Posted on 09/02/2009 9:43:41 AM PDT by raybbr
Please contact Governor Jodi Rell today and respectfully urge her not to balance the state’s budget on the backs of law-abiding-gun owners and sportsmen!After negotiating down to a more modest 25% fee increase for pistol licenses and hunting licenses during the regular legislative session, Democratic leaders met behind closed doors working out a deal to jack the fees back up to the 100% increase originally proposed. Legislators then rubber-stamped the hikes as part of the larger budget in votes taking place in the wee hours of this morning.
These increases will do little to raise revenue but will deal a crushing blow to law-abiding gun owners, hunters and sportsmen. People who wish to exercise their Constitutional right to self protection will now have to pay exorbitant fees to do so and those without the means to pay the price will lose the right altogether. In this ailing economy, hunters will choose to stay home at a time when the deer population is exploding in Connecticut. Prospective hunters and those with limited incomes won’t take to the field, thus contributing to the demise of a cherished past-time handed down from generation to generation.
Please call Governor Jodi Rell (R) TODAY and respectfully urge her not to sign a bill making these fees a reality. Governor Rell can be reached by phone at 860-566-4840 or toll-free at 800-406-1527 or email Governor.Rell@ct.gov.
The Governor has claimed on many occasions to be a friend to gun owners, hunters and sportsmen but her actions tell a different story. These same 100% increases were introduced earlier in the year by the Governor herself. Respectfully tell Governor Rell that you oppose these outrageous fee hikes and she should as well.
Weren’t these the people playing solitaire yesterday?
DemocRATS lie! What a surprise!
Open your eyes:
Bracketed amounts are the old fees.
A resident fishing will now be $40, if you fish a river connected to the ocean that’s another $30 on top of that.
The state will get what it deserves in reduced revenue after the increases. Recruitment will also drop. Everybody else has to cut their spending except the idiot government. As a non-resident who fishes CT maybe 25 times a year my cost goes from $40 to $100. That’s more than doubled.
I’m basically of the opinion that what they really want to do is eventually lock up the outdoor sports so virtually no one will participate anymore.
Sec. 309. Section 29-30 of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2009):
(a) The fee for each permit originally issued under the provisions of subsection (a) of section 29-28 for the sale at retail of pistols and revolvers shall be [one] two hundred dollars and for each renewal thereof [one] two hundred dollars. The fee for each state permit originally issued under the provisions of subsection (b) of section 29-28 for the carrying of pistols and revolvers shall be [seventy] one hundred forty dollars plus sufficient funds as required to be transmitted to the Federal Bureau of Investigation to cover the cost of a national criminal history records check. The local authority shall forward sufficient funds for the national criminal history records check to the commissioner no later than five business days after receipt by the local authority of the application for the temporary state permit. Thirty-five dollars shall be retained by the local authority. Upon approval by the local authority of the application for a temporary state permit, [thirty-five] seventy dollars shall be sent to the commissioner. The fee to renew each state permit originally issued under the provisions of subsection (b) of section 29-28 shall be [thirty-five] seventy dollars. Upon deposit of such fees in the General Fund, ten dollars of each fee shall be credited within thirty days to the appropriation for the Department of Public Safety to a separate nonlapsing account for the purposes of the issuance of permits under subsections (a) and (b) of section 29-28.
(b) A local permit originally issued before October 1, 2001, whether for the sale at retail of pistols and revolvers or for the carrying of pistols and revolvers, shall expire five years after the date it becomes effective and each renewal thereof shall expire five years after the expiration date of the permit being renewed. On and after October 1, 2001, no local permit for the carrying of pistols and revolvers shall be renewed.
(c) A state permit originally issued under the provisions of section 29-28 for the carrying of pistols and revolvers shall expire five years after the date such permit becomes effective and each renewal thereof shall expire five years after the expiration date of the state permit being renewed and such renewal shall not be contingent on the renewal or issuance of a local permit. A temporary state permit issued for the carrying of pistols and revolvers shall expire sixty days after the date it becomes effective, and may not be renewed.
(d) The renewal fee required pursuant to subsection (a) of this section shall apply for each renewal which is requested not earlier than thirty-one days before, and not later than thirty-one days after, the expiration date of the state permit being renewed.
(e) No fee or portion thereof paid under the provisions of this section for issuance or renewal of a state permit shall be refundable except if such permit for which the fee or portion thereof was paid was not issued or renewed. The portion of the fee expended on the national criminal history records check for any such permit that was not issued or renewed shall not be refunded.
(f) The issuing authority shall send a notice of the expiration of a state permit to carry a pistol or revolver, issued pursuant to section 29-28, to the holder of such permit, by first class mail, not less than ninety days before such expiration, and shall enclose with such notice a form for the renewal of said state permit. A state permit to carry a pistol or revolver, issued pursuant to section 29-28, shall be valid for a period of ninety days after the expiration date, except this provision shall not apply to any state permit to carry a pistol or revolver which has been revoked or for which revocation is pending, pursuant to section 29-32.
Sec. 310. Section 29-130 of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2009):
The Commissioner of Public Safety shall prescribe a form of application to be signed by each applicant and may require such information respecting the business in which the applicant proposes to engage as he finds necessary to safeguard the public from all forms of lascivious conduct, immoral practices, vice or violations of the law. Said commissioner or any employee of the Department of Public Safety authorized by him for said purpose may enter into any place so licensed or upon the premises where such business is being conducted for the purpose of observing the conduct of the same. Said commissioner shall issue to each applicant so licensed a certificate to be designated “amusement park license”, and each certificate shall state the name of the applicant, the location of the place where such amusement, entertainment, diversion or recreation may be conducted and the hours each day during which the same may be conducted. Each certificate shall be displayed conspicuously for public view by the licensee at the place where the business so licensed is conducted. Any such license may be suspended or revoked by said commissioner whenever it appears that any of the conditions required to be stated in such license have been violated. Such applications and license certificates shall be printed at the expense of the state. The annual license fee shall be [fifty] one hundred dollars to be paid by the applicant to the Commissioner of Public Safety with each application for such license. Such licenses shall not be transferable and, if any licensee voluntarily discontinues operations thereunder, all rights secured thereby shall terminate. On and after January 1, 1986, the license year shall be from January first until December thirty-first following, inclusive. Each such license shall be for a period of one license year.
Sec. 443. Section 26-28 of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2009):
(a) Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section, the fees for firearms hunting, archery hunting, trapping and sport fishing licenses or for the combination thereof shall be as follows: (1) Resident firearms hunting license, [fourteen] twenty-eight dollars; (2) resident fishing license, [twenty] forty dollars; (3) resident marine waters fishing license, thirty dollars; (4) one-day resident marine waters fishing license, fifteen dollars; (5) resident all-waters fishing license, fifty dollars; (6) resident combination license to [firearms hunt and] fish in inland waters and firearms hunt, [twenty-eight] fifty-six dollars; [(4)] (7) resident combination license to fish in marine waters and firearms hunt, fifty dollars; (8) resident combination license to fish in all waters and firearms hunt, sixty dollars; (9) resident combination license to fish in all waters and bow and arrow permit to hunt deer and small game issued pursuant to section 26-86c, as amended by this act, eighty-four dollars; (10) resident firearms super sport license to fish in all waters and firearms hunt, firearms private land shotgun or rifle deer permit issued pursuant to section 26-86a, as amended by this act, and permit to hunt wild turkey during the spring season on private land issued pursuant to section 26-48a, as amended by this act, one hundred sixteen dollars; (11) resident archery super sport license to fish in all waters, bow and arrow permit to hunt deer and small game issued pursuant to section 26-86c, as amended by this act, and permit to hunt wild turkey during the spring season on private land issued pursuant to section 26-48a, as amended by this act, one hundred four dollars; (12) resident trapping license, [twenty-five] fifty dollars; [(5)] (13) resident junior trapping license for persons under sixteen years of age, [three] fifteen dollars; [(6)] (14) junior firearms hunting license, [three] fifteen dollars; [(7)] (15) nonresident firearms hunting license, [sixty-seven] one hundred thirty-four dollars; [(8)] (16) nonresident inland waters fishing license, [forty] eighty dollars; [(9)] (17) nonresident inland waters fishing license for a period of three consecutive days, [sixteen] thirty-two dollars; [(10)] (18) nonresident marine waters fishing license, sixty dollars; (19) nonresident marine waters fishing license for a period of three consecutive days, twenty-four dollars; (20) nonresident all-waters fishing license, one hundred dollars; (21) nonresident combination license to firearms hunt and inland waters fish, [eighty-eight] one hundred seventy-six dollars; [and (11)] (22) nonresident combination license to fish in all waters and firearms hunt, one hundred ninety dollars; (23) nonresident combination license to fish in marine waters and firearms hunt, one hundred seventy dollars; and (24) nonresident trapping license, two hundred fifty dollars. Persons sixty-five years of age and over who have been residents of this state for not less than one year and who meet the requirements of subsection (b) of section 26-31 may be issued [a lifetime] an annual license to firearms hunt or to fish or combination license to fish and firearms hunt or a license to trap without fee. The issuing agency shall indicate on a combination license the specific purpose for which such license is issued. The town clerk shall retain a recording fee of one dollar for each license issued by him.
(b) Any nonresident residing in one of the New England states or the state of New York may procure a license to hunt or to fish or to hunt and fish for the same fee or fees as a resident of this state if he is a resident of a state the laws of which allow the same privilege to residents of this state.
Sec. 444. Section 26-35 of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2009):
Each firearms hunting, archery hunting, trapping or sport fishing license or the combination firearms hunting and fishing license, except licenses issued pursuant to subdivisions [(7) and (10)] (4), (17) and (19) of subsection (a) of section 26-28, as amended by this act, shall expire December thirty-first next following the date of issue and shall not be transferable. No person shall change or alter such a license or loan to another or permit another to have or use such license issued to himself or use any license issued to another. All licenses shall be carried as designated by the commissioner at all times when such licensee is hunting, trapping or sport fishing and shall be produced for examination upon demand of any conservation officer or other employee of the department designated by the commissioner or any other officer authorized to make arrests or the owner or lessee or the agent of any owner or lessee of any land or water upon which such licensed person may be found. Whenever the commissioner has designated any land or water area a wildlife management study area, he may require such licensee to surrender his license upon entering such area and issue to the licensee an arm band, back tag or other identification. The license shall be returned to the licensee upon leaving such area. Each person receiving a license to hunt or to trap shall make an annual report to the commissioner in such form and at such time as may be required by him showing the numbers and kinds of birds and quadrupeds killed or trapped. A firearms hunting or a combination firearms hunting and fishing license shall not authorize the carrying or possession of a pistol or revolver
Sec. 443 (b) "Any nonresident residing in one of the New England states or the state of New York may procure a license to hunt or to fish or to hunt and fish for the same fee or fees as a resident of this state if he is a resident of a state the laws of which allow the same privilege to residents of this state."
Does your home state have reciprocating agreement with Connecticut? If not, why not? The fishing and hunting in Connecticut must be better than I thought.
I’m in NY. I’ve never been able to get a straight answer with regard to reciprocity. I’m still looking into it.
Yes, CT is very good for fishing and hunting. The buck deer my friend has gotten are incredible. Very little hunting pressure on state land. If you own or have access to 15 acres or more of private land you can use a rifle. State land is shotgun only.
As far as fishing, the state tries to get access to every body of water for public access launches through local agreements. Even if it is just for a canoe portage. The CT River is one of the premier bass and pike fisheries in New England. Striper fishing is phenomenal in the spring spawn.
We can rationalize fee increases pro and con all we want. The fact is fee increases of this magnitude will be detrimental to long term interest and recruitment for participation in the outdoor sports of that state. This will result in even less revenue from sporting licenses.
To many low income people or families, this is all the recreation they can afford.
Then there is the whole ball of wax with the firearm permit fee increases....................
With the idiotic mandate for a saltwater license by the federal government, the states are now using it for more revenue generation.
In NY for example, if you are fishing the Hudson river tribs for bass, you had better have a saltwater license too because if you happen to hook a striper you can get ticketed for not having the right license. Same for CT.
So now you need TWO damned fishing licenses to fish in a river connected to the ocean.
Ain’t bureaucracy grand?
Regards
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