Electronic Duck Stamp Act of 2005

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the Senate bill (S. 1496) to direct the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a pilot program under which up to 15 States may issue electronic Federal migratory bird hunting stamps.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I am pleased to support Senate 1496, the Electronic Duck Stamp Act. I would also like to compliment the author of this legislation, Senator Mike Crapo, and the sponsors of the House version, Congressmen Ron Kind and Chip Pickering.

The first Federal duck stamp was issued in 1934. Since that time, hunters and wildlife art enthusiasts have purchased more than 122 million stamps that have produced more than $700 million in revenues. With those funds, the Migratory Bird Commission has conserved more than 5.2 million acres of land that have provided essential habitat for countless migratory birds.

Senate 1496 is a positive step in the right direction of bringing this program into the 21st century. Today, hunters and fishermen throughout the United States can obtain their necessary State licenses online. The Electronic Duck Stamp Act will direct the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a 3-year pilot program by allowing certain States to issue electronic Federal migratory bird stamps.

Under the terms of the bill, the Fish and Wildlife Service will approve the application of any interested States that will include the format of the stamp, a description of any processing fees, the process of delivering the actual printed duck stamp and the issuance of any duplicate stamps. In addition, the legislation contains safeguards to ensure customer satisfaction, the maintenance of traditional stamps and adequate retail availability of the actual stamp.

Senate 1496 is the result of successful negotiations between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the States and conservation organizations. It is a sound bill that will provide customer convenience without undermining the Federal duck stamp program. After the 3-year trial period, Congress can then decide whether to make the electronic duck stamps a permanent fixture.

With that, Mr. Speaker, I urge an ``aye'' vote on Senate 1496.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Garrett) for a colloquy.

Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman's question.

The CBO does estimate, indeed, that the implementing legislation would cost the Federal Government $750,000 over the next 3 years, assuming the availability of appropriated funds. However, this is also set up and estimates the Fish and Wildlife Service would spend $250,000 annually to carry out the 3-year project, again, assuming the availability of appropriated funds, but the legislation makes it very specific that they can recoup their costs as an administrative fee when they issue the duck stamp.

So it should become very self-supporting. Just as you referenced in the other program, they can actually add a cost to cover their administrative costs. We are just trying to simplify this, make it available online to duck hunters as an ease. They will still get the duck stamp in the mail, but we anticipate fully in the legislation the cost to be recovered by the users.

That is my understanding, yes.

If the gentleman will suspend for a moment.

It is a several page bill. If we had had a little advance warning, we could have had it highlighted here.

Section 6(3)(c), Electronic Stamp Issuance Fee. A State participating in the pilot program may charge a reasonable fee to cover costs incurred by the State and the Department of the Interior in issuing electronic stamps under the program, including costs of delivery of actual stamps.

Does that clarify?

Does that satisfy the gentleman's question then?

Very good.

Mr. Speaker, I encourage my colleagues to support S. 1496, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of S. 1496, the companion legislation to H.R. 1494 that Representative Chip Pickering and I authored, the Electronic Duck--or E-Duck--Stamp Act. This legislation has a simple purpose: To make it easier for duck hunters, stamp and wildlife art collectors, and conservationists to do the things they love. The bill does this by creating a pilot program in which 15 States, authorized by the Secretary of the Interior, may issue Federal duck stamps electronically.

Since its creation in 1934, the Federal Duck Stamp Program has become one of the most popular and successful conservation programs ever initiated. Because of it, our country is again teeming with migratory waterfowl and other wildlife that rely on wetland habitats. Today, roughly 1.7 million hunting and conservation stamps are sold each year. Recent data show that the sale of Federal duck stamps has generated more than $700,000,000 in revenue used to preserve over 5.2 million acres of migratory waterfowl habitat in the United States.

The E-Duck Stamp Act seeks to enhance the strong legacy of this important conservation program. Under this bill, hunters will, for the first time, be able to purchase duck stamps on-line in a safe, easy, and convenient manner. People living in rural areas, like mine in western Wisconsin, will no longer have to gas up the truck to buy a stamp, and instead can double-click their mouse and be ready to go hunt. More importantly, it provides this new alternative while protecting the legacy that the great duck stamp artist ding darling left us by taking explicit measures to ensure the future of the actual stamp--miniature works of art from some of our country's best wildlife artists.

I would like to thank both Ducks Unlimited and the International Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies in crafting this bill. I appreciate their strong commitment to the Federal Duck Stamp Program and their input into the creation of this legislation. Additionally, I would like to thank everyone on resources staff and the Congressional Sportsmen's Caucus for all their hard work on this legislation. I look forward to continuing our work together to implement this program once it becomes law.

I urge all my colleagues to support S. 1496.

Mr. Speaker, with regard to S. 1496, this program, my understanding, creates a 3-year pilot program to distribute Federal duck stamps electronically. Duck stamps are something which I am very familiar with and am completely in support of the overall program. These stamps are sold to hunters, conservationists and collectors, raising funds to acquire land in the national wildlife

refuge system, which, in turn, are then beneficial to the duck hunters in my district and yours as well.

The question goes to the overall cost of this system and who will be paying for the system. Traditionally, under the duck stamp program, it is not a cost to the overall taxpayers of the country. Rather, it is those who enter in to select to buy the duck stamps themselves.

However, this is the point. CBO estimates that this bill will cost $750,000, or three-quarters of a million dollars, over the next 3 years to implement and that the fees authorized will not be sufficient to offset this cost. In light of this report from the CBO, can you assure us that the costs will be generated from the actual sale of the stamps, and can you point out where the error has been, therefore, in the CBO cost estimates in this program?

I yield to the gentleman from Oregon.

I do appreciate that.

So it is your understanding that there is, in essence, a base price for the stamp and then maybe perhaps, I will use the term supplemental cost, which will be the costs going on the sale over the Web or whatever the exchange is.

I apologize for being redundant on this point, is there something specific that I that can look back to specifically in the language that says that, that goes to that point?

I think we are on the same page on this. I want to just make sure that it is revenue neutral.

I thank you.

Yes.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

(Ms. BORDALLO asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Mr. Speaker, I support this legislation that would direct the Secretary of the Interior to initiate a pilot program to provide a convenient electronic option for waterfowl hunters to purchase their annual duck stamp, an icon in American conservation which since 1934 has generated over $700 million for waterfowl habitat acquisition and protection.

I applaud the sponsor of the House companion legislation, Congressman Ron Kind, for his leadership on this issue and for his commonsense recognition that we should take advantage of modern technology to increase the availability and ease in acquiring duck stamps.

I also commend Mr. Kind for the great sensitivity he has shown in making sure that the pilot program created under this legislation will not undermine the artistic value of the paper stamps. These stamps will still be issued for sale, and we expect that they will continue to be cherished by stamp collectors and conservationists for many years to come.

This legislation also contains some overdue technical amendments to the Duck Stamp Act itself, which should provide helpful clarifications important in maintaining and enhancing this very popular program.

I urge Members to support this noncontroversial bill.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.