HB 260-FISH & GAME LICENSES; ELECTRONIC FORM    11:03:30 AM CHAIR STUTES announced that the first order of business would be 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." 11:04:28 AM REPRESENTATIVE DAN SADDLER, Alaska State Legislature, Juneau, Alaska, paraphrased the sponsor statement, which read as follows [original punctuation provided]: 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. 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. 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. REPRESENTATIVE SADDLER began his testimony by offering [and holding up] his smartphone as his fishing license, stating that would depend upon passage of HB 260. If the bill passes it would then be possible to trade paper fishing licenses for digital ones, he said. He offered this as a first step to take in the digital revolution as it applies to hunting and fishing licenses. He asked committee members to support HB 260. 11:08:13 AM REPRESENTATIVE KREISS-TOMKINS characterized HB 260 as a "great bill." He said he sees many parallels between this bill and a bill passed several years ago that used smartphones to provide digital proof of driver's insurance. He said he personally used that technology and found it simple and easy to use. He has not heard any negative impacts on the digital technology for driver's vehicle insurance, he stated. He offered his belief that HB 260 seemed to be consistent with the new digital society that everyone lives in. 11:09:03 AM REPRESENTATIVE SADDLER said that one of the few questions that has arisen on digital proof of auto insurance was the liability in the event a law enforcement officer checking for proof of vehicle insurance, took possession of a phone and dropped and damaged the smartphone. Currently liability in state law exists such that in the event an officer takes the smartphone and damages or breaks it, the police officer is not liable; thus, it was up to an individual to decide if he/she wants to hand his/her phone to an officer. CHAIR STUTES also characterized HB 260 as a "great bill" that may also pave the way for electronic or digital commercial fishing licenses, which she believed would be an advantage. 11:10:08 AM REPRESENTATIVE TARR noted that she liked the bill. She stated that some she appreciated that the bill did not require a fishing license to be presented in electronic form as some of her constituents do not have the means to own a smartphone. 11:10:36 AM CHAIR STUTES announced that HB 260 would be set aside. [HB 260 was held over.]