Commercial fishing: salmon stamp.

(1) Existing law prohibits specified persons from taking salmon for commercial purposes unless the person has a commercial fishing salmon stamp affixed to his or her commercial fishing license. Existing law requires the Department of Fish and Game to issue a commercial fishing salmon stamp, upon application for the stamp and payment of a base fee of $85. That base fee is required to be adjusted during specified commercial salmon seasons. However, existing law prohibits the total fees, as adjusted, from exceeding $260. Under existing law, fee revenues are deposited in the Commercial Salmon Stamp Account in the Fish and Game Preservation Fund, and the money in the account is continuously appropriated to the department for new or expanded salmon restoration and enhancement programs in the state that will serve to increase ocean salmon landings. Existing law prohibits administrative overhead costs charged to the account from exceeding 3.3% of the annual expenditures from the account. These provisions of existing law are repealed as of January 1, 2012. This bill would delete the continuous appropriation, and, instead, make the money in the account available to the department upon appropriation by the Legislature. The bill would require the department to post on its Internet Web site certain information regarding projects funded by the account. The bill would prohibit the expenditure of more than 15% of the funds expended for those programs for administration. The bill would extend the operation of these provisions until January 1, 2014. (2) Existing law generally makes a violation of fish and game laws a crime. Because this bill would extend operation of the commercial salmon fishing program and thereby the crimes imposed for a violation of those provisions, the bill would create a state-mandated local program by creating new crimes. (3) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. (4) This bill would include a change in state statute that would result in a taxpayer paying a higher tax within the meaning of Section 3 of Article XIII A of the California Constitution, and thus would require for passage the approval of 23 of the membership of each house of the Legislature.