[House Report 113-67]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
113th Congress } { Report
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
1st Session } { 113-67
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PERMANENT ELECTRONIC DUCK STAMP ACT OF 2013
_______
May 17, 2013.--Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the
State of the Union and ordered to be printed
_______
Mr. Hastings of Washington, from the Committee on Natural Resources,
submitted the following
R E P O R T
[To accompany H.R. 1206]
[Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]
The Committee on Natural Resources, to whom was referred
the bill (H.R. 1206) to grant the Secretary of the Interior
permanent authority to authorize States to issue electronic
duck stamps, and for other purposes, having considered the
same, report favorably thereon without amendment and recommend
that the bill do pass.
PURPOSE OF THE BILL
The purpose of H.R. 1206 is to grant the Secretary of the
Interior permanent authority to authorize States to issue
electronic duck stamps.
BACKGROUND AND NEED FOR LEGISLATION
On March 16, 1934, Congress passed the Migratory Bird
Hunting Stamp Act. Under this law, every hunter over the age of
16 is required to purchase a Federal duck stamp each year if he
or she wants to hunt migratory waterfowl. The price of a duck
stamp has increased from $1 to the present cost of $15. Since
the inception of the Federal Duck Stamp Program, the Fish and
Wildlife Service (FWS) has collected more than $800 million
from the sale of duck stamps. These monies, deposited in the
Migratory Bird Conservation Fund, have been used to purchase or
lease over 6 million acres of land at a total purchase price of
over $1 billion for inclusion in the National Wildlife Refuge
System. The Federal Duck Stamp Office has indicated that 98
percent of the dollars deposited in the Fund is used for
wetland acquisition. The remaining 2 percent is spent on the
printing and distribution of the stamps.
The duck stamp receipts have varied each year because of
changes in waterfowl population levels, bag limits and economic
conditions. The number of duck stamps sold has declined,
however, from 2.5 million per year in 1971-1972 to 1.5 million
stamps per year in 2011-2012. During that year, $22 million was
deposited into the Migratory Bird Conservation Fund.
The Electronic Duck Stamp Act of 2006 (Public Law 109-266)
directed the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a three-year
pilot program that would allow up to 15 States to issue
electronic Federal migratory bird hunting stamps. Those states
that choose to participate in the program were permitted to
charge a reasonable fee to recover their administrative costs.
In the past ten years, state electronic hunting and fishing
licenses have become popular throughout the United States. They
are easy to obtain because a potential hunter or angler can
simply use his or her personal computer to access the
appropriate state fish and wildlife department website and
within a matter of moments are printing a document.
The electronic pilot program began in the 2007-2008 hunting
year and is currently in its sixth year. There are currently
eight states (Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Maryland,
Minnesota, Texas and Wisconsin) where an individual can obtain
a Federal duck stamp in an electronic form. Since its
inception, more than 3.5 million stamps have been purchased in
this manner. These stamps are valid for 45 days from the date
of purchase.
Under P.L. 109-266, FWS is required to undertake a
comprehensive evaluation of the pilot program to determine
whether it has been cost-effective and a convenient means for
issuing migratory bird hunting and conservation stamps. This
report was submitted to Congress in August 2011 and concluded:
``The E-Stamp Program has proven to be a practical method that
is readily accepted by the stamp-buying public. The increased
sale of E-Stamps, coupled with few complaints about the process
through the three-year pilot, suggests customers are satisfied
with this method of acquiring their Duck Stamps and the options
available to them in their States.''
This legislation will permanently allow FWS to authorize
certain states to sell the annual Federal Duck Stamp.
COMMITTEE ACTION
H.R. 1206 was introduced on March 14, 2013, by Congressman
Robert Wittman (R-VA). The bill was referred to the Committee
on Natural Resources, and within the Committee to the
Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife, Oceans, and Insular
Affairs. On April 24, 2013, the Full Natural Resources
Committee met to consider the bill. The Subcommittee on
Fisheries, Wildlife, Oceans, and Insular Affairs was discharged
by unanimous consent. No amendments were offered, and the bill
was then adopted and ordered favorably reported to the House of
Representatives by unanimous consent.
COMMITTEE OVERSIGHT FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Regarding clause 2(b)(1) of rule X and clause 3(c)(1) of
rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives, the
Committee on Natural Resources' oversight findings and
recommendations are reflected in the body of this report.
COMPLIANCE WITH HOUSE RULE XIII
1. Cost of Legislation. Clause 3(d)(1) of rule XIII of the
Rules of the House of Representatives requires an estimate and
a comparison by the Committee of the costs which would be
incurred in carrying out this bill. However, clause 3(d)(2)(B)
of that Rule provides that this requirement does not apply when
the Committee has included in its report a timely submitted
cost estimate of the bill prepared by the Director of the
Congressional Budget Office under section 402 of the
Congressional Budget Act of 1974. Under clause 3(c)(3) of rule
XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives and section
403 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, the Committee has
received the following cost estimate for this bill from the
Director of the Congressional Budget Office:
H.R. 1206--Permanent Electronic Duck Stamp Act of 2013
H.R. 1206 would authorize the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service (USFWS) to permanently allow any state to provide
hunting and conservation stamps for migratory birds (referred
to as federal duck stamps) electronically. The electronic
stamps would remain valid for 45 days to allow for the physical
stamps to arrive in the mail. A pilot program that authorized a
limited number of states to issue electronic stamps expired in
2010, although the USFWS has continued the program under other
authorities.
CBO estimates that enacting H.R. 1206 would affect direct
spending and revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures
apply. Under current law, amounts collected from the sale of
duck stamps are deposited in the Migratory Bird Conservation
Fund and are available to be spent without further
appropriation for waterfowl conservation projects. CBO
estimates that the net effects of enacting the bill would be
insignificant for each year and over the 2014-2023 period
because the legislation would not have a significant impact on
the number of federal duck stamps purchased.
H.R. 1206 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector
mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and
would impose no costs on state, local, or tribal governments.
The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Martin von
Gnechten. The estimate was approved by Theresa Gullo, Deputy
Assistant Director for Budget Analysis.
2. Section 308(a) of Congressional Budget Act. As required
by clause 3(c)(2) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of
Representatives and section 308(a) of the Congressional Budget
Act of 1974, this bill does not contain any new budget
authority, spending authority, credit authority, or an increase
or decrease in revenues or tax expenditures. Under current law,
amounts collected from the sale of duck stamps are deposited in
the Migratory Bird Conservation Fund and are available to be
spent without further appropriation for waterfowl conservation
projects. CBO estimates that the net effects of enacting the
bill would be insignificant for each year and over the 2014-
2023 period because the legislation would not have a
significant impact on the number of federal duck stamps
purchased.
3. General Performance Goals and Objectives. As required by
clause 3(c)(4) of rule XIII, the general performance goal or
objective of this bill is to grant the Secretary of the
Interior permanent authority to authorize States to issue
electronic duck stamps.
EARMARK STATEMENT
This bill does not contain any Congressional earmarks,
limited tax benefits, or limited tariff benefits as defined
under clause 9(e), 9(f), and 9(g) of rule XXI of the Rules of
the House of Representatives.
COMPLIANCE WITH PUBLIC LAW 104-4
This bill contains no unfunded mandates.
COMPLIANCE WITH H. RES. 5
Directed Rule Making. The Chairman does not believe that
this bill directs any executive branch official to conduct any
specific rule-making proceedings.
Duplication of Existing Programs. This bill does not
establish or reauthorize a program of the federal government
known to be duplicative of another program. Such program was
not included in any report from the Government Accountability
Office to Congress pursuant to section 21 of Public Law 111-139
or identified in the most recent Catalog of Federal Domestic
Assistance published pursuant to the Federal Program
Information Act (Public Law 95-220, as amended by Public Law
98-169) as relating to other programs.
PREEMPTION OF STATE, LOCAL OR TRIBAL LAW
This bill is not intended to preempt any State, local or
tribal law.
CHANGE IN EXISTING LAW
If enacted, this bill would make no changes in existing
law.