Comparison with rules in Adjacent States: Wisconsin’s surrounding states have comparable systems for the delivery of licensing products. Minnesota, Iowa, and Indiana all utilize print-on-demand systems with plain paper. Michigan still uses a durable paper system with equipment supported by their agency. Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois and Indiana all utilize electronic harvest reporting or registration systems.
Summary of Factual Data and Analytical Methodologies: The policies in this rule are consistent with past policies of issuing recreational licenses through an electronic based system using a network of local vendors and department offices.
Participants in outdoor recreational activities are a primary entity who will be affected by the proposed rule. Activities licensed by the department include hunting, fishing and trapping, as well as permits/passes/registrations for state parks, boats, snowmobiles, all-terrain vehicles. Private vendors who contract with the department to issue licenses will also be affected by the proposed rules. Those include a range of retail outlets such as convenience stores, department stores, small sporting goods shops, as well as large retailers of outdoors-related merchandise. In nearly all situations, the effects are likely to be minimal but would result in improved delivery and access to services.
Various methods to manage the public harvest of wild animals or sturgeon are available to the department. The department requires the use of carcass tags for certain species when that will assure equitable distribution of harvest, regulations compliance, or to limit harvest to a very specific level. Hunters purchase tags or, when demand exceeds supply, apply to be included in drawings for tags.
For wildlife species, carcass tags are required to hunt or trap deer, bear, elk, wild turkey, sharp-tailed grouse, Canada goose when extra harvest control measures are being implemented, bobcat, fisher, otter, and wolves when they are not listed as a threatened or endangered species. A carcass tag is also required when an angler intends to harvest, or keep, a lake sturgeon during an open fishing season.
Immediately upon harvesting a bear, elk, sharp-tailed grouse, Canada goose when extra harvest control measures are being implemented, bobcat, fisher, otter, wolves when they are not listed as a threatened or endangered species or a lake sturgeon, the carcass tag must be validated. Under current rules, this is done by cutting the corresponding tag with marks for information such as the date and time of harvest. Under these proposed rules, the department will be able to allow carcass tags to be validated by other methods as indicated on the tag. This will allow hunters and anglers to validate by separating a portion of the tag or potentially other methods.
In the past, carcass tags have been made of a durable material that resisted damage from environmental elements and tags were required to be attached to the animal. Under the department’s current contract for a statewide automated system, tags will be printed on plain paper. Through these rules the requirement to attach carcass tags to bear, elk, sharp-tailed grouse, Canada goose when extra harvest control measures are being implemented, bobcat, fisher, otter, wolves when they are not listed as a threatened or endangered species or a lake sturgeon will be relaxed, but not eliminated, so that paper tags are not damaged or lost while in the field or on the water. These rules will allow a person to keep a validated carcass tag safely in a pocket or wallet while, for instance, dragging a bear out of the field. To assure compliance with the requirement to validate tags, under current and these proposed rules, hunters and anglers will be required to display the tag to the department upon request. The requirement to attach tags will still apply when an animal is left by the person who validated the tag for the animal. These rules require that information on the carcass tags remain legible and suggest that tags can be protected by enclosing them in a watertight, clear plastic bag such as a sandwich or snack bag.
These rules will still require that carcass tags be attached to bobcat, otter and fisher and the department will continue to issue durable carcass tags which will be produced outside of the statewide automated system. Under this rule the department could utilize paper tags through the statewide automated system if it determined that would be practical at a later time.
Electronic harvest registration is required of deer, bear and turkey hunters. These rules would expand that requirement so that elk harvest could be registered electronically. However, the option to require in-person registration is also retained. At a future date when the first elk seasons would be held, the department anticipates that it may want to inspect carcasses for research purposes.
Successful sharp-tailed grouse hunters are asked to mail a registration stub, which is currently issued along with the carcass tag, to the department. However, registration is not mandatory under administrative rules and there are no citations to issue for failing to register sharp-tailed grouse. For consistency, these rules establish a requirement to register harvest with the department consistent with the requirements for deer and bear.
A policy alternative to contract with a vendor whose system would allow the issuance of carcass tags made of a material that is more durable and more difficult to duplicate illegally was evaluated. The benefits of paper or electronic tags are significant and include immediate purchase fulfillment of internet purchases, simpler equipment for vendors, and less expensive tag and license material. The requirement to electronically register most species by 5:00 on the day after harvest will reduce fraud. With this statewide automated system, conservation wardens will quickly be able to query a database to find out if an animal has been registered. In the past, registration stubs filled out by hand were not recorded into a database for weeks. There are additional benefits that result from the new statewide automated system which will result in new opportunities to verify compliance and which may counterbalance perceived opportunities to illegally duplicate permits.
Currently, the DMAP enrollees can purchase antlerless tags which are valid only on an enrolled property and distribute them to hunters for use on the property. The enrollee can charge hunters only the face value cost for the tags. This proposal would allow the department to sell tags directly to hunters who the DMAP enrollee has indicated have permission to hunt on the property. The department had envisioned being able to sell tags directly to hunters, instead of only to the DMAP landowners/representatives, during development of the DMAP program and initial rule package. However, implementation of the Go Wild statewide automated licensing system was delayed by one year and we were not able to implement the program as planned through the automated licensing system in place at that time. Issuing carcass tags directly to the hunter who will be using them, as proposed in this rule, is consistent with how licenses are normally issued. Issuing carcass tags to enrollees who can transfer them, under current rules, is an exception to past policy.
Another provision repeals rules that were to be effective for the first time in 2016 and would have modified the allowable uses of antlerless tags issued with an archer or crossbow license by establishing that they are valid statewide except in units without an antlerless quota. This rule will maintain that antlerless tags are valid in a farmland zone unit of the buyer’s choice and will result in no change compared with rules in effect in 2014 and in 2015. These sections will maintain that antlerless permits issued with the purchase of a firearm, archer, or crossbow license are not weapon or season specific, but the holder must possess the correct license for the method of harvest and season, which will also result in no change compared with rules in effect in 2014 and in 2015. Based on experience gained by the department during the previous two seasons, it is assumed that regulations in place for those years were accepted by the public and there is no need to implement the more complicated regulations that were scheduled to be in effect for 2016.
Anticipated Private Sector Costs and Economic Impact of Implementing the Rule: No economic impacts are anticipated as a result of these rules. The department currently contracts with a vendor and provides automated licensing to the public at private retail outlets, department service centers, and online. Following these rules, the same basic framework of license delivery would still be in place.
The department anticipates improved delivery of services and continued high levels of customer satisfaction because more services will be available at all locations and through the internet. These proposals will generally contribute to providing access to opportunities for hunting, fishing, trapping and other outdoor activities and maintenance of the economic activity generated by people who participate in those activities. The long range implications of this rule proposal will be the same as the short term impacts in that access to outdoor recreational activities will continue or improve and that activity will continue to generate economic activity.
These rules are primarily applicable to individuals and impose no new compliance or reporting requirements for small business. Vendors who choose to serve as department license outlets would continue to have compliance and reporting requirements and follow operational standards, however, we do not anticipate that those will be significantly different than what is currently required of vendors.
These rules will not modify the actual fees for any licenses, permits, registrations, or trail use stickers.
Pursuant to the Governor’s Executive Order 50, Section II, this will be a level 3 economic impact analysis. For this permanent rule, a notice for Solicitation of comments on the analysis was posted on the department’s website in the summer season of 2017. The department received no comments on the economic impact analysis.
Effects on Small Business: The department currently contracts with a vendor and provides automated licensing to the public at private retail outlets, department service centers, and online. Following these rules, the same basic framework of license delivery would still be in place.
These rules are primarily applicable to individuals and impose no new compliance or reporting requirements for small business. Vendors who choose to serve as department license outlets would continue to have compliance and reporting requirements and follow operational standards, however, we do not anticipate that those will be significantly different than what is currently required of vendors.
Agency Contact Person: Linda Olver, Bureau of Customer and Outreach Services,101 South Webster St., PO BOX 7921, Madison, WI 53707-7921. (608) 264-8985, linda.olver@wisconsin.gov Section 1. Subch. I - NR 8 (title) is amended to read:
Subch. I - NR 8. Standards and Procedures for the Statewide Automated License Issuance System.
Section 2. NR 8.01 (1) is repealed and recreated to read:
NR 8.01 (1) “Authenticated”, for purposes of s. NR 8.045, means properly linked to a customer’s statewide automated system account, as verified using department of transportation records. Section 3. NR 8.01 (2) is repealed.
Section 4. NR 8.01 (3m) is created to read:
NR 8.01 (3m) “Digital file”, for purposes of s. NR 8.045, means a portable document format (PDF) file or Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML) file. Section 5. NR 8.01 (5) and (6) are repealed.
Section 6. NR 8.02 is amended to read:
NR 8.02 Authorization to issue approvals. All license agents shall issue all department approvals or federal approvals designated by the department to be issued through the statewide automated licensing system, except for approvals designated by the department to be issued only by the department or by specified license agents.
Section 7. NR 8.03 (2) (b) is repealed.
Section 8. NR 8.03 (2) (c) (Intro.) is amended to read:
NR 8.03 (2) (c) All license agent applicants not included in par. (a) or (b) shall be considered for approval by the department. Factors which may be considered for approval of an application include, but are not limited to the following:
Section 9. NR 8.03 (3) (b) is repealed.
Section 10. NR 8.04 (1) (a) and (b) are amended to read:
NR 8.04 (1) (a) An applicant shall provide appropriate identification and update all personal information as indicated by the department's license issuance manual when applying for an approval. In addition, an applicant shall sign the purchase receipt attesting to his or her residency and that his or her privileges for all approvals issued have not been suspended or revoked by a court of law.
(b) An applicant shall sign the issued approval, if required by the department on the approval form, before exercising any privileges authorized by the approval and carry the signed approval on their person when exercising privileges authorized by the approval.
Section 11. NR 8.045 is created to read:
NR 8.045 (Title) Forms of proof; reprints.
NR 8.045 (1) Pursuant to s. 23.47 (1) Stats., this subsection establishes that only the following, issued or authenticated through the statewide automated system, may be used in lieu of the original approval document to provide proof of authorization to engage in the activities in paragraphs (a) to (d): (a) For any of the following: hunting licenses, hunting stamps, goose permits, wild turkey harvest authorizations, deer carcass tags, and trapping licenses, authorized under subch. III of ch. 29, Stats., as published on January 5, 2017, except licenses and stamps authorized by s. 29.2297, Stats.; fishing licenses and fishing stamps, authorized under subch. III of ch. 29, Stats., as published on January 5, 2017, only while fishing on inland waters that are not boundary waters; disabled trolling, hunting and fishing permits issued under s. 29.193, Stats.; guide licenses authorized under s. 29.512, Stats.; certificates of accomplishment authorized under ss. 29.591, 29.595, and 29. 597, Stats.; and wild rice harvest licenses authorized under 29.607 (3): 1. A reprint, as designated under sub. (3), of the original approval document issued by the department or agent appointed under s. 29.024 (6) (a), Stats. 2. A conservation card issued under s. 23.47(2), Stats. 3. An authenticated, current, non-expired Wisconsin operator’s license issued by the department of transportation, of the type required under s. 343.18(1), Stats. 4. A discernible and easily viewable image produced by a digital file issued by the department, displayed on any electronic device, including a cellular telephone, in a manner that permits a law enforcement officer to complete a meaningful inspection of such image for purposes of establishing compliance with s. 29.024(1), Stats. (b) For fishing licenses and fishing stamps, authorized under subch. III of ch. 29, Stats., as published on January 5, 2017, while fishing on the waters that are boundary waters or while fishing on the waters that are outlying waters, a reprint, as designated under sub. (3), of the original approval document issued by the department or agent appointed under s. 29.024 (6) (a), Stats.
