CONGRESSMAN
COLLIN C. PETERSON

Minnesota - 7th District                http://www.house.gov/collinpeterson

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 5, 2000
CONTACT: Steve Bekkerus @ 202-225-2165

 Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus
Applauds Passage of Legislation
To Protect Wildlife & Sport Fish Funds  

(Washington D.C.) –  Congressman Collin C. Peterson, co-chairman of the Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus, today applauded the passage of the Wildlife and Sportfish Restoration Improvement Act of 2000 in the House of Representatives.

The legislation, H.R. 3671, introduced by House Resources Committee Chairman Don Young (R-AK) is designed to stop the wasteful spending and mismanagement of millions of dollars of wildlife conservation funds.

“This bill restores the integrity of Wildlife and Sportfish Trust Funds by taking back control from Washington bureaucrats and returning the funds to State managed conservation programs where they belong,“ said Peterson.  “It also ensures the continued vitality of the trust funds, by providing a small portion to hunter education and safety of future generations of sportsmen and women, who will in turn provide a stable revenue stream for conservation funding.”

H.R. 3671 was the result of three Congressional oversight hearings in 1999 that uncovered numerous spending improprieties involving wildlife and sport fish administrative funds by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Division of Federal Aid.  During the hearings, officials from the non-partisan General Accounting Office were critical of the management of administrative funds by the Division of Federal Aid, stating, “this is, if not the worst, one of the worst managed programs we have encountered.”  

H.R. 3671 amends two premier conservation laws - the Pittman-Robertson Act and the Dingell-Johnson Act.  These laws allow the collection of an 11 percent excise tax on guns, ammunition, fishing rods, reels, and other equipment, which is then designated for a wildlife and sport fish conservation trust fund.  In 1998, $426.8 million was collected under these Acts.

The law allows a maximum of 8 percent of the funds from Pittman-Robertson and a maximum of 6 percent of Dingell-Johnson funds for “administrative” expenses, with the remaining funds returned to the States for conservation projects to help sport fish and wildlife recreation opportunities.

“I am appalled that these conservation funds became an open checkbook for the agency to spend as it pleased - not as a way to deliver sportsmen and women's tax dollars to the States, as the law intended.  And this bill fixes that problem,” Young said. 

“The passage of today's bill is truly a trophy for sportsmen and taxpayers across this country,” said U.S. Rep. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), Co-Chairman of the Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus.  “Chairman Young beat back the Washington bureaucrats, exposed their misuse of funds, and truly protected the Wildlife and Sportfish Trust Funds for future generations.”

H.R. 3671 improves the management of Pittman-Robertson and Dingell-Johnson funds because it:

• Eliminates the $1 million “Director's Conservation” slush fund.
• Eliminates three other unauthorized grant funds.
• Eliminates the use of conservation trust funds to pay for general overhead for the Fish and Wildlife Service - an estimated $2 to $3 million annual savings for the Acts' state programs.
• Eliminates excessive foreign and domestic travel.
• Sets fixed amount of “administration” funds and phases them down over three years. This cuts bureaucracy by one-third over three years - from 148 positions to 100 positions.
• Tightens authorization of what “administrative” money can be spent on.
• Creates rigid auditing and reporting requirements.
• Authorizes a multi-state grant program for conservation projects benefiting a majority of the states.
• Creates an enhanced hunter safety and education program using savings.
• Creates an assistant director who will be responsible for the conservation trust funds.

 For more information, please check
the Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus website at /collinpeterson/CSC/index.htm

Or

the House Committee on Resources Home Page at
http://www.house.gov/resources/

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