General Fish and Game Licensing

Fish and Game Code Division 2, Chapter 3, Article 2 deals with general license provisions under the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Section 1050 requires all licenses, permits, tags, reservations, and other entitlements authorized by this code to be prepared and issued by the department. The commission must determine the form of all licenses, permits, tags, reservations, and other entitlements and the method of carrying and displaying all licenses.

It may also require and prescribe the form of applications therefor and the form of any contrivance to be used in connection, except for those programs where the department has fee-setting authority, in which case the department shall retain that authority.

The department may establish fees and may adjust statutorily imposed fees by regulation for the filings, permits, determinations, or other department actions. The department also may provide for the change in the amount of the fee. Fees established by the department are to be in an amount sufficient to recover all reasonable administrative and implementation costs of the department relating to the program with regard to which the fee is paid.

Section 1050.1 provides that any license, permit, tag, stamp, or other entitlement authorized pursuant to this code is not valid until it is filled out completely and accurately and the fee authorized or identified in statute or regulation for that entitlement is received and paid to the department or its agent. It is the responsibility of the user to ensure that the license, permit, tag, stamp, or other entitlement is filled out completely and accurately.

Section 1050.3 allows the department to issue a temporary document that allows the holder of a license, permit, license tag, license stamp, application, reservation, or other entitlement purchased through the Internet to enjoy the privileges of the entitlement for a period not to exceed 30 calendar days from the date of purchase.

Section 1050.5 authorizes the department to accept a credit card charge as a method of payment. Any contract executed by the department with credit card issuers or draft purchasers must be consistent with existing law.

Section 1050.6 specifies that the names and addresses contained in records submitted and retained by the department for the purpose of obtaining recreational fishing and hunting licenses are confidential and are not public records. However, the department may release the confidential information under four specified circumstances.

Section 1050.8 authorizes the department to issue collectible, commemorative licenses to any person for purposes of promoting and supporting licensed hunting, fishing, and resource conservation, subject to three specified requirements. All funds derived from the sale of commemorative licenses are deposited in the Fish and Game Preservation Fund.

Section 1051 requires licenses of each class to be uniquely numbered. Every license must contain its expiration date and the fee for which it is issued.

Section 1052 makes it unlawful for any person to engage in six prohibited activities.

Section 1052.5 says that any stamp issued pursuant to this article is not valid unless affixed to the appropriate license document.

Section 1053.1 prohibits a person from obtaining more than one license, permit, reservation, or other entitlement of the same class, or more than the number of tags authorized by statute or regulation for the same license year, except under one of the specified conditions.

Section 1053.5 requires applicants for hunting licenses to first satisfactorily complete a hunter education equivalency examination and obtain a certificate of equivalency as provided by regulations adopted by the commission, or show proof of completion of a hunter education training course, or show a previous year’s hunting license.

Section 1054 makes it unlawful to submit, or conspire to submit, any false, inaccurate, or otherwise misleading information on any application or other document offered or otherwise presented to the department for any purpose to obtaining a license, tag, permit, or other privilege or entitlement pursuant to this code or regulations adopted.

Section 1054.2 requires every person while engaged in taking any bird, mammal, fish, amphibian, or reptile to have on his or her person or in his or her immediate possession, or where otherwise specifically required by law to be kept, any license, tag, stamp, or permit that is required in order to take the bird, mammal, fish, amphibian, or reptile.

Section 1054.5 allows the department to issue and collect payment for any entitlement, document, or authorization for which a fee is authorized pursuant to this code.

Section 1054.8 requires the department to establish, and keep current, written policies and procedures relating to the application process and the award of hunting tags for fundraising purposes. The policies and procedures must include at least four specified items, and the department is required to make the policies and procedures available to interested parties 30 days before their implementation and receive and consider any related recommendations.

Section 1055.1 allows any person, except a commissioner, officer, or employee of the department, to submit an application to the department to be a license agent to issue licenses, permits, reservations, tags, or other entitlements. A person can only be authorized to be a license agent to issue licenses, permits, reservations, tags, and other entitlements, upon the written approval of the department.

Section 1055.3 authorizes the department to authorize any person other than a commissioner or an officer or employee of the department to issue annual wildlife area passes and native species stamps, and to sell promotional materials and nature study aids.

Section 1055.6 requires each license agent to remit to the department the fees prescribed in this code or in regulations adopted pursuant to this code for all licenses, permits, reservations, tags, and other entitlements by electronic means, such as electronic fund transfer.

In order to facilitate the prompt remittance of revenues, the department is authorized to withdraw funds from the bank account of the license agent, including adjustments, by electronic transfer.

Section 1056 states that a license agent who fails to transmit the fees or accounting reports required not later than 60 days following the due date as specified by the department may be required to execute, in favor of the department, a bond, payable to the department, in a sum determined by the department in order to continue as a license agent.

Section 1057 requires all license, tag, permit, reservation, and other entitlement money to be accounted for separately from other funds of a license agent, and at all times belong to the state.

Section 1058 says that, in case of an assignment for the benefit of creditors, receivership, or bankruptcy, the state is required to have a preferred claim against the license agent’s assignee, receiver, or trustee for all moneys owing the state for the issuing of licenses, permits, reservations, tags, and other entitlements as provided in this code and shall not be estopped from asserting that claim by reason of the commingling of funds or otherwise.

Section 1059 provides that the failure or refusal of any license agent to account for licenses, permits, reservations, tags, and other entitlements, or any fees received from their issuance or upon demand by an authorized representative of the department is a misdemeanor.

Section 1061 allows the department to permit a person to purchase a license voucher as a gift for a licensee when the licensee’s complete and accurate personal information, as defined in regulation, is not provided by the license buyer at the time of purchase. A license purchase voucher entitles the holder of the voucher to redeem it for the specific license, permit, tag, or other privilege or entitlement, and license year for which it was purchased.

Section 1065 states that a nonprofit conservation organization seeking promotion, exposure, and awareness of the organization on the Automated License Data System Online License Service Internet Web site, as feasible, through the display of the organization’s logo, or other graphics agreed upon by the organization and the department, to give a prospective license buyer the opportunity to link electronically to the organization’s Internet home page, must submit, by September 30 of each year, a letter to the department providing evidence that the organization meets the criteria. The term “nonprofit conservation organization” means an entity that the department determines meets all of the four specified requirements.

Section 1069 authorizes the department to enter into an agreement with the Secretary of Food and Agriculture for the collection of an assessment on behalf of any marketing council or commission for fish or seafood organized under the Food and Agricultural Code. The agreement may authorize the department to collect the assessment in conjunction with the collection of landing fees on those species for which the marketing council or commission is organized.