Committee adopts amendment to give Game and Fish authority over guided-fishing permits, creates advisory board

The Travel, Recreation, Wildlife & Cultural Resources Committee adopted an amendment to House Bill 5 that would give the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission the authority to require permits for commercial guided fishing operations, establish different fees for resident and nonresident guides and outfitters, and create a seven-member advisory board that will report back to the joint TRW committee with recommendations on whether to form a new regulatory board or fold the work into an existing board.

The change follows more than two hours of public testimony from Casper-area outfitters, guides and residents who described rising pressure on popular fisheries, enforcement gaps on federal lands and differing views on how oversight should be structured. Supporters said permitting and modest fees would supply data and enforcement tools; several business owners urged an advisory or regulatory board comprised of industry members. Opponents said giving the commission broad authority could risk monopolization and harm small Wyoming businesses.

Why it matters: committee members framed the amendment as an effort to balance resource protection and local economies — to give the state more accurate data and enforcement levers while protecting Wyoming guide businesses. The amendment requires the advisory board to provide recommendations to the commission for rulemaking and to report back to the joint TRW committee on whether to create a standalone board or join an existing board.

Public testimony and main concerns

Casper resident Sydney Hanlon told the committee she opposed subsection A of the bill, arguing the language “gives the Game and Fish the power to regulate fishing outfitters” and could create monopolies if the commission sets limits on commercial boats. Hanlon urged either a "no" vote on the bill or removing subsection A and said regulation of hooking methods and lure restrictions can be handled through existing rulemaking: “The Game and Fish does not regulate that. They have their own board to serve as their regulatory body,” she said.

Several licensed guides and outfitter-owners from Casper supported state-level permitting but said oversight should include an industry board or the existing Outfitters board. Guide Wes Richner said the bill, as written, ‘‘will monopolize the Wyoming fishing industry’’ by allowing the commission to limit trips without an industry board, and urged either creating a new board or expanding the current Board of Outfitters and Professional Guides. Fly‑shop owner Blake Jackson told the committee that modest permit and renewal fees are common in neighboring states and that fees could fund enforcement: “This is kind of a non factor... people that are making a living... would be happy to pay these sort of fees to see some regulation and oversight take place.”

State Board of Outfitters perspective

Lee Livingston, a Northern Wyoming outfitter and member of the State Board of Outfitters and Professional Guides, said the board is self-funded by license revenue, that it currently licenses 286 big-game outfitters and about 1,200 guides, and that the state does not know how many fishing outfitters operate. Livingston described the bill as a possible mechanism to get that baseline data and said his board has discussed models ranging from a single, consolidated outfitting board (the Idaho model) to keeping separate arrangements for different outfitting types.

Key amendment adopted

Representative Jason Harshman brought a multi-part amendment the committee adopted. The amendment (as amended on the floor of the committee) does the following: it authorizes the commission to set permit and fee structures in a lawful ratio that prioritizes Wyoming resident professional guides and outfitters; excepts a Wyoming resident guiding from a city/county/state ramp to waters on lands the resident owns or leases; creates a seven-member commercially guided fishing boats advisory board appointed by the commission with four‑year terms; requires that advisory board to provide rulemaking recommendations to the commission under subsection C; and requires the advisory board, along with the commission, to report back to the joint TRW committee with recommendations on creating a new board or joining an existing outfitter board. The amendment also directs that annual fees for boats and trailers shall differ for resident and nonresident guides in a ratio similar to resident/nonresident fishing license fees.

Committee discussion and votes

Committee members repeatedly emphasized enforcement as central to the bill’s effectiveness — without enforcement, several witnesses testified, a permit system will not reduce fishing pressure. Witnesses said federal land managers are thinly staffed; BLM permitting exists but is unevenly enforced, and local sheriff’s offices sometimes assist rangers. Committee members directed staff to update the fiscal note (the amendment changes administrative costs) and signaled willingness to refine appointing language (commission vs. governor appointees) before floor action.

A roll call recorded later in the meeting shows the committee advanced House Bill 5 after adoption of the amendment. The roll call on that passage listed Representative Campbell, Representative Connolly, Representative Harshman, Representative Jarvis, Representative Provenza, Representative Storer, Representative Thayer, Representative Wharf and Chairman Byron as voting aye (9 ayes). The amendment vote also passed earlier in the session.

Next steps and departmental response

Game and Fish Director Angie Bruce told the committee the department needed time to review the final amendment language and flagged a potential governance mismatch in having a governor‑appointed advisory board advise a governor‑appointed commission; the bringer and members agreed to change appointment language so the commission would appoint advisory board members. The committee asked the department to propose any technical tweaks prior to floor consideration and to help craft an updated fiscal note.

The committee left the bill with a formal direction for the advisory board to report back to the joint TRW committee with recommendations on whether to create a separate regulatory board or use an existing one, and it advanced the bill with the adopted amendment.

Ending

House Bill 5 now moves toward further floor consideration with the advisory‑board language and fee‑ratio provisions adopted by committee. Committee members asked the department and industry representatives to provide additional implementation detail and a revised fiscal note before the bill proceeds upstairs.