Senate debate defeats amendment to roll back resident increases to fishing-license fees

Senate of Maryland members debated fee increases in Senate Bill 258, a measure that would raise resident and nonresident fishing-license and trout-stamp fees, during the Feb. 26 floor session in Annapolis. A floor amendment that would have left resident fees unchanged failed on a roll-call vote; the bill was then ordered printed for third reading.

The amendment sponsor, identified in the record as a state senator introducing the change during the committee amendment debate, argued the proposed increases would “amount to about a $3,000,000 increase in taxes on people who…fish in our state” and urged the body to hold resident rates steady. The sponsor said the increases would in some cases more than double current resident fees and proposed keeping residents at current rates while allowing higher nonresident fees.

Senate floor leaders and the bill’s supporters told colleagues the fee increases reflect long gaps since the last adjustments (noted in the debate as 1992 and 2007) and follow recommendations from stakeholder advisory groups, including the Sports Fisheries Advisory Commission, the Black Bass Advisory Committee and the Coldwater Fishery Advisory Committee. The floor leader said the increases are intended to maintain fisheries programs and related services funded by license revenue.

The Senate record also includes a written position from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) relayed by the floor leader: DNR officials told the Senate that enacting the amendment as proposed would leave existing programs without sufficient funding and “would not be able to sustain existing programs beyond fiscal year 2027.” The floor leader said DNR’s analysis indicates current expenditures exceed current revenues and that the amendment would cut roughly 75% of the proposed revenue increase intended to support hatcheries, invasive-species control and other fisheries work.

After floor debate and several senators’ explanations of vote, the amendment failed; the Senate journal records that “with 29 votes in the negative, the senator’s amendment fails.” The bill was then ordered printed for third reading; no final passage vote on the underlying bill is recorded in the Feb. 26 transcript.

Why it matters: The license-fee revenue in question is dedicated to fisheries management and related trust funds. If the Senate later adopts the fee…