Sep 10, 2016 4 min read

While I don’t disagree the Pennsylvania Game Commission and the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission are long overdue for a license fee increases, I also don’t believe those two agencies should be in charge of setting their own license fees.

That’s what a pair of bills, HB 1166 and HB 1168, that will be voted on later this month would provide. And that’s not the way our government should work.

Whether you agree or not, our government is set up to have checks balances in place to assure things don’t get out of whack. The state Legislature controling the ability of the fish and game commissions to raise the costs of licenses that directly affect their constituents is one of those checks and balances.

I’m not going to suggest that the Legislature hasn’t used that ability to set the license fees as a hammer to try to force the commissions to bend to its will. And I also realize that the two independent commissions are run almost solely off of funds raised from the sales of license fees and both have been forced to hold the line on increases for quite a long time.

The game commission hasn’t had a license increase since 1999, while the fish and boat commission hasn’t had an increase since 2005.

But I also believe allowing them to set their own license fees without any oversight is a little like letting the fox guard the henhouse.

It is, for example, why utility companies have to get their rate increases approved by the Public Utility Commission. And they have competition. If one electric provider decides to raise its rates by 100 percent, customers will likely switch carriers in droves.

The PGC and PFBC have no competition. They are the only agencies that handle their respective duties.

You want to hunt, fish or boat in this state, you’ve got to purchase the correct permits from them.

I’m not saying the people in charge of either commission will raise the fees without first thinking about the ramifications or cost reductions first, but it certainly provides those kind of opportunities. There has to be some accountability.

Perhaps the commissions are right and the current system of approving license fee increases is not the best way. But neither, in my opinion, is allowing both organizations to set their own fees with less oversight.

• I continue to believe the commissions should be merged into one agency.

It would save millions in front redundant administrative fees immediately. But it also might bring more people back to the sports.

The number of people who hunt and fish or otherwise might purchase licenses from either commission has continued to fall in recent years.

Many people wouldn’t have a problem purchasing a combination license that would not only be good for fishing, but for hunting as well – as you can do in practically every other state in the country – even if it was a little more expensive.

While many people purchase both a hunting and fishing licenses each year – we wouldn’t want to make things easier for them, right? – there are those who purchase only or the other as well.

Make a combination license available and not only would the people who purchase both already but them, but so would many of those who currently only purchase one or the other.

• As of Friday, just more than 10,000 antlerless deer licenses remained available for Wildlife Management Unit 2-A, which includes all of Greene, most of Washington and portions of Fayette and Westmoreland counties.

In WMU 2B, which includes the northeast corner of Washington and western border of Westmoreland counties, 37,000 licenses are still available.

Outdoors editor Dale Lolley can be reached at dlolley@observer-reporter.com.