As ordered reported by the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works on July 25, 2012
S. 2071 would authorize the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to permanently allow states to provide federal migratory bird hunting and conservation stamps (referred to as federal duck stamps) electronically. The electronic stamps would remain valid for 45 days to allow hunting before the stamps arrive in the mail. A pilot program that authorized states to issue electronic stamps expired in 2010, although the USFWS has continued the program under other authorities.
CBO estimates that enacting S. 2071 would affect direct spending and revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures apply. Under current law, amounts collected from the sale of duck stamps are deposited in the Migratory Bird Conservation Fund and are available to be spent without further appropriation for waterfowl conservation projects. CBO estimates that the net effects of enacting the bill would be insignificant for each year and over the 2013-2022 period because the legislation would not have a significant impact on the number of federal duck stamps purchased.
S. 2071 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and would impose no costs on state, local, or tribal governments.
On December 14, 2011, CBO transmitted a cost estimate for H.R. 3117, the Permanent Electronic Duck Stamp Act of 2011, as ordered reported by the House Committee on Natural Resources on November 17, 2011. The two bills are nearly identical, and the estimated costs are the same.
