The Archery Stamp was the first revenue stamp and the funds have historically been placed in Fund 9 (Game, Fish, and Water Safety Account) and have been spent for any purpose authorized for that account. The archery stamp was also passed through the Legislature. When the newer stamps were implemented by TPWD, they funds were earmarked to be utilized in a way directly related to the stamp. Changes in usage of the stamp revenue is not being proposed, but I agree now would be a good time to comment on how the funds from the archery stamp are spent by TPWD.
Proposed changes:
Quote:
The proposed amendment would alter the title of the section and implement a new schedule for conducting the surveys used to determine stamp utilization by purchasers of super combination (hereafter, “supercombo”) license packages, and shift to use of averages to estimate utilization of each stamp
Under current rule, the department conducts an annual survey of stamp utilization by purchasers of the supercombo licenses, which is used to allocate supercombo revenue to individual stamp funds. Trends show that there is little variation in survey results from year to year. The proposed amendment would eliminate the annual survey requirement and replace it with a requirement for the survey to be conducted at three-year intervals. In addition, the proposed amendment would specify that the calculation would be performed using an average of the survey results from the most recent three, four or five surveys, rather than the survey results from one year only.
Parks and Wildlife Code, Chapter 50 requires the commission to allocate net revenue to individual stamp funds for the sale of stamps included in combination license packages. The current rule addresses only supercombo licenses. The department also sells combination hunting and fishing license packages (a hunting license, a fishing license, and either the saltwater fishing stamp or the freshwater fishing stamp or both). The current rule does not address those packages because the department allocates the full cost of the respective stamp (i.e., saltwater and/or freshwater) to the respective stamp fund on a per-sale basis; however, the proposed amendment would note that allocation for the sake of clarity and compliance with statutory requirements. The proposed amendment also would retitle the section to accurately reflect the contents of the section.
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