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HR 15 – Merger Study
House
Resolution 15 B. Smith A
Resolution Directing the Game and Fisheries Committee of the House of
Representatives to explore a broad range of options with regard to how to
structure our wildlife agencies to best manage the wildlife resources of this
Commonwealth and to investigate funding options; and directing the Legislative
Budget and Finance Committee to update its report to the General Assembly which
was filed pursuant to House Resolution 291 of 1988.
Referred to RULES,
Reported as
committed,
Amended and Adopted,
(Remarks see House Journal),
The study was completed by the Legislative Budget and Finance
Committee staff and presented to the Committee on November 19, 2003.
The Report: (In pdf format – you need Adobe Acrobat Reader to open)
"An
Update on the Feasibility of a Combined Fish and Wildlife Commission for
Pennsylvania"
PFSC’s Press
Release following the meeting
LB&FC presents report to House
Game & Fish Committee
PGC’s Response to Merger Report
PFBC’s
Response to Merger Report
Information Paper on
House Resolution 15 11/20/03
Articles on the
Merger:
“The
release of this report,” the authors conceded in the “Summation” section of
the document, “should not be construed as
an indication that the Committee or its individual members necessarily concur
with the report’s findings and recommendations.”
By
Merger
report comes under fire
Released may have been a case of uncanny
timing.
Lebanon Daily Times
Dave Wolf
November 23, 2003
Fish, game merger? Opinions strong
Combining
state agencies would save $5 million per year, says a legislative report.
11/21/03
State
study urges merger of game, fish commissions
But officials of both balk, criticize the
findings
Thursday, November 20, 2003
BY MARCUS SCHNECK
For The Patriot-News
It might also, its critics charge, lead to cuts in
programs, services and resource management.
By Bob
Frye
TRIBUNE-REVIEW OUTDOORS EDITOR
Thursday, November 20, 2003
Study
projects millions in savings from merged fish, game agencies
"If I were to die tomorrow, I would tell
you this is the wrong thing to do," said Game Commission executive
director Vernon R. Ross.
The Associated Press
November 20, 2003
Sportsmen
need to take close look at merger report
All of the questions have been asked. This week, we'll get
the answers. Or will we?
By Bob Frye
TRIBUNE-REVIEW OUTDOORS EDITOR
Sunday,
November 16, 2003
Battle over
alternative funding just beginning
It seems as though the
battle is just beginning.
By
Bob
Frye
TRIBUNE-REVIEW OUTDOORS EDITOR
Sunday, September 28, 2003
Keep
politicians away from sportsmen's cash
The one thing sportsmen need to agree on and actively protect is the commission's independent status from general legislature control.
Mike Barcaskey
Times Online.com
10/6/03
Halting
chance of merger was correct move
Land in hands of right people
George Smith
Times Leader
October 13, 2003
Talk
of agencies merger stirs familiar response
LIKE a poisonous snake that keeps popping
its head through the cracks in a wood pile, the notion of combining the
Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission with the Pennsylvania Game Commission is
repeatedly attempted by politicians.
GoErie.com
Mike Bleech
October 25, 2003
Online Report:
Rep. Bruce Smith Says Study Shows
Merger of Wildlife Management Agencies Would Save $5 Million
Thursday November 20, 2003
A report from a bipartisan legislative committee said that the merger of the
Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission and the Pennsylvania Game Commission
would be feasible and save $5 million.
Rep. Bruce Smith (R-York and Cumberland), chairman of the House Game and
Fisheries Committee, said the money saved amounts to the sale of 250,000
hunting and/or fishing licenses.
"This is the first study showing that a merger of the commissions managing
Pennsylvania’s fish and wildlife resources is a realistic proposition,"
Smith said.
The report, prepared by the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee at the
direction of a resolution sponsored by Smith, concluded that a merger would
result in the net elimination of 71 staff positions and provide a better
balance between the commissions’ law enforcement functions and wildlife
conservation efforts.
According to the report, the joined agency would be in a better position to
request state funding to meet its needs.
The report verifies that license sales by both agencies are declining while
costs are rising.
"If licenses become any more expensive and the agencies can’t use other
state funding, hunting and fishing will become activities restricted to the
wealthy as they will be the only people who will be able to afford
licenses," Smith said.
Smith said he was especially troubled by a table in the report showing that
waterways and wildlife conservation officers, the agencies’ primary field
representatives, spend a minimum amount of time assisting each other.
"At a hearing of the Game and Fisheries committee held in Towanda we were
led to believe by the agencies that they cooperated frequently," Smith
said. "This was not reflected in the time study reports which covered a
period of three years."
The report also raised questions regarding the amount of time spent on non-law
enforcement activities by waterways and conservation officers.
"The work forces at the two agencies are busy at different times of the
year," Smith said. "It would seem more likely that with a merged
agency, law enforcement officers could devote more time to those duties and
less time to pheasant stocking, trout stocking and other activities which could
be performed by non-law enforcement employees."
Smith said the House Game and Fisheries Committee will have a chance to
question the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee about the report at 11
a.m. today in Room 60 of the Capitol East Wing.
Pennsylvania remains the only state in which fish and wildlife resources are
administered by separate and organizationally independent agencies.
"I look forward to continued discussion as we review this issue,"
Smith said. "Our goal is to do what is best for sportsmen and sportswomen
in Pennsylvania."