Senate Bill 1058 – Big Game Management
Well aware of the need for greater accountability over the state’s expenditure of revenues generated by the sale of deer and other big game tags, mindful that existing law which divided those revenues into separate accounts was hindering the funding of needed projects, and frustrated by the inability of CDA and other nonprofits to access the funds, CDA helped worked to introduce Senate Bill (SB) 1058.
Authored by Senator Tom Harman (R/35-Costa Mesa) and signed into law in 2010 by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, SB 1058 established the Big Game Management Account (BGMA) and required that all revenues from the sale of antelope, elk, deer, wild pig, bear, and sheep tags be deposited in the account to provide for full accountability of the funds. To further ensure appropriate expenditure of big game tag revenues, SB 1058 required that funds in the account be available to the department solely for acquisitions, projects and programs that benefit antelope, elk, deer, wild pigs, bear, and sheep, and which expand public hunting opportunities.
Of equal importance, SB 1058 authorized the department to use BGMA funds for contracts or grants to nonprofit organizations and required that a BGMA advisory committee of nonprofits representing licensed hunters be established by the department to review and comment on proposed projects.
Similarly, SB 1058 established an Upland Game Bird Account (UGBA) into which all funds from the sale of upland game bird stamps be deposited and required that those funds be used solely for acquisitions, projects and programs which benefit upland game bird species and to expand public hunting opportunities. SB 1058 also authorized the department to use UGBA funds for contracts and grants to nonprofit organizations and required the formation of a UGBA advisory committee of nonprofits representing licensed hunters to review and comment on those proposed projects.
The passage of SB 1058 took CDA’s and all of California’s public and private big game habitat management efforts to the next level. The bill not only ensured full transparency of the state’s expenditure of big game tag and upland game stamp revenues, it changed California law to allow big game tag revenues to be spent on projects or programs of greatest need, brought conservation organizations to the table to help prioritize projects, and created another critically needed state funding source to partner with CDA and other wildlife organization on their habitat efforts.