HB 2199 Complimentary Discover Pass to Those Who Spend over $200

[snowpack]

Who could possibly be against this passing?

I added a poll so lets see. I have a feeling there may be some people who feel they should get a free pass for any license purchase, not just those over $200...

not against, but would like to see it be $200 for the season year, not $200 at once.

[huntnphool]

Who could possibly be against this passing?

State Parks

Bummer, hopefully they saved some of the $$millions$$ they stole from unaware license tab purchasers.

[washelkhunter]

Who could possibly be against this passing?

I added a poll so lets see. I have a feeling there may be some people who feel they should get a free pass for any license purchase, not just those over $200...

I firmly believe all hunters and fishers in Wa should recieve 1 complimentary DP with every license purchased per wild id.

[bigtex]

Would this count if I was buying both my tags and my wife's tags at the same time?

That's a very good question. There is no definition of "transaction" under the Discover Pass section of laws. It definitely needs to be redefined in the legislative committee process.

Personally to me it looks like if all your license purchases are in one transaction (such as only swiping the debit card once) then you would qualify. The bill doesn't say the $200 must be for one person.

Definitely needs to be clarified 

[huntnphool]

Who could possibly be against this passing?

I added a poll so lets see. I have a feeling there may be some people who feel they should get a free pass for any license purchase, not just those over $200...

I firmly believe all hunters and fishers in Wa should recieve 1 complimentary DP with every license purchased per wild id.

+1, but as said earlier, it's a start.

[Band]

1 or 2 WDFW Officer positions are funded by the Discover Pass 

And how much do we spend on DP administration, signage and in human effort to catch violators?  We would be money ahead by having a couple less WDFW Officers around and letting them concentrate on real infractions, like wildlife violations.  WDFW Officers should not be "meter maids".

[washelkhunter]

I would like to see the leadership of WFW jump on this and organize an official response in the name of WFW. This bill can be modified and made more inclusive to the average income sportsman of Wa. State. I would encourage our Board of Directors to take this up.

[Elkaholic daWg]

Would this count if I was buying both my tags and my wife's tags at the same time?

Definitely needs to be clarified 

Sure Does bigtex!!

[huntnphool]

Who could possibly be against this passing?

State Parks

1 or 2 WDFW Officer positions are funded by the Discover Pass 

Are those positions that were created as a result of the Discover Pass?

[DoubleJ]

I'm disabled and it is VERY hard for me to spend $200 on licenses in one transaction and impossible to justify the cost when I could purchase my tags and a discover pass for less than half of that. 

[huntnphool]

I'm disabled and it is VERY hard for me to spend $200 on licenses in one transaction and impossible to justify the cost when I could purchase my tags and a discover pass for less than half of that.

That wouldn't necessarily mean that you would deny those that actually could take advantage of it by voting against it though right?

[Band]

I don't have any numbers to prove it but I would be shocked if the cost to administer the DP doesn't far  exceed the income it brings in.  Besides creating a few jobs what benefit does the DP really provide?  Nothing as far as I can tell.  But now we are no longer free to access "public" land in the woods.  Makes no sense.

[snowpack]

how would raffle tickets fit in?  They don't even go on sale until after special permits are drawn.  And you have to buy your license and permit apps weeks before the drawing.

[Heredoggydoggy]

Sounds like an act of desperation to me...

[bigtex]

Who could possibly be against this passing?

State Parks

1 or 2 WDFW Officer positions are funded by the Discover Pass 

Are those positions that were created as a result of the Discover Pass?

Yes. They are positions that are funded/created out of the 8% of Discover Pass funding that WDFW gets. Basically the way state funding works is you either get positions for a specific role (the most typical route) or you just get positions. Since these positions were funded by the DP, WDFW must then "certify" that the equivalent of 1 or 2 officer's time is spent on enforcing Discover Pass regulations. Now this doesn't mean if an officer's position is funded by the DP that all they can do is enforce DP, what it means is as a whole the agency must enforce DP to the equivalent of one position. WDFW Officers work 171 hours a month. So if the Discover Pass funded one WDFW Officer position, then statewide WDFW Officers must work 171 hours of DP a month, if it's two positions then its 342 hours a month.

Now this isn't dedicated only thing enforced is DP time. A WDFW Officer pulling into a lake with a WDFW boat launch who checks vehicles AND fisherman at the same time can account his time to the DP enforcement time. So when you really think about it, getting 171 hours of DP time a month is VERY easy.