Bill not passed

State agencies need new revenue source



Sunday, July 06, 2008
Mark Demko



The landmark bill that would earmark a percentage of Pennsylvania's annual sales tax revenues to help fund the operations of the state's Game and Fish & Boat commissions will likely not become law this year, but the state legislator who proposed it is hoping it lays the groundwork for widespread acceptance in the future.

Last July, State Rep. David Levdansky (D-Allegheny and Washington Counties), chairman of the House Finance Committee, introduced House Bill 1676, which would allocate .00116 of the sales tax revenues collected to the state's Game Fund and .00058 to the state's Fish fund, raising approximately $10 million annually for the PGC and $5 million annually for the PFBC.

Levdansky was hoping to have the bill in the position that it would be incorporated into the 2008-09 state budget, but that did not come to fruition.

"Typically, these kinds of bills, when you're earmarking some revenue from the sales tax, you negotiate these things in the context of the overall budget. That's not going to happen this year," Levdansky said last week. "I don't think that a license fee for the Game Commission is going to happen this year either.
"I think, effectively, the debate about how we provide more revenue to fund the operation of the Game Commission, that's the debate that's going to have to be taken up by the next Legislature in January and February."

At the core of the move to provide a dedicated source of money to the PFBC and the PGC is the fact that both agencies manage all wildlife for all of the Commonwealth's citizens, yet they are funded primarily by the sportsmen who purchase hunting and fishing licenses. Declining license sales and the increasing cost of everything, from gas to agency employees' salaries, are making it increasingly difficult for the two organizations to conduct their business of protecting and enhancing wildlife and wildlife habitat.
While the PGC and PFBC do manage fish and game species that hunters and anglers enjoy pursuing, they have also been instrumental in many conservation initiatives, training and educational services and land purchases that benefit everyone in the Commonwealth. Just a few of the many examples are the successful efforts to restore the bald eagle, swift water and ice rescue training the PFBC provides to emergency response personnel and the PGC's purchase of some 1.4-million acres of state game lands over the years that are open to hikers, bikers, horseback riders and snowmobilers.

"I think that given the fact that hunting and fishing are such a revenue generator for the state, and given that those agencies manage the wildlife resources in the interest of all Pennsylvanians, and given the reality that we are pretty much at the breaking point of raising license fees -- breaking point meaning we raise fees but we lose sales -- that it's highly appropriate to earmark a very, very minute percentage of that (sales tax revenue) to fund the operation of the Game and Fish Commissions," Levdansky said.
Although the bill may be stalled for now, Levdansky plans to reintroduce it if he is re-elected.