SB 35-ELECTRONIC FISH & GAME LICENSURE    CHAIRMAN JOHN TORGERSON called the Senate Resources Committee meeting to order at 3:40 p.m. and announced SB 35 to be up for consideration. MR. KEVIN BROOKS, Director, Division of Administrative Service, Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G), said that at the end of 1999 the department had application available on the Internet for purchase of fish and game licenses, which proved to be popular. ADF&G sold nearly 10,000 pieces of stock and generated over $800,000 of revenue using this method. The total revenue for ADF&G for one year is about $23 million and 700,000 - 800,000 pieces of stock. The response from the public has been very positive, but ADF&G has found that the statutes as written presume a paper process. The Internet application takes 24 - 48 hours for the department to process. It works well for non-residents because there is a lot more preplanning that goes into their trips, but ADF&G is trying to bridge the gap for those people who would want to fish the same day. He said ADF&G does not anticipate that Internet applications will take the place of over-the-counter sales. ADF&G has over 1,500 vendors statewide that it appreciates doing business with. SB 35 would allow ADF&G, in conjunction with the Department of Public Safety and the Fish and Wildlife Protection, to develop a paperless method of issuing licenses. Currently four other states, Idaho, Georgia, Oklahoma, and Florida, use a "smart number." The number includes digits that identify the license year and gender of the individual and possibly other information. The number would be encoded and the bill would require the individual who decides to purchase a license in this manner to agree to carry a picture I.D., which would help enforcement. MR. BROOKS said ADF&G is trying to take three things into account in changing the licensing system: it wants to make sure it is enhancing public service; it is not doing anything to jeopardize enforcement efforts; and it is not doing anything that would negatively affect the revenue stream. He said ADF&G has attempted to address some of the potential issues by requiring a best interest finding and getting the concurrence of the Division of Enforcement, which has expressed concerns about going paperless. Another issue of importance is finding a good way to record the harvest. The bill would give legislative approval to pursue electronic licensing. CHAIRMAN TORGERSON said he had some of the same concerns about recording harvest. MR. BROOKS said they have discussed whether making the licensing system easier for a person would make someone who is otherwise honest more prone to cheat on a license. He said ADF&G needs to work with the Board of Game to find an effective way to use a harvest ticket that is based on the honor system. CHAIRMAN TORGERSON responded "It's only an honor system if you got away with it." MR. BROOKS agreed. He said that a person is supposed to record a harvest "while the slime is still on your hands." CHAIRMAN TORGERSON said he didn't see how a person, "could do it with a beautiful picture I.D. card that says Alaska Fish and Game on it." MR. BROOKS responded that a separate harvest ticket would be the option. CHAIRMAN TORGERSON replied then ADF&G has to mail it so it might as well keep the other system. MR. BROOKS responded that he didn't view that as a reason not to try to make this a better system. CHAIRMAN TORGERSON said he would like to see the whole system before he gives him a bill. SENATOR ELTON said it seems that one of the check points that may get to that issue is that this will not happen unless the Division of Enforcement concurs that it works for them. CAPTAIN HOWARD STARBARD, Division of Wildlife Protection, Department of Public Safety (DPS), said the bill as written would cause the Department of Fish and Game to get concurrence from his commissioner when the system would come up. He thought electronic licensing and recording of harvest would be hard to enforce. CHAIRMAN TORGERSON asked if he envisioned that each officer would use some sort of mini-computer to look up an I.D. number to see if it's current. CAPTAIN STARBARD answered affirmatively and said that they could use something like a palm pilot. SENATOR ELTON noted the bill has a zero fiscal note, but that they would allow the vendor to assess up to $3 more for the issuance of a permit or license electronically, but the $3 would be retained by the vendor so it doesn't increase revenues to the department at all. MR. BROOKS responded that is correct and explained that currently a vendor gets 5 percent of the gross sale, plus $1 per item. The commission for a fishing license and a king salmon stamp is about $3 for a resident. A non-resident sale is substantially higher. He pointed out that section really only applies if the department contracts with someone to do it for them. Currently, the Internet sales are made by the state so no vendor commission is paid. All of the money goes into the ADF&G fund. SENATOR ELTON asked if this could show a positive fiscal impact because the more licenses the department sells electronically, the less discount it will be giving to vendors. MR. BROOKS replied that is correct. He added that the database often has a 90 - 100 day lag to data capture using a vendor who reports monthly. With Internet sales, there's instant update of the database and the department doesn't have to hire someone to capture the data. CHAIRMAN TORGERSON said they could use a driver's license so they aren't giving everyone new numbers. MR. BROOKS said they discussed drivers' licenses, but not every one carries a license either. CHAIRMAN TORGERSON said the committee would set this aside until Mr. Brooks came back with a master plan.