[House Report 113-67]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


113th Congress   }                                           {   Report
                        HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
 1st Session     }                                           {   113-67

======================================================================



 
              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.

                                  
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