THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA

HOUSE BILL

INTRODUCED BY STABACK, CALTAGIRONE, CUTLER, GEIST, HALUSKA, HARHAI, HESS, KOTIK, MILLER, MOUL, MURPHY, READSHAW, SONNEY, WATERS AND YUDICHAK, JANUARY 29, 2010

REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON GAME AND FISHERIES, JANUARY 29, 2010  

AN ACT

Amending Title 30 (Fish) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated

Statutes, in preliminary provisions, further providing for

definitions; in Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission,

further providing for deputy waterways conservation officers;

in fishing licenses, further providing for possession and

display of licenses, for institutional licenses and for

exemptions from license requirements; in special licenses and

permits, further providing for boat and net licenses for

boundary lakes; in regulated fishing lakes, further providing

for fees; in preliminary provisions relating to boats and

boating, further providing for boating education and for

chemical testing to determine amount of alcohol or controlled

substance; and, in registration and titling of boats, further

providing for period of registration.

The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

hereby enacts as follows:

Section 1.  The definition of "fishing" in section 102 of

Title 30 of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes is amended to

read:

§ 102.  Definitions.

Subject to additional definitions contained in subsequent

provisions of this title which are applicable to specific

provisions of this title, the following words and phrases when

used in this title shall have, unless the context clearly

indicates otherwise, the meanings given to them in this section:

* * *

"Fishing."  The act of angling, or to catch, take, kill or

remove or the attempt to catch, take, kill or remove from any

waters [or other areas] within or bordering on or lands within 

this Commonwealth any fish by any means or method for any

purpose whatsoever.

* * *

Section 2.  Sections 305(a)(1), 2703(a), 2708, 2709(e),

2903(h), 3102, 5103(i)(1), 5125(b)(2) and 5308 of Title 30 are

amended to read:

§ 305.  Deputy waterways conservation officers.

(a)  Appointment and training.--The executive director, with

the approval of the commission, may appoint deputy waterways

conservation officers to act anywhere within this Commonwealth.

Newly appointed deputy waterways conservation officers,

excluding reappointments, shall attend such training programs as

may be required by the commission, which shall include at a

minimum:

(1)  Successful completion of training and obtaining a

certificate of qualification under the act of October 10,

1974 (P.L.705, No.235), known as the Lethal Weapons Training

Act, or equivalent training as determined by the executive

director prior to appointment.

* * *

§ 2703.  Possession and display of licenses.

(a)  General rule.--No person 16 years of age or older shall

fish in any of the waters of this Commonwealth or in any

boundary waters or lands within this Commonwealth without first

procuring the proper license required by this chapter. The

license shall be kept about the person while fishing and shown

upon the request of any waterways conservation officer or other

officer designated by the commission. In addition to showing the

license to the officer, the holder thereof shall, upon demand,

establish his further identity to the satisfaction of the

officer by producing some other positive means of

identification. The commission may promulgate rules and

regulations for the displaying of the license certificate,

license button or other device, as it deems necessary.

* * *

§ 2708.  Institutional licenses.

Any resident of this Commonwealth who is a resident patient

in a Commonwealth owned [and] or supported medical or

rehabilitation institution [for mental disability, geriatric

center, tubercular hospital] or county home or hospital, or any

veteran who is a patient in a United States Government Veterans'

Administration Hospital or in a State veterans' home, or [who]

is a juvenile of a State youth development center or forestry

camp, and who may benefit from recreational fishing during the

course of treatment, rehabilitation or hospitalization [may be

issued a resident fishing license without paying a license fee]

is eligible for inclusion on an institutional fishing license

issued by the commission to a qualifying institution at no cost.

[Licenses authorized by this section may be issued by the

superintendent or chief medical officer of the institution who

shall sign an affidavit certifying that recreational fishing may

be of benefit to the rehabilitation of the patient and that the

patient is an inpatient of the institution. The affidavits, and

records of the number and to whom the licenses were issued,

shall be forwarded to the commission on such forms as the

commission shall provide.] The commission shall establish

policies and procedures for the issuance of an institutional

license. The commission may revoke license issuing privileges of

any institution for failure to comply with any provisions of

this chapter [or], the regulations promulgated thereunder and

the policies and procedures established under this title.

§ 2709.  Exemptions from license requirements.

* * *

(e)  [Students participating in biological field project.--A

student enrolled in a secondary or undergraduate course of

instruction shall not be required to possess a fishing license

to gather specimens while participating in an educationally

sponsored biological field project that is under the direct

supervision of a high school or accredited institution of

postsecondary education as long as the educational institution

has applied for and received the written permission of the

commission.] Participants in educational programs.--A

participant in an educational program shall not be required to

possess a fishing license while participating in the educational

program, provided that:

(1)  The program meets the standards established by the

executive director.

(2)  The program is under the direct supervision of an

instructor who possesses a valid fishing license.

(3)  The program sponsor has applied for and received the

written permission of the executive director.

* * *

§ 2903.  Boat and net licenses for boundary lakes.

* * *

(h)  Gill nets.--

[(1)  On and after January 1, 1996, the use of gill nets

for fishing on boundary lakes shall be prohibited.

(2)  The commission shall establish a gill net licensee

recompense program whereby persons holding 1992 licenses to

use gill nets on boundary lakes shall be recompensed as

provided in this paragraph. The amount of the payment to each

licensee shall be based on the average of the licensee's two

highest years of catches taken with gill nets for the years

1990, 1991, 1992, 1993 and 1994. The payment shall be the

product of such average catch multiplied by the average value

received for such catch as reported to the commission.] The

use of gill nets for fishing on boundary lakes shall be

prohibited.

§ 3102.  Fees.

(a)  Class A lakes.--The annual license fee for a Class A

regulated fishing lake (except [portable trout] temporary 

fishing ponds operated as regulated fishing lakes) shall be

based on the total area of fishing water on the premises to be

licensed, whether the area consists of one body of water or more

than one.

(1)  Where the total area of water is less than 20 acres,

the fee shall be $100.

(2)  Where the total water area is 20 acres or more but

less than 40 acres, the fee shall be $250.

(3)  Where the area is 40 acres or more, the fee shall be

$500.

(b)  Class B lakes.--The annual license fee for a Class B

regulated fishing lake (except [portable trout] temporary 

fishing ponds operated as regulated fishing lakes) shall be

based on the total area of fishing water on the premises to be

licensed, whether the area consists of one body of water or more

than one.

(1)  Where the total area of water is less than 30 acres,

the fee shall be $50.

(2)  Where the total area of water is 30 acres or more,

the fee shall be $100.

(c)  [Portable] Temporary fishing ponds.--

(1)  [The] Except as otherwise provided in paragraph (3),

the annual license fee for a [portable trout] temporary

fishing pond which the operator seeks to operate as a Class A

regulated fishing lake shall be $200.

(2)  The annual license fee for a [portable trout]

temporary fishing pond which the operator seeks to operate as

a Class B regulated fishing lake shall be $50.

(3)  The annual license fee for a temporary fishing pond

that is operated as a Class A regulated fishing lake

exclusively by or on behalf of a nonprofit sportsmen's

conservation or charitable organization shall be $25.

§ 5103.  Boating education.

* * *

(i)  Other valid documentation.--

(1)  In lieu of a certificate of boating safety education

issued by the Commonwealth, a certificate of boating safety

education issued [in] to a resident of another state in

accordance with criteria of the National Association of State

Boating Law Administrators is sufficient to comply with the

requirements of this section.

* * *

§ 5125.  Chemical testing to determine amount of alcohol or

controlled substance.

* * *

(b)  Suspension for refusal.--

* * *

(2)  It is the duty of the waterways conservation officer

to inform the person that:

(i)  the person's boating privileges will be

suspended upon refusal to submit to chemical testing; and

(ii)  if the person refuses to submit to chemical

testing, upon conviction or plea for violating section

5502(a)(1), the person will be subject to the penalties

provided in section [5502(c)(3)] 5502(c.1)(3).

* * *

§ 5308.  Period of registration.

Registrations issued under this subchapter to owners and

dealers shall be valid from April 1 of one year to March 31 of

the succeeding year and shall be renewable. A registration for

any year shall be valid and may properly be displayed prior to

April 1 within that year. The commission may determine to issue

registrations valid for a period not to exceed three years upon

payment of a fee equal to the annual registration fee times the

number of years for which the multiple-year registration is

valid. A multiple-year registration shall be valid from April 1

of the year of its issuance until March 31 of the last year of

its validity, but a multiple-year [license] registration issued

prior to April 1 of any year is valid and may be displayed at

any time within that year. The commission may, by regulation,

provide for the transfer of multiple-year registrations upon the

sale or conveyance of a boat upon payment of the fee provided in

section 5104(8) (relating to fees).

Section 3.  This act shall take effect in 60 days.