Relating to special deer hunting licenses available to nonresident family members

Description

Senate File 553 creates a new special nonresident family member deer hunting license for one-half the fee of a regular nonresident deer hunting license. The Bill defines a family member as a person who is a parent, stepparent, child, stepchild, sibling, stepsibling, grandparent, grandchild, or spouse. The license may only be used by a nonresident while hunting with a resident family member on the property for which the resident family member received a resident landowner deer hunting license. The special license grants a nonresident family member the same privileges as a resident license and is not subject to requirements or quotas imposed on nonresidents. However, the nonresident must purchase an annual nonresident hunting license in addition to the deer hunting license.

Background

The Natural Resource Commission (NRC) is limited to issuing 6,000 nonresident antlered or any-sex deer hunting licenses annually. After the limit is reached, the NRC may determine a number of nonresident antlerless-only deer hunting licenses to issue. To hunt in Iowa, nonresidents are required to purchase a nonresident annual hunting license including a habitat fee, purchase a nonresident deer hunting license, and pay a $1 fee to support deer herd population management and the processing of deer donated to the Help Us Stop Hunger (HUSH) Program. If the nonresident deer hunting license is for antlered or any-sex deer, the nonresident must also purchase an antlerless-only deer hunting license. The price of a nonresident antlered or any-sex deer license is $348.50, and the price of a nonresident annual hunting and habitat combination license is $144. Nonresidents under the age of 18 qualify for an annual hunting and habitat license for $45.

Iowa Code section 483A.24(2)(c) allows qualified resident owners or tenants of a farm unit, or their child or spouse, to apply for one antlered or any-sex deer hunting license and one antlerless-only deer hunting license for free. The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) reports that in FY 2022, there were 31,000 resident landowner or tenant any-sex deer hunting licenses sold.

Fees from the sale of hunting and fishing licenses are deposited in the Fish and Wildlife Trust Fund, which is used for fish and wildlife research, education, management, and expansion of wildlife opportunities. The Fund is constitutionally protected and must be used for these purposes by the DNR.

Assumptions

• The DNR will require a one-time programming expense of $1,000 to program, test, and update its electronic licensing system for the new license type.
• The DNR estimates it will take one hour to process an application for the new license, and the DNR will require additional full-time equivalent (FTE) positions to process applications, depending on the number of special licenses sold.
• There will be an increase in the number of annual nonresident hunting and habitat licenses sold at a cost of $144.
• The new deer hunting licenses that are sold will be antlered or any-sex licenses sold at a cost of $174.75.
• It is unknown how many licenses will be sold as a result of the Bill.
• It is assumed that half the resident land owners that applied for a license in FY 2022 would have a nonresident family member apply for the new license.

Fiscal Impact

Table 1 provides a range of revenue increases to the Fish and Wildlife Trust Fund from the sale of the new license created in the Bill, as well as an increase in annual hunting and habitat licenses. The total price for the new license and a hunting and habitat combination license is $318.75.

Table 1 The DNR will incur a one-time $1,000 estimated programming expense.

The DNR may require additional FTE positions depending on how many new licenses are sold. However, since the number of licenses sold is unknown, the number of FTE positions needed to process applications is also unknown. The DNR estimates that each new FTE position required would cost $50,000 per position.

Sources

• Department of Natural Resources
• Legislative Services Agency