Migratory Bird Treaty Act Penalty and Enforcement Act of 2009 (H.R. 1916)
July 29, 2009 Full Committee Markup
Reporting H.R. 1916 out of Committee (View Roll Call Vote)
The Migratory Bird Treaty Act Penalty and Enforcement Act of 2009 would increase the cost of the federal duck stamp (used as a hunting permit) from $15 to $25 in 2010 and mandates the federal government use all proceeds to acquire more private land.
Rep. Hastings of Washington Amendment #36 – Setting $100 Million Cap on Fish and Wildlife Land Acquisition (View Roll Call Vote)
This amendment would keep the price of a duck stamp at the current $15 level if in the prior year, the Fish and Wildlife Service had $100 million to spend on land acquisition. This figure of $100 million is calculated by totaling the funds appropriated in the land acquisition account, the North Americans Wetland Conservation Act account, and the prior year’s duck stamp collections. If the federal government has $100 million dollars to buy land for refuges, Congress shouldn’t charge every duck hunter in America another $10 a year in order to purchase more private land.
Rep. Hastings of Washington Amendment #010 – Eliminating Price Increase if Unemployment is 8 Percent or Higher (View Roll Call Vote)
Earlier this year, President Obama’s chief economist said that, “Unemployment would reach just over 8 percent, and would be contained at under 8 percent with a stimulus package.” But more than five months after passing the stimulus, unemployment has reached 9.5 percent nationally, a 26 year high, and is climbing towards 10 percent. This amendment would ensure that the price of a duck stamp doesn’t increase if unemployment is above the 8 percent rate that President Obama and the Democrat Congress promised the Americans people wouldn’t be breached if the stimulus bill was enacted.
Rep. Hastings of Washington Amendment #27 – Dedicating at Least Half of Increase to Operations and Maintenance in National Wildlife Refuge System (View Roll Call Vote)
The National Wildlife Refuge System currently has a $2.6 billion operations-and-maintenance backlog with 3,348 “mission critical” projects pending completion. This amendment would require that at least half of the $10 dollar increase be spent on operations-and-maintenance projects and that the Migratory Bird Conservation Commission would have the responsibility to decide if any of the additional 50 percent of the increased funds would be set aside for that purpose.
Rep. Broun of Georgia Amendment #1 – Supporting Hunting and Fishing for Disabled Americans (View Roll Call Vote)
This amendment would direct some of the price increase towards hunting and fishing programs for disabled Americans in National Wildlife Refuges.
Rep. Broun of Georgia Amendment #8 – Supporting Urban and Low Income Hunting and Fishing Programs (View Roll Call Vote)
In order to encourage more children from cities to go hunting and fishing, this amendment would direct some of the revenue increase towards urban, low income hunting and fishing education programs in the National Wildlife Refuge System.
Rep. Chaffetz of Utah Amendment #4 – Increasing Payments to State and Local Governments with Wildlife Refuges (View Roll Call Vote)
This amendment would deposit the revenue increase into the Refuge Revenue Sharing Program, which compensates state and local governments for non-taxable, federally-owned National Wildlife Refuges. This program is parallel to the Payment-In-Lieu-of-Taxes (PILT) program for Bureau of Land Management lands.
* For complete legislative action for the July 29, 2009 Full Committee Markup, click here.
