Fish and Wildlife asked to narrow fee-making authority as department defends access-area license

Summary

The Ways & Means Committee heard from Department of Fish and Wildlife officials about their statutory fee authority (41 32) and a proposed access-area license, asked the department to narrow the scope of delegated fee-making power, and requested revised statutory language; no formal votes were recorded.

The Ways & Means Committee heard testimony Feb. 20 from the Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife about its authority to set fees for use of department lands and a proposal to create an access-area license.

Nina Smith, general counsel for Fish and Wildlife, told the committee that statute 41 32 (Title 10) provides the department a narrow exception to the legislature's fee-making authority and that the department adopted a fee rule, indexed in the appendix to Title 10, covering rentals, camp tuition and a range of permit and license fees.

"41 32 includes broad language that allows the department — it explicitly references the general assembly's authority to create fees and allows this as sort of an exception to that authority," Smith said, describing the statute's history and the department's rulemaking. She said the rule has been in effect since at least 2013 and was amended this year to update camp tuition rates.

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Fish and Wildlife asked to narrow fee-making authority as department defends access-area license

Summary

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