130th MAINE LEGISLATURE
		LD 1992		LR 2628(03)
	An Act Related to the Electronic Registration and Tagging of Turkey
	Fiscal Note for Bill as Engrossed with: C "A" (H-878)
	Committee: Inland Fisheries and Wildlife
Fiscal Note
			FY 2021-22	FY 2022-23	Projections  FY 2023-24	Projections  FY 2024-25
Net Cost (Savings)
	General Fund		$0	$16,000	$0	$0
Appropriations/Allocations
	General Fund		$0	$16,000	$0	$0
Fiscal Detail and Notes
	This bill directs the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (IFW) to allow electronic registration of wild turkeys harvested. Under the current in-person tagging process, IFW receives information required to accurately account for the number of male wild turkeys taken each spring by age and wild management district and uses it to assess harvest impact on the population and set bag limits. To prevent losing this information from moving to an electronic process, the bill includes a one-time appropriation of $13,000 in fiscal year 2022-23 to provide monetary compensation to hunters who report the harvest of a banded wild turkey. This study would repeat in five-year increments and require additional funding in future years. The bill also includes a one-time appropriation of $3,000 in fiscal year 2022-23 for the communication costs of conducting a turkey hunter survey used to gauge registration accuracy.