NH house bill 663FN

[dave603]

Wonder how everyone else feels about this bill transferring Fish And Game to the Dept. of Safety? Basically doing away with Fish And Game.
Not a good idea in my mind, two totally separate functions.

https://legiscan.com/NH/text/HB663/id/1095523

[Lakegeezer]

Well, to most people in cars, deer and moose are a safety issue, so perhaps a new reporting structure can fix that problem.

[Bear Islander]

I have read the bill but it is not clear how this will change things out on the lake. Will Fish and Game officers still be doing the same thing except they answer to the Department of Safety? Or will personnel be combined and the Marine Patrol will be checking for fishing licenses?

[Misty Blue]

I have spent many a day in the NH woods and all I can say is that the NH Fish and Game department are awesome.

They are strict but courteous and truly want sportsmen to go afield.

I can't see what good this shake up will do and if it means that their funding gets changed around, I can see their services dropping.

Misty Blue

[Kamper]

I think the legislature has been working to combine Law Enforcement under one administration for the past 10-15 years. It makes sense in many ways but for folks like us, with special interests, it feels like we are no longer 'special.'

[upthesaukee]

Here is the text of a caption under a picture of Fish & Game officer Ron Arsenault, regarding a talk he gave to the Alton Centennial Rotary club meeting recently.

<sup>Fish and Game talk
"We are rapidly going broke" says Ronald B. Arsenault (left), NH Fish and Game Conservation Officer to members of the Alton Centennial Rotary Club at its weekly meeting. He added, "Mostly because Fish and Game is involved in so many state wide search and rescue missions, and at our department’s expense, it eats up too much of our limited revenues earned from the sale of licenses or from fees." NH Fish and Game Department is not state-funded, but self-supporting, and is in danger of being absorbed by the NH State Police because of insufficient income to continue as is. If this happens, it essentially would eliminate the indispensable animal protection and conservation services NH Fish and Game Department now provides resulting in a huge and negative impact on NH tourism, according to Arsenault. The good news reported by Arsenault is that New Hampshire is now seeing a rapid return of rabbits, bobcats and some lynx in NH. Rotary Club Program Chairman Bob Regan (right), introduced Officer Arsenault.


The picture and text can be found here, on page A5 on the bottom half of the page. http://www.newhampshirelakesandmountains.com/pdf/BAY.2015.02.05.pdf</sup>

[Tired of Waiting]

possibly be a way to dip into the F&G dedicated funds and spread it around to the other department?

Just a thought. Cause that is what they tried around here. The F&G funds are dedicated to just that and they wanted to spend the money on other departments so the easy way was to merge them and that moves the money to where the politicians want it.

Didn't go over very well and was scrapped.

ToW

[upthesaukee]

Originally Posted by Tired of Waiting

possibly be a way to dip into the F&G dedicated funds and spread it around to the other department?

Just a thought. Cause that is what they tried around here. The F&G funds are dedicated to just that and they wanted to spend the money on other departments so the easy way was to merge them and that moves the money to where the politicians want it.

Didn't go over very well and was scrapped.

ToW

He says that F&G is going broke because of S&R missions... not that the purchase of Downing's landing helped finances either.

[Sunbeam lodge]

Originally Posted by upthesaukee

He says that F&G is going broke because of S&R missions... not that the purchase of Downing's landing helped finances either.

Looks like another power grab in an attempt to give senators and reps a way to help friends who have problems with the services.
If f&G is self funded now and is combined, they then can forget about their budget like the rest of the Govt and just spend and the general taxpayers will pick up the tab.
A new commission with all the trappings and staff. What happens to all the people that are doing the job now? In business you usually make changes to make business more efficient and less costly. I don't see that as the end result here.
This just looks like more regulation and red tape for taxpayers to jump through
with no real defined plan as to what will change other than a increase in cost.

[jetlag100]

Originally Posted by dave603

Wonder how everyone else feels about this bill transferring Fish And Game to the Dept. of Safety? Basically doing away with Fish And Game.
Not a good idea in my mind, two totally separate functions.

https://legiscan.com/NH/text/HB663/id/1095523

I couldn't agree with you more! They are separate and I think they'll find this out the hard way! Saying good bye to the Fish & Game is irresponsible!

[Misha888]

Originally Posted by dave603

Wonder how everyone else feels about this bill transferring Fish And Game to the Dept. of Safety? Basically doing away with Fish And Game.
Not a good idea in my mind, two totally separate functions.

https://legiscan.com/NH/text/HB663/id/1095523

Horrible decision. I'm going to write the representatives. I'm looking forward to their response.

[TheProfessor]

Originally Posted by dave603

Wonder how everyone else feels about this bill transferring Fish And Game to the Dept. of Safety? Basically doing away with Fish And Game.
Not a good idea in my mind, two totally separate functions.

https://legiscan.com/NH/text/HB663/id/1095523

"Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 2-0)" From link above.

If it is not broken - then why fix it?

I really don't think that the sponsors of this bill whomever they are fully realize the ramifications of this.
They just seem to have nothing to do down there in Concord.
I wonder what the real reason for this bill is.

[Misha888]

Dear xxxx,

Thank you for your e-mail on HB 663. The reason I put this bill which I do agree was badly written was to allow the talk to take place that would look at the possibility if part or all of Fish and Game could go to the Department of Safety.

I was thinking the law enforcement side of Fish and Game or the search and rescue side may be ok in the Department of Safety. This bill was to open the door for talks and the two departments would have to come back with an answer by 2017 if this would work.

Sadly in my eyes I hear the Fish and Game Committee in the House of Representatives will kill my bill. I have bigger bills to protect and this is not a bill worth dying on the hill for.

I just look at the now bankrupt Fish and Game Department which is in the hole for $3.5 million with no way at this time to fix that other than to raise fees to hunters and fisherman which will chase even more of them away as recent rule changes have.

We need an open eye and new top management to fix this huge issue the current management of the Fish and game Department is in. My bill was just a tool to have the talk.

Thank you again for your time to e-mail me.

John

Representative John A. Burt
Criminal Justice Committee
Goffstown, Weare and Deering, NH
District 39

[Misha888]

I have received another response from Representative Hon. Kenneth Kreis, Sr., his concern was to how they were going to allocate fines and fees within the two departments. Sounds simple to me based on my experience in real world finance, but let the government make things complicated.

[TheProfessor]

If, and I state, if this is a funding issue.

Then I guess it is time to raise the fees.
Fishing and hunting fees can be raised. Snowmobile fees can be raised.

Thinking out of the box maybe a special lottery scratch card with all of those funds dedicated to Fish and Game.