Why It Matters: It is no secret that many state-level fish and wildlife agencies are in financial distress. These agencies are tasked with conserving and managing our wildlife, fisheries, public lands, boat ramps, and more that all residents and visitors enjoy and utilize, not just sportsmen and women. With the cost of living rising and stagnant revenues, many agencies find themselves forced to cut services and place more projects on the back burner as they try to complete multiple responsibilities and projects on a fiscal deficit. Mandating free and discounted licenses, without a reimbursement mechanism in place, is like poking a hole in the hull of an already leaking boat.
Highlights:
- Many state agencies are primarily funded through the revenues generated by sportsmen and women.
- Legislatures continually pass legislation mandating that certain individuals/groups receive free and/or discounted hunting/trapping/fishing licenses. While well-intended, these initiatives remove crucial funds for state fish and wildlife agencies to carry out their conservation mission.
- A reimbursement model requires that a state agency be reimbursed from the general fund for any free/discounted license(s) that the legislature decides to implement after a certain date.
- States must receive a net revenue of $2.00 from each license sale to report a certified license holder which qualifies them for additional funds from the federal government through the Wildlife Restoration Act (Pittman-Robertson) and the Sport Fish Restoration Act (Dingell-Johnson).
Sportsmen and women are the backbone of conservation through the American System of Conservation Funding, which is a “user pays – public benefits” system. On average, nearly 60% of all funds that are used by state fish and wildlife agencies derive from the license sales of hunting, trapping, and fishing, along with their federal match. If state legislatures continue to mandate that certain groups or individuals receive a free or discounted license, not only does the agency miss out on the initial funding, but they also have the potential to lose the ability to receive its federal match, which results in the loss of sometimes millions of dollars.
Tennessee serves as a great example of a state that has enacted legislation that makes the agency whole via reimbursement from the general fund for any lost funds that were mandated by the legislature in the form of free and/or discounted licenses. It is important to note: this legislation is not retroactive. Only free and/or discounted licenses that are implemented after this legislation’s enactment date are required to be reimbursed by the state’s general fund.
The Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation (CSF) encourages legislators to work towards providing statutory protection against the loss of conservation dollars by passing legislation to require their state fish and wildlife agency to be reimbursed from the general fund for any free licenses the legislature decides to implement in the future. This initiative ultimately protects the integrity of sportsmen-generated dollars through the American System of Conservation Funding.
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