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1999 SESSION

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SB 611 Wildlife and crop replacement program.

Introduced by: Malfourd W. Trumbo | all patrons    ...    notes | add to my profiles

SUMMARY AS INTRODUCED:

Wildlife and crop replacement program. Expands the purposes of the damage stamp program and changes its name to the Wildlife Crop Replacement Program. The bill authorizes localities to enact an ordinance that establishes this new program and requires landowners who wish to participate in the program to receive payment for property damage, to pay a participation fee of between $25 and $100 (the specific amount to be set by the locality) and an assessment of one dollar for every five acres of cropland farmed. The damage stamp program is currently financed solely by a one dollar fee paid by hunters who obtain a damage stamp to hunt in a locality that has a damage stamp program. The proceeds from the sale of the stamp pays landowners for damage to their crops, fruit trees, nursery stock, livestock, and farm equipment by bear or deer. Under the bill, a locality's wildlife crop replacement program, capitalized with the additional revenue generated from landowner assessments, would not only reimburse landowners for damage done to their property by deer or bears but would also pay the cost of processing the meat of these killed animals. A cooperative extension agent is responsible for verifying damage claims. Disbursements from a wildlife crop replacement fund would occur once a year on December 31. For a landowner to receive funds for damage to his property incurred during the year, he would have had to have paid his participation and assessment fees before December 31 of the previous calendar year. If claims for any year exceed moneys collected from the sale of hunting stamps and landowner fees, moneys in the fund will be distributed on a percentage basis among all claimants. A three-member wildlife projects committee is established in each locality to make recommendations for funding wildlife projects when the fund's balance exceeds the amount of claims.

The bill also requires any person who has been issued a kill permit in a locality that administers a wildlife crop replacement program to deliver the animal's carcass to a slaughterhouse designated by the locality. A game warden has the discretion to deny a kill permit in these localities.


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