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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2013 - 2014
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | January 22, 2013 03:52 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Gary Haluska |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Amending Title 34 (Game) to significantly change the way hunters apply for and get antlerless deer licenses. |
| In the near future, I plan to introduce legislation amending Title 34 (Game) to significantly change the way hunters apply for and get antlerless deer licenses. The change will allow all licensing agents to issue doe tags along with county treasurers and the Game Commission. In the past, county treasurers have been the sole distributing agents for doe tags. This process worked well for many years under the old county-based wildlife management systems. However, with the change to larger Wildlife Management Units (WMUs) in 2003, the county-based system of doe tag distribution has become impractical. I believe it is time to move away from the old system and give to the PGC licensing agents, along with county treasurers, the authority to distribute doe tags using the new units and new methods. With the Point of Sale computer technologies now in use by the Game Commission to sell all of its licenses and tags, the capability exists for hunters to bypass the current system of mailed envelopes, checks, stamps, and delays. A much more modern and quicker way to buy a doe tag can be accomplished at each license sales location. My legislation is needed to allow that modernization to occur. A computerized drawing procedure could be put to use in Pennsylvania as it is in other states to end the first-come-first-serve pressures now facing interested applicants. Hunters will know at the time of their license purchase whether they received a doe tag and in which WMU. In my bill, county treasures can still sell antlerless licenses, as well as hunting licenses and other tags. Treasurers receive a $1 issuing agent fee for each tag they sell. It needs to be noted that with each doe tag sold with the new system this bill creates, county treasurers will lose that $1 fee. From testimony gathered through the years, some treasurers will welcome the lightening of their burdens. Others will resist the change due to reliance upon a certain level of budgeted cash flow, no matter how outdated the system and inconvenient it is to license buyers. At some time, PA hunters will be permitted to use the Point of Sale system to buy all of their licenses, including antlerless tags. That is what the system was designed to do and why I and many of my colleagues pushed the Game Commission to get it up and running. I believe that time is now. |
Introduced as HB680