Legislature(2015 - 2016)BUTROVICH 205
04/06/2015 03:30 PM Senate RESOURCES
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| Confirmation Hearing: Agdc Board of Directors | |
| HB70 | |
| SB48 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| += | HB 70 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | SB 48 | TELECONFERENCED | |
SB 48-FORMER RESIDENT HUNTING LICENSE
4:36:10 PM
CHAIR GIESSEL announced the consideration of SB 48.
4:36:14 PM
RANDY RUARO, staff to Senator Stedman, sponsor of SB 48, Alaska
State Legislature, Juneau, Alaska, explained that it encourages
former Alaskans to return to Alaska to hunt or fish with family
members. The qualifying former Alaskan would be allowed to pay
the reduced resident rate for their hunting or fishing license.
This former Alaskan must be U.S. citizen, have been an Alaska
resident in the past, have held a resident license for that
activity, have paid the fee for the resident license, and be
sponsored by an Alaskan resident family member whom they will
hunt or fish with when they return. The number of these
licenses is capped at 1,000. Fish and Game officials from
Montana, which has a similar program, said it took a while to
build up in popularity, so they are not anticipating reaching
the cap in the first year.
SENATOR STOLTZE asked if this makes any other substantive
changes to non-resident requirements.
MR. RUARO answered that a provision in the bill exempts these
non-residents from being required to hunt with a registered
guide.
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI asked if this would allow non-residents to
dip net.
MR. RUARO replied that it reduces the rate paid for their
licenses. The bill does not distinguish by type of fishing
activity.
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI asked if they would gain other rights that
residents have, for instance, access to personal use fisheries.
4:39:17 PM
MR. RUARO answered if a right exists for a resident and a person
qualifies under this bill for that resident license, they would
have the right a resident has now. So, it could expand that
universe.
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI said that he wouldn't support that. He
asked if this would apply to king stamps.
MR. RUARO answered that he didn't know if there was a difference
for non-residents and residents for king stamps, but it would if
that individual qualified under the expanded term.
CHAIR GIESSEL remarked that there is no fee for personal use and
it automatically goes with the resident fishing license, so it
would go with that as well for the non-resident.
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI asked on page 2, line 3, how to define "may
not hunt or fish unless personally accompanied by non-resident
sponsor."
MR. RUARO answered that it is not a defined term; the intent is
that the family member that is the sponsor would be on the same
trip in the vicinity with the family member that has qualified
for the reduced fee license. But there is no definition for
physical presence proximity.
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI asked what "exempt from AS 16.05.407(a)(1)"
on page 2, line 4, means.
MR. RUARO answered that it goes to Senator Stoltze's previous
question about non-residents being required to have a
professional guide.
4:41:52 PM
SENATOR MICCICHE said a person could come to Alaska for a
temporary project for a year, become a resident, and then move
outside and just happen to have a relative by blood or marriage
and forever have resident access to the state's hunting and
fishing resource at the cost of a resident and asked if the
sponsor would consider a minimum time for being in the state.
MR. RUARO answered they had looked at various options and agreed
that the timeframe for becoming a resident can be fairly short.
They would continue to look for a good definition.
SENATOR MICCICHE said he agreed with Senator Wielechowski that
personal use is for survival of Alaskans and not necessarily to
load on a plane and take somewhere else. He would like to see
that amended.
SENATOR STOLTZE asked the justification for determining the non-
resident had to previously hold a license.
MR. RUARO replied that they were trying to create some ties to
actual participation in a fishery or hunting activity along with
being a former resident.
SENATOR STOLTZE said that two months might be semi-palatable. He
remembered needing to be the age of 16 to get a license and
therefore would not be able to qualify if he had left the state
before then.
MR. RUARO couldn't recall an age requirement for licensure.
4:45:39 PM
SENATOR COSTELLO asked if creating two classes of people - the
first 1,000 and the second 1,000 - was fair.
MR. RUARO replied that it creates a first in the door dynamic,
but it is important to cap the licenses in case they turned out
to be overly popular in drawing in large numbers of folks who
would be coming here anyway.
SENATOR COSTELLO assumed that he wouldn't want the state to lose
the revenue, which would be about a half million dollars.
MR. RUARO answered that it was a revenue issue and at the same
time they wanted a program in place for a few years to see how
popular it was.
4:47:31 PM
SENATOR COSTELLO asked for the difference in license fees.
MR. RUARO answered that the previous fiscal note assumed 1,000
people that otherwise would not have come to Alaska and the new
fiscal note was revised downward significantly to reflect the
fact that the program wasn't expected to max out in the first
year.
SENATOR COSTELLO asked what the license fees are now and what
they would be if this bill passes.
MR. RUARO said there are different tag fees and he would have to
get that information for her.
SENATOR COSTELLO asked what the department uses the proceeds
from fishing and hunting licenses for.
MR. RUARO answered that he didn't know if the funds can be
traced to exact functions in the department.
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI said there are often lotteries for hunting
and asked if this potentially crowds Alaskan residents out of
those lotteries.
MR. RUARO answered that they hadn't thought about the lottery
hunts in drafting the bill. But as written a non-resident could
apply for and receive a resident license if they met these
requirements. They hadn't taken it the additional step to sort
out whether that would also give them standing to apply for the
lottery hunts.
4:50:14 PM
CHAIR GIESSEL asked how many vendors sell licenses in Alaska.
MR. RUARO answered in the thousands.
CHAIR GIESSEL asked if you can get a fishing license on line.
MR. RUARO answered yes.
CHAIR GIESSEL said conceivably these licenses could be gone in
one hour.
MR. RUARO responded that this is an exception to getting a
license on line. It will require a paper affidavit swearing that
one meets the requirements.
CHAIR GIESSEL asked how many fishing licenses are issued each
year.
MR. RUARO answered several hundred thousand.
CHAIR GIESSEL said that could mean that 1,000 licenses could be
reached rather quickly.
MR. RUARO agreed that was a possibility.
4:51:57 PM
SENATOR STOLTZE mentioned that one of the more contentious
issues for the Board of Game's last cycle was Dall sheep hunts
and he couldn't imagine telling one of his constituents why he
let somebody's cousin jump ahead of them. Had the sponsor
thought about the mess this would create?
MR. RUARO replied that was an important issue and they hadn't
chased down every potential hunt that a non-resident could be
allowed into, so several could be of such importance to industry
and Alaskans that the bill might not apply to that particular
hunt. The intent behind the bill was more general: sport fish
for king salmon and deer hunting.
CHAIR GIESSEL opened public testimony and finding no testimony
said she would keep it open and held SB 48 in committee.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| Resume-Rick Halford.pdf |
SRES 4/6/2015 3:30:00 PM |
|
| CSHB 70 Version E.pdf |
SRES 4/6/2015 3:30:00 PM |
HB 70 |
| CSHB 70 Sponsor Statement.pdf |
SRES 4/6/2015 3:30:00 PM |
HB 70 |
| CSHB 70 Fiscal Note.pdf |
SRES 4/6/2015 3:30:00 PM |
HB 70 |
| CSHB 70 Creamer's Field Migratory Wildfowl Refuge Map.pdf |
SRES 4/6/2015 3:30:00 PM |
HB 70 |
| CSHB 70 Creamer's Field Interim Management Plan march 1993.pdf |
SRES 4/6/2015 3:30:00 PM |
HB 70 |
| CSHB 70 Letter of Support.pdf |
SRES 4/6/2015 3:30:00 PM |
HB 70 |
| SB48 Version H.PDF |
SRES 4/6/2015 3:30:00 PM |
SB 48 |
| SB48 Sponsor Statement.pdf |
SRES 4/6/2015 3:30:00 PM |
SB 48 |
| SB48 Sectional Analysis.pdf |
SRES 4/6/2015 3:30:00 PM |
SB 48 |
| SB48 Supporting Document-Chronicle Outdoors.pdf |
SRES 4/6/2015 3:30:00 PM |
SB 48 |
| CSHB70-Version P.pdf |
SRES 4/6/2015 3:30:00 PM |
HB 70 |
| HB70 Explanation of Changes-Version P.pdf |
SRES 4/6/2015 3:30:00 PM |
HB 70 |
| SB48 Fiscal Note-ADF&G Updated.pdf |
SRES 4/6/2015 3:30:00 PM |
SB 48 |