Massachusetts Governor and legislators agree to restore Federal conservation funding (10/15/2003)

Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and several state legislators have filed bills to ensure that taxes and fees collected for wildlife conservation will not be redirected to the state's general budget. The action comes after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) notified the Romney administration that the state's budget plan would cost millions in federal funds.

Faced with a multi-million dollar loss, Gov. Romney, House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Rep. William Greene, D-Billerica, and Sen. Pamela Resor, D-Middlesex, submitted bills that would restore the Inland Fisheries and Game Fund, which had been dissolved in the fiscal 2004 state budget. Other legislators have filed similar bills. The bills redirect hunting and fishing license fees from the state's general fund to wildlife conservation programs. They reverse the state's original budget plan, finalized in July, which diverted dedicated wildlife conservation monies to the general budget. The bill would preserve nearly $4.7 million in federal funds.

The budget threatened fish and wildlife conservation and reflected disregard for the warnings of the U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance and other sportsmen's organizations. The organization had cautioned that the budget plan would jeopardize matching federal dollars for conservation. To be eligible to participate in the Federal Aid in Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Programs, commonly called Pittman-Robertson (PR) and Dingell-Johnson (DJ), a state's hunting and fishing license revenue must be spent exclusively on fish and wildlife management.

Under Romney's budget, slightly more than half of the $12.6 million in redirected funds was dedicated to conservation, but the balance could be used for non-conservation purposes, including the state's budget stabilization fund, which is used to offset any future state budget deficits.

On September 26, the administration received notice from the USFWS that if corrective steps were not taken within 30 days, Massachusetts would no longer be eligible to participate in the federal aid program. The state would forfeit over $4.5 million in federal funding.

As of yet, none of the proposals have been issued bill numbers. The U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance urges Massachusetts sportsmen to contact their state legislators and ask them to support the bills to restore funding to the wildlife agency. They should tell them that sportsmen's dollars should be used solely to benefit conservation programs in the state. To find your legislator and for contact information, call (617) 727-2828.

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