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Governor's Tags SSB 3070

Fishbonker

Fishbonker

Life Member
Link to the bill:

https://www.legis.iowa.gov/legislation/BillBook?ba=SSB3070&ga=88

The explanation section of the bill dfines the group that currently decides who gets the special tags. The bill, as I read it, does away with that group and allows the DNR to allocate the special tags.

Currently all of the conservation tags that are given to conservation groups to sell come out of that pool of 50 and as I recall there are only about 20 so called Governor's tags remaining after the conservation tags are allocated. Also of note it may give the DNR the ability to determine which groups qualify for the conservation tags. It is my hope that all 50 tags eventually become conservation tags.

I do not believe this would affect the 25 tags allocated for NR disabled resident hunts.

This is listed as a study bill, I'm not sure exactly what that means but in the past study bills usually morph into regular bills with the same number.

Assigned to the Senate Committee on State Government and a subcommittee has been assigned:

Senator Rozenboom, Senate District 40 (Mahaska, Monroe, Appanoose and parts of Keokuk and Marion counties) Email: ken.rozenboom@legis.iowa.gov Legislative web page: https://www.legis.iowa.gov/legislators/legislator?ga=88&personID=10731

Senator Bisignano, Senate District 17 (parts of Polk county including parts of Des Moines) Email: tony.bisignano@legis.iowa.gov Legislative web page: https://www.legis.iowa.gov/legislators/legislator?ga=88&personID=906

Senator Cournoyer. Senate District 49 (Clinton and part of Scott counties) Legislative web page: chris.cournoyer@legis.iowa.gov Legislative web page: https://www.legis.iowa.gov/legislators/legislator?ga=88&personID=27004

Some interesting tidbits:

Senators Rozenboom and Cournoyer are on the Committee for State Government and the Natural Recourses and Environment Committee with Senator Rozenboom being the chair. All three members of the subcommittee are what I would consider heavy hitters in the Senate.

If all of these 50 tags are eventually given to conservation groups the DNR will actually realize some income.

There is no such thing as a free lunch. My suspicious side wonders what the DNR is willing to give up to get this bill passed if it is indeed, as I read the bill, good for the DNR.

Also on my suspicious side, if all 50 tags eventually become conservation tags and more conservation groups want the tags the legislature may create more NR tags that would go to the highest bidder. With the current list of who qualifies the number of NR tags could skyrocket. Or the 50 tags could be allocated to conservation groups on a revolving basis.

I'm just thinking out loud here and my wife keeps telling me to quiet down so please read the bill and come up with your own conclusions.
 
I like this one. Originally these started to promote Iowa deer hunting I believe. That is certainly not needed in today's social media age. Get rid of the handouts. Give them all to conservation groups who will do something good with the money generated by their tag auctions.
 
Where does the money for governors tags currently go? I like the idea of conservation organizations being able to auction them off, and would be okay with the other 20 being auctioned off as well if the money was going towards conservation, public land, or DNR funding relatable to hunting; not for bike trails or mowing campgrounds.
 
Full committee approved bill. Will be renumbered.

As a reminder, this bill is going through the Senate Committee on State Government. They publish their minutes in a timely manor.
 
Currently the money is split 50/50 with the conservation group and the DNR after the tag fees go to the DNR. I hope all the 50 tags go into the conservation system. The IBA gets some tainted NR money every year with one of these!
 
I don’t think this bill would meet the rouge bill criteria that you want to stop. Looks like it will put these tags in DNR hands instead of buddies/celebrities of the aristocrats. These governor tags helped fuel the NR interest in Iowa that has hurt both Residents and Non-residents that have been hunting Iowa for decades! I hope they all go into the Conservation pool!
 
Ishi said:
Question Tom are the other whitetail groups in Iowa or any other group for that matter trying to stop these rouge bills?
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To hopefully answer your question, this bill not withstanding, no. WU is a member of the ICA but they are not, to the best of my knowledge, very active but through the ICA they have a lobbyist. The ICA is not deer-centric. I believe QDMA has a chapter in Iowa but I don't think it is very active. There is a group with the acronym of SPOC (SPOCA?) that I think stands for State Police (Patrol?) Officers Conference (Association?) that does get involved in DNR enforcement issues. I know they are members of the ICA and therefore have a lobbyist but I think the SPOC forte is one on one visits from their members with their legislators in the hallways at the capitol.

Now a few comments on this bill. Every bill has a down side. The downside of this bill is every quasi conservation group will want a tag. What happens when all 50 of these tags are claimed? Will there be a push for more tags? Yes. It's free money with very little effort for the groups that get the tags plus free money for the DNR. What happens when supply goes up? Cost, or the free money the groups receive goes down and the free money the DNR receives may stay the same based on how many more tags are authorized.

Groups that hear about the tags after the 50 are allocated will want their fair share. Let's say the legislature doesn't allocate more tags. Not happy, the groups left out in the cold demand their piece of the free money pie so they get a bill passed that requires the DNR to allocate the 50 tags on a rotating basis so every three years or so every group has a tag to auction. That keeps the price high but cuts other groups out of their piece of the pie.

My hope is the provision in this bill that gives the DNR the ability to say who qualifies for these tags based on the group being a conservation organization would weed out some groups that would apply or currently receive the tags. Currently there are a couple of groups that get tags that I don't believe qualify as conservation organization but the DNR got strong armed into giving them tags.

Or another thought, some rules change and any charitable group gets these "promotional" tags, need I say more?

Perhaps I'm being overly imaginative but I've learned to never feel good about what appears to be a good thing.

All that pie talk has made me hungry but we all know that πR2 is incorrect because πareround.
 
IowaBowHunter1983 said:
Why doesn't the DNR auction them all off themselves
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Because the groups that get the tags do all the work and take all the risk. Risk being nonpayment, work being keeping track of the auctions or methods of selling.

I'm sure there are precedents for states auctioning off "stuff" but it would just seem odd, to me anyway, that the state would auction off hunting tags without an intermediary.

I don't know if other states auction tags.
 
Other states have similar programs. All the money goes to the charity/conservation group who in turn pays the DNR their tag fee and 1/2 portion. The tag purchaser can deduct the entire amount minus the tag fee since all their money goes to the charity. All the conservation/charities must meet certain criteria ( have a chapter or be incorporated in Iowa) to be awarded one. Not much downside to this one......unless you were getting one as a VIP/celebrity!
 
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