2016 -- S 2799 SUBSTITUTE A

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LC005097/SUB A

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2016

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A N   A C T

RELATING TO FISH AND WILDLIFE - LICENSES

     Introduced By: Senators Coyne, Conley, Cote, Satchell, and Archambault

     Date Introduced: March 23, 2016

     Referred To: Senate Environment & Agriculture

     (Environmental Management)

It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:

     SECTION 1. Sections 20-2-2 and 20-2-4 of the General Laws in Chapter 20-2 entitled

"Licensing" are hereby amended to read as follows:

     20-2-2. Issuance of licenses. -- The clerk authorized agent of any city or town and any

person or corporation appointed by the director as provided in section 20-2-1 shall, upon the

application of any person entitled to receive a license under this chapter and upon payment of the

specified license fee, register and issue to that person a license certificate in the form prescribed

and upon a blank to be furnished by the department either printed or displayed electronically on a

mobile device, so long as the certificate provides all of the information requested in the data

fields identified by the department. The certificate shall bear the name, age, occupation, place of

residence, signature, and identifying description of the registrant and shall authorize the registrant

to fish, or shellfish, or to pursue, hunt, and kill game in the state of Rhode Island during those

seasons and in those manners and according to those conditions as shall be provided by law;

provided, however, that these clerks or appointees authorized agents shall not have authority to

issue lobster, commercial shellfish, or commercial fishing licenses of any kind.

     20-2-4. Clerk's fee. –Authorized agents fee. -- Out of the fees paid under the provisions

of this chapter for issuance of hunting, other than deer permits pursuant to § 20-2-18, fishing,

combination, and non-resident shellfishing licenses, the sum of one dollar ($1.00) shall be

retained by the clerk or authorized agent issuing each license, if this is the case. Out of the fees

paid for issuance of deer permits, the sum of fifty cents ($.50) shall be retained by the clerk or

authorized agent. Authorized agents are any persons, including a municipality, who have

currently been granted authority by the director to sell hunting and fishing licenses pursuant to

chapter 2 of title 20, in compliance with the governing regulations that have been duly

promulgated by the director.

     SECTION 2. Section 20-13-5 of the General Laws in Chapter 20-13 entitled "Hunting

and Hunting Safety" is hereby amended to read as follows:

     20-13-5. Issuance of licenses. -- (a) The clerk of every town or city, or a special agent

Authorized licensing agents, shall, upon the application of any eligible person and the payment of

the license fee, issue to that person a license to pursue, hunt, and kill game in the state during the

open season with firearms or by bow and arrow with an archer's permit; provided, however, that

no license shall be granted to or possessed by:

      (1) Any person under fifteen (15) years of age; provided, however, a junior hunting

license may be obtained for persons age twelve (12) to fourteen (14) years of age upon the

completion of a basic hunter's safety course; and further provided, that they shall hunt only in the

immediate company of a qualified licensed adult twenty-one (21) years of age or over;

      (2) Any person who has been convicted of a crime of violence or who is a fugitive from

justice, as defined in § 11-47-2 of the Firearms Act; or

      (3) Any person who is under guardianship, treatment or confinement by virtue of being a

mental incompetent, or who has been adjudicated or is under treatment or confinement as a drug

addict, or who has been adjudicated or is under treatment or confinement as a habitual drunkard.

      (b) Any person affected by the provisions of subsection (a)(3), other than a person who

has been pronounced criminally insane by a competent medical authority, after a lapse of a period

of five (5) years from the date of being pronounced cured by a competent medical authority, may

obtain a license upon the presentation of an affidavit issued by a competent medical authority to

the effect that that person is a mentally stable person and a proper person to possess a hunting

license. If that person has no other disqualifying record, he or she will be allowed to purchase and

possess a hunting license.

      (c) Every hunting license shall be printed or stamped upon some durable material and

shall bear the name, age, occupation, place of residence, and an identifying description of the

licensee, and shall expire on the last day of February next succeeding the date of issue, and may

be revoked within the discretion of the director of environmental management. Every hunting

license shall plainly and conspicuously indicate upon its face the year of issuance and shall be in

the form prescribed by the director.

     SECTION 3. Chapter 20-2 of the General Laws entitled "Licensing" is hereby amended

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by adding thereto the following section:

     20-2-4.1. Authorized internet agent. -- The director is authorized and directed to engage

the contractual services of a state-approved vendor to develop and implement a web-based system

that will serve as a means for obtaining licenses pursuant to this chapter. The vendor's

responsibilities shall include, but not be limited to:

     (1) Development of the web-based application;

     (2) Creation and servicing of authorized licensing agents who will be able to vend

licenses at their establishments;

     (3) Collection and transmittal of license fee revenues;

     (4) Storage and transmittal of the license holder database; and

     (5) Authority to sell hunting and fishing licenses.

     SECTION 4. This act shall take effect upon passage.

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EXPLANATION

BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

OF

A N   A C T

RELATING TO FISH AND WILDLIFE - LICENSES

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     This act would facilitate the issuance of hunting and fishing licenses by Internet

application.

     This act would take effect upon passage.

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