunting areas, or restoration of sport fish and game resources;
01 (C) direct benefits to purchasers of sport fishing and hunting 02 licenses, permits, and tags by increasing sport fish stocks and game 03 populations, increasing human harvests of sport fish and game, or decreasing 04 predation upon sport fish or game; or 05 (D) construction and preservation of shooting ranges; and 06 (2) may not be 07 (A) expended for projects in an area where consumptive uses 08 of sport fish and game are not allowed; 09 (B) expended, borrowed, or otherwise used for a purpose not 10 expressly authorized under this section; 11 (C) expended for costs of personnel or administration, other 12 than costs of personnel or administration directly incurred in conjunction with 13 projects allowed under this subsection; or 14 (D) expended for costs of construction, other than costs of 15 construction projects that are consistent with (1) of this subsection and that are 16 for 17 (i) facilities used solely for the propagation or rearing 18 of sport fish or game for restocking, enhancement, or transplantation; 19 (ii) shooting ranges; or 20 (iii) facilities to improve public access to areas where 21 consumptive uses of sport fish and game are allowed. 22 (f) The department shall prepare an annual report of expenditures from the fish 23 and game fund and provide the report to each member of the legislature. The report 24 must contain a detailed accounting of expenditures and a description of the proportion 25 of the fund expended for each project and of the benefits of each project to purchasers 26 of hunting, trapping, and sport fishing licenses. 27 (g) A person may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction 28 against a state agency or public official for an injunction to compel compliance with 29 this section or to compel remedial action to correct the consequences of a violation of 30 this section. A public official is not immune from suit under this section. In this 31 subsection, "public official" does not include a member of the legislature or a member
01 of the Board of Game or the Board of Fisheries. 02 (h) In this section, 03 (1) "harvestable surplus" means the estimated number of animals that 04 is equal to the number of offspring born in a population during a year less the number 05 of animals in the population that die during the year from all causes other than 06 predation or human harvest; 07 (2) "high level of human harvest" means the harvest of one-third or 08 more of the harvestable surplus of an animal population by humans; 09 (3) "intensive management" means management, in accordance with the 10 sustained yield principle, of an identified big game prey population or fish stock to 11 enhance, extend, and develop the population or stock to maintain high levels or 12 provide for higher levels of human harvest, including control of predation and 13 prescribed or planned use of fire and other habitat improvement techniques, but not 14 including restrictions on methods or means of taking fish or game, access to fish or 15 game, or human harvest of fish or game; 16 (4) "maximum sustained yield" means the achievement and 17 maintenance in perpetuity of a high level of human harvest on an annual basis of 18 game, other than mammalian predators, and of fish. 19 * Sec. 5. AS 16.05.130(d) and 16.05.340(a)(17)(B) are repealed.