Description:
As ordered reported by the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works on February 6, 2014
S. 1865 would allow the Department of the Interior (DOI) to raise the price charged for Federal Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamps (referred to as federal duck stamps), subject to annual caps on the amount. Federal duck stamps are annual permits to hunt migratory waterfowl that are sold by the federal government. The stamps also allow entry to National Wildlife Refuges that charge entrance fees. Sales proceeds are used to acquire wetlands for inclusion in the National Wildlife Refuge System.
CBO estimates that enacting S. 1865 would reduce the deficit by $9 million over the 2015-2024 period. Collections from the sale of duck stamps are recorded in the budget as revenues, deposited in the Migratory Bird Conservation Fund (MBCF), and later spent. Because the bill would affect direct spending and revenues, pay-as-you-go procedures apply. In addition, we estimate that implementing the bill would have no significant effect on discretionary spending.
S. 1865 contains no intergovernmental mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA) and would impose no costs on state, local, or tribal governments.
By increasing the annual fee for duck stamps, S. 1865 would impose a private-sector mandate, as defined in UMRA, on individuals required to obtain the stamp as a federal permit to hunt migratory waterfowl. Based on information from gaming officials, CBO estimates that the incremental cost of complying with the mandate would fall well below the annual threshold for private-sector mandates ($152 million in 2014, adjusted annually for inflation).
