HOUSE BILL NO. 260 "An Act relating to electronic possession of certain licenses, tags, and identification cards issued by the Department of Fish and Game; and providing for an effective date." 4:31:12 PM REPRESENTATIVE DAN SADDLER, SPONSOR, read the sponsor statement: Smart phones have become an indispensable part of modern Alaska life. They provide users with inexpensive, convenient and reliable information and services, including communications, navigation, scheduling, research, photography, and entertainment. There is almost no aspect of life that smartphones don't make easier and better. HB 260 seeks to leverage modern communications technology to enhance the timeless pleasures of traditional Alaskan activities of hunting, fishing, and trapping, by allowing state licenses for these activities to be displayed on digital devices, as well as in paper form. In addition, it seeks to provide a peace officer examining an electronic device displaying a license with immunity from liability for damage to the device resulting from the inspection. State law currently requires outdoorsmen and women to carry paper licenses while enjoying licensed activities. But as anyone who's ever tumbled into a stream while landing a king salmon or sat in the rain in a duck blind knows, paper licenses can be damaged or lost at the worst possible time. And while a person might misplace their wallet, their smartphone is almost always within arm's reach. But for those circumstances when a person fails to have a license in actual possession, HB 260 turns the citation issued by a peace officer into a "fix-it ticket," whereby a person can nullify any violation for failure to have a license in actual possession, by presenting a valid license within 30 days. Alaskans have been authorized since 2013 to display secure proof of insurance on a digital device, and the benefits of extending that capability to outdoors recreational licenses are clear. They would: • Make it easier and more convenient for hunters, fishers and trappers to obtain and carry required licenses • Help entice new participants in these activities, by lowering one barrier to entry • Make Alaska a more attractive tourist destination by making it easier for visitors to get licenses • Improve compliance with state fish and wildlife management laws, by making it easier for enforcement officials to verify users are legal • Save money for the state and private license vendors, by reducing or eliminating printing costs • Enhance licensing security with harder-to- counterfeit digital licenses HB 260 also lays the foundation for smartphone-based "apps" that will eventually let ADF&G deliver timely information on local regulations, opening dates and times, and hazards to users; while letting outdoorsman reciprocate by sending back real-time data on harvest effort and success. Until then, the advantages of digital licenses are significant enough to warrant swift passage of HB 260. 4:34:51 PM Co-Chair Foster relayed the list of available testifiers online. 4:35:22 PM Co-Chair Foster OPENED public testimony. 4:35:53 PM RICK GEASE, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, KENAI RIVER SPORT FISHING ASSOCIATION, SOLDATNA (via teleconference), relayed that the Kenai River Sport Fishing Association fully supported HB 260. He thought it was consistent with being able to make application online. He suggested incorporating an electronic harvest card in the future. 4:37:17 PM Co-Chair Seaton asked how the fisheries or hunts that required recording of catch would be designed for use on a phone. Mr. Gease responded that if an electronic harvest card that allowed anglers to report on their phones while in the field were authorized now, the department could develop the application. Representative Saddler offered that currently capture was recorded on the back of the paper license. He said that under the legislation a form would need to be printed and filled out to record the capture of king salmon. However, the Board of Fish had recently decided that regulation would be changed so that a record of harvest of a specifically managed species would not have to be written in ink. He thought it was the next obvious step. 4:40:05 PM MARK RICHARDS, RESIDENT HUNTERS OF ALASKA, FAIRBANKS (via teleconference), fully supported HB 260. He told a story of one of the members of Resident Hunters of Alaska. He thought the bill was a great idea. He believed the department and the Alaska State Troopers would support it also. 4:41:18 PM SAMANTHA WEINSTEIN, SOUTHEAST ALASKA GUIDES ORGANIZATION, JUNEAU (via teleconference), spoke in support of the legislation. She read a prepared statement (copy on file). 4:42:34 PM Co-Chair Foster CLOSED public testimony. 4:43:39 PM Representative Pruitt MOVED to ADOPT Conceptual Amendment 1: Page 2, Line 8 Delete "any" Following "device": Insert ", except that a peace officer may be liable for civil damages that are the result of the peace officer's intentional misconduct" Representative Wilson OBJECTED for the purpose of discussion. Representative Pruitt explained the amendment. There being NO OBJECTION, it was so ordered. Representative Wilson MOVED to ADOPT Conceptual Amendment 2: Page 2, Line 2 Delete "in" Following "produces" Insert ", to an office of the arresting or citing agency, not later than 90 days after the issuance of the citation, a license previously issued to the person that was valid at the time of the offense." Representative Pruitt OBJECTED for the purpose of discussion. Representative Wilson explained the amendment. Representative Pruitt WITHDREW his OBJECTION. There being NO OBJECTION, it was so ordered. Vice-Chair Gara reviewed the fiscal note. 4:49:04 PM Co-Chair Seaton MOVED to report CSHB 260 (FIN) out of Committee with individual recommendations and the accompanying fiscal note. There being NO OBJECTION, it was so ordered. CSHB 260 (FIN) was REPORTED out of committee with a "do pass" recommendation and with a previously published zero fiscal note: FN1 (DFG). Co-Chair Foster discussed housekeeping.