Senate committee advances bill to bar people with unpaid fish-and-game fines from buying licenses

The Idaho Senate Resources & Environment Committee voted to send Senate Bill 1003 to the full Senate with a due-pass recommendation, advancing legislation that would make people with unpaid fish-and-game fines ineligible to apply for hunting, fishing or trapping licenses, tags or permits until their fines are paid.

Senator Dan Foreman, District 6, told the committee that SB1003 would amend Idaho Code section 36-1402 to bar any person with outstanding fines for violations of Idaho fish and game laws from applying for a license, tag or permit until all fines are paid. Foreman said the bill would also apply to holders of lifetime license certificates and would make it a misdemeanor for anyone who is ineligible under the bill to attempt to purchase or renew a license.

The bill includes a point-of-sale mechanism: vendor systems would display a pop-up advising an ineligible purchaser to contact Idaho Department of Fish and Game (IDFG), and the same pop-up would appear on a smartphone using the Go Outdoors Idaho application if an…