Mr. Colvin reported that the Governor has nominated Assemblyman Alexander (Pete) Grannis, from Manhattan, to be the new DEC Commissioner.  The State Senate has not yet scheduled a confirmation hearing on this nomination.  Staffing at the top levels of DEC remains incomplete.  Governor Spitzer has submitted his 2007/2008 executive budget to the State Legislature.  Mr. Colvin understands that, in this budget, DEC's base operations budget is little if at all changed from the previous year.  He cited a few budget initiatives that were proposed that would affect DEC, if undertaken.  One of the largest environmental initiatives is the “Enhanced Bottle Bill.”  This bill would extend the 5-cent bottle deposit to all beverage bottles, including water and juices.  In addition, it would recover all the unclaimed beverage container deposits and place these into the revenue account that supports the New York State Environmental Protection Fund (EPF).  This would mark a substantial increase in the capitalization level of the EPF. 

Also in the proposed budget:

• a modest increase in the EPF appropriation, including $3,000,000 for the new Ocean and Great Lakes Program.
• a slight increase in the Hudson River Program ($5,000,000 to $5,500,000); this is critically important to the Bureau of Marine Resources because of the funding it provides to the Hudson River Fisheries Unit and the Region 3 Habitat Unit.
• 100 new positions to the Department, including the Division of Fish, Wildlife and Marine Resources:
  • 6 positions will go to upstate DEC regions for recreational fishing promotion
  • 10 positions to the Wetlands Program
  • 10 positions for the Natural Resource Damages Program
  • 2 positions in fish pathology

Although not a budget issue, Mr. Colvin thought it might be of interest to many that several nearby states (New Hampshire, Connecticut, Delaware) have introduced legislation this year to create saltwater recreational fishing licenses, with the intent that the license-holder databases so generated will be used to satisfy the requirements in Magnuson Stevenson Act and prevent a federal marine angler registration program in those states.  He indicated that Connecticut’s proposal was the subject of legislative hearings and includes a reciprocity provision; if enacted, any person fishing in Connecticut will need a license unless that person is a resident of a neighboring state and recognizes a Connecticut license as valid in their waters.  Questions were raised wondering if there was anything in the works regarding similar legislation in New York.   Mr. Colvin replied that it was highly unlikely that the new administration would be offering a proposal in its first year without having the opportunity to do any preliminary work on this subject.

 

 

Page last modified Friday, March 30, 2007 by George E. Carroll