Post by camohead on Mar 20, 2014 12:31:25 GMT -5
Wildlife Tag Funding Returned to Wildlife!
Atlanta – 3/18/2014 – Today Georgia’s General Assembly completed its effort to fund the Department of Natural Resources – Wildlife Resources Division’s Nongame Section, Fishery Section and the Bobwhite Quail Initiative through the citizen’s purchase of Wildlife Specialty Tags. The House, with its passage of HB881, which also creates a specialty tag to support Grady Hospital’s Foundation, sends the measure to Gov. Deal’s desk for signing into law.
The Wildlife Specialty Tags were first created by the Georgia Legislature in 1996. At that time the tags cost motorist $25 above and beyond the normal tag fee with $20 going directly to DNR-WRD Nongame Section and $5 going to the general fund. This funding replaced the funding previously received by the DNR-WRD Nongame Section from the General Budget.
In 2010, with the State locked in a desperate funding crisis due to plummeting revenues caused by the economic downturn, legislation was passed adding a $25 manufacturing fee, raising the price of tag itself from $25 to $35 each and redistributing the funds so that only $10 of the wildlife tag fee went to wildlife and the remaining $25 was funneled to the General Budget.
Georgia’s sportsmen/women and conservationists noticed this and sales of the tags have been on a steady decline for the last 4 years. It was projected that sales would have dropped by 91% by the end of 2014.
Approaching the 2014 Legislative session a group of sportsmen and conservationists decided that, with the economy rebounding and state revenues on the rise, it was time to return the funding from the Wildlife Tags to the wildlife programs. The effort was led by Brooks Schoen, board member from The Environmental Resource Network (TERN). TERN is an organization whose purpose is to partner with DNR-WRD Nongame Section to offer support and funding where possible. Schoen sought the assistance of Jeff Young who headed up working with other sportsman/conservation groups including Georgia Wildlife Federation (GWF), Coastal Conservation Association of Georgia (CCAGA), Trout Unlimited (TU), Flint Riverkeeper, Nature Conservancy and others, and that coalition worked together throughout the process.
The group sought the assistance of Rep. Bubber Epps- (Dry Branch), our Sponsor who developed legislation and shepherded the bill through the House with the assistance of fellow legislators Rep. David Knight-(Griffin) and Rep. Tom Rice-(Norcross) as well as utilizing a great deal of input from DNR-WRD Nongame Section Chief Mike Harris and others.
At one point the bill had stalled and appeared to be dead. However, other legislation Rep. Epps had developed to attain a new Specialty Tag for the Grady Foundation, HB881, found its way through the process and into the Senate Public Safety Committee, chaired by Sen. Buddy Carter-(Pooler).
It was in Sen Carter’s committee that things began to come together. A coalition of legislators along with DNR Commissioner Mark Williams worked out a committee substitute combining HB881 and HB730 which reallocated the Wildlife Tag funds back to their 1996 target. The bill passed out of the Public Safety Committee and was voted on in the Senate, passing by a margin of 51-1. It then crossed back to the House where the Senate substitute was agreed to by the House with only 3 dissenting votes.
When Gov. Deal signs the bill into law, Georgians will only pay $25 annually for the Wildlife Specialty Tag and $20 will go directly to DNR-WRD Nongame, Fisheries or Bobwhite Quail Initiative, depending on the design selected, $5 will go to the general fund. It is also important to note that Federal matching funds at a rate of 2 to 1 will be added to the funding that goes directly to WRD. That means the $20 Georgians spend on a purchase will become $60 when added to the wildlife agency’s funding stream.
The coalition of Conservation groups, who worked so well together in this effort, urges Georgia’s citizens to come back to the Wildlife Specialty Tag program and support this important source of funding for our State’s wildlife resources. Since 1996 the tags have provided hundreds of thousands of acres of land, as well other improvements currently enjoyed by Georgia’s sportsmen/women, hikers, birdwatchers, horseback riders and others. Your purchase of a Wildlife Specialty Tag, whether you choose a Bald Eagle, Bobwhite Quail, Trout or the
Hummingbird, will be money well invested in Georgia’s Wildlife Resources. – Please “Give Wildlife a Chance!”
Atlanta – 3/18/2014 – Today Georgia’s General Assembly completed its effort to fund the Department of Natural Resources – Wildlife Resources Division’s Nongame Section, Fishery Section and the Bobwhite Quail Initiative through the citizen’s purchase of Wildlife Specialty Tags. The House, with its passage of HB881, which also creates a specialty tag to support Grady Hospital’s Foundation, sends the measure to Gov. Deal’s desk for signing into law.
The Wildlife Specialty Tags were first created by the Georgia Legislature in 1996. At that time the tags cost motorist $25 above and beyond the normal tag fee with $20 going directly to DNR-WRD Nongame Section and $5 going to the general fund. This funding replaced the funding previously received by the DNR-WRD Nongame Section from the General Budget.
In 2010, with the State locked in a desperate funding crisis due to plummeting revenues caused by the economic downturn, legislation was passed adding a $25 manufacturing fee, raising the price of tag itself from $25 to $35 each and redistributing the funds so that only $10 of the wildlife tag fee went to wildlife and the remaining $25 was funneled to the General Budget.
Georgia’s sportsmen/women and conservationists noticed this and sales of the tags have been on a steady decline for the last 4 years. It was projected that sales would have dropped by 91% by the end of 2014.
Approaching the 2014 Legislative session a group of sportsmen and conservationists decided that, with the economy rebounding and state revenues on the rise, it was time to return the funding from the Wildlife Tags to the wildlife programs. The effort was led by Brooks Schoen, board member from The Environmental Resource Network (TERN). TERN is an organization whose purpose is to partner with DNR-WRD Nongame Section to offer support and funding where possible. Schoen sought the assistance of Jeff Young who headed up working with other sportsman/conservation groups including Georgia Wildlife Federation (GWF), Coastal Conservation Association of Georgia (CCAGA), Trout Unlimited (TU), Flint Riverkeeper, Nature Conservancy and others, and that coalition worked together throughout the process.
The group sought the assistance of Rep. Bubber Epps- (Dry Branch), our Sponsor who developed legislation and shepherded the bill through the House with the assistance of fellow legislators Rep. David Knight-(Griffin) and Rep. Tom Rice-(Norcross) as well as utilizing a great deal of input from DNR-WRD Nongame Section Chief Mike Harris and others.
At one point the bill had stalled and appeared to be dead. However, other legislation Rep. Epps had developed to attain a new Specialty Tag for the Grady Foundation, HB881, found its way through the process and into the Senate Public Safety Committee, chaired by Sen. Buddy Carter-(Pooler).
It was in Sen Carter’s committee that things began to come together. A coalition of legislators along with DNR Commissioner Mark Williams worked out a committee substitute combining HB881 and HB730 which reallocated the Wildlife Tag funds back to their 1996 target. The bill passed out of the Public Safety Committee and was voted on in the Senate, passing by a margin of 51-1. It then crossed back to the House where the Senate substitute was agreed to by the House with only 3 dissenting votes.
When Gov. Deal signs the bill into law, Georgians will only pay $25 annually for the Wildlife Specialty Tag and $20 will go directly to DNR-WRD Nongame, Fisheries or Bobwhite Quail Initiative, depending on the design selected, $5 will go to the general fund. It is also important to note that Federal matching funds at a rate of 2 to 1 will be added to the funding that goes directly to WRD. That means the $20 Georgians spend on a purchase will become $60 when added to the wildlife agency’s funding stream.
The coalition of Conservation groups, who worked so well together in this effort, urges Georgia’s citizens to come back to the Wildlife Specialty Tag program and support this important source of funding for our State’s wildlife resources. Since 1996 the tags have provided hundreds of thousands of acres of land, as well other improvements currently enjoyed by Georgia’s sportsmen/women, hikers, birdwatchers, horseback riders and others. Your purchase of a Wildlife Specialty Tag, whether you choose a Bald Eagle, Bobwhite Quail, Trout or the
Hummingbird, will be money well invested in Georgia’s Wildlife Resources. – Please “Give Wildlife a Chance!”
