29–006 

113TH CONGRESS REPORT " ! HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 1st Session 113–67 

PERMANENT ELECTRONIC DUCK STAMP ACT OF 2013 

MAY 17, 2013.—Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of 

the Union and ordered to be printed 

Mr. HASTINGS of Washington, from the Committee on Natural 

Resources, submitted the following 

R E P O R T 

[To accompany H.R. 1206] 

[Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office] 

The Committee on Natural Resources, to whom was referred the 

bill (H.R. 1206) to grant the Secretary of the Interior permanent 

authority to authorize States to issue electronic duck stamps, and 

for other purposes, having considered the same, report favorably 

thereon without amendment and recommend that the bill do pass. 

PURPOSE OF THE BILL

The purpose of H.R. 1206 is to grant the Secretary of the Interior 

permanent authority to authorize States to issue electronic duck 

stamps. 

BACKGROUND AND NEED FOR LEGISLATION

On March 16, 1934, Congress passed the Migratory Bird Hunting 

Stamp Act. Under this law, every hunter over the age of 16 is required to purchase a Federal duck stamp each year if he or she 

wants to hunt migratory waterfowl. The price of a duck stamp has 

increased from $1 to the present cost of $15. Since the inception 

of the Federal Duck Stamp Program, the Fish and Wildlife Service 

(FWS) has collected more than $800 million from the sale of duck 

stamps. These monies, deposited in the Migratory Bird Conservation Fund, have been used to purchase or lease over 6 million acres 

of land at a total purchase price of over $1 billion for inclusion in 

the National Wildlife Refuge System. The Federal Duck Stamp Office has indicated that 98 percent of the dollars deposited in the 

Fund is used for wetland acquisition. The remaining 2 percent is 

spent on the printing and distribution of the stamps. 


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The duck stamp receipts have varied each year because of 

changes in waterfowl population levels, bag limits and economic 

conditions. The number of duck stamps sold has declined, however, 

from 2.5 million per year in 1971–1972 to 1.5 million stamps per 

year in 2011–2012. During that year, $22 million was deposited 

into the Migratory Bird Conservation Fund. 

The Electronic Duck Stamp Act of 2006 (Public Law 109–266) directed the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a three-year pilot 

program that would allow up to 15 States to issue electronic Federal migratory bird hunting stamps. Those states that choose to 

participate in the program were permitted to charge a reasonable 

fee to recover their administrative costs. In the past ten years, 

state electronic hunting and fishing licenses have become popular 

throughout the United States. They are easy to obtain because a 

potential hunter or angler can simply use his or her personal computer to access the appropriate state fish and wildlife department 

website and within a matter of moments are printing a document. 

The electronic pilot program began in the 2007–2008 hunting 

year and is currently in its sixth year. There are currently eight 

states (Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Maryland, Minnesota, 

Texas and Wisconsin) where an individual can obtain a Federal 

duck stamp in an electronic form. Since its inception, more than 

3.5 million stamps have been purchased in this manner. These 

stamps are valid for 45 days from the date of purchase. 

Under P.L. 109–266, FWS is required to undertake a comprehensive evaluation of the pilot program to determine whether it has 

been cost-effective and a convenient means for issuing migratory 

bird hunting and conservation stamps. This report was submitted 

to Congress in August 2011 and concluded: ‘‘The E-Stamp Program 

has proven to be a practical method that is readily accepted by the 

stamp-buying public. The increased sale of E-Stamps, coupled with 

few complaints about the process through the three-year pilot, suggests customers are satisfied with this method of acquiring their 

Duck Stamps and the options available to them in their States.’’ 

This legislation will permanently allow FWS to authorize certain 

states to sell the annual Federal Duck Stamp. 

COMMITTEE ACTION

H.R. 1206 was introduced on March 14, 2013, by Congressman 

Robert Wittman (R–VA). The bill was referred to the Committee on 

Natural Resources, and within the Committee to the Subcommittee 

on Fisheries, Wildlife, Oceans, and Insular Affairs. On April 24, 

2013, the Full Natural Resources Committee met to consider the 

bill. The Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife, Oceans, and Insular 

Affairs was discharged by unanimous consent. No amendments 

were offered, and the bill was then adopted and ordered favorably 

reported to the House of Representatives by unanimous consent. 

COMMITTEE OVERSIGHT FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Regarding clause 2(b)(1) of rule X and clause 3(c)(1) of rule XIII 

of the Rules of the House of Representatives, the Committee on 

Natural Resources’ oversight findings and recommendations are reflected in the body of this report. 


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COMPLIANCE WITH HOUSE RULE XIII

1. Cost of Legislation. Clause 3(d)(1) of rule XIII of the Rules 

of the House of Representatives requires an estimate and a comparison by the Committee of the costs which would be incurred in 

carrying out this bill. However, clause 3(d)(2)(B) of that Rule provides that this requirement does not apply when the Committee 

has included in its report a timely submitted cost estimate of the 

bill prepared by the Director of the Congressional Budget Office 

under section 402 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974. Under 

clause 3(c)(3) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives and section 403 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, the 

Committee has received the following cost estimate for this bill 

from the Director of the Congressional Budget Office: 

H.R. 1206—Permanent Electronic Duck Stamp Act of 2013 

H.R. 1206 would authorize the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 

(USFWS) to permanently allow any state to provide hunting and 

conservation stamps for migratory birds (referred to as federal 

duck stamps) electronically. The electronic stamps would remain 

valid for 45 days to allow for the physical stamps to arrive in the 

mail. A pilot program that authorized a limited number of states 

to issue electronic stamps expired in 2010, although the USFWS 

has continued the program under other authorities. 

CBO estimates that enacting H.R. 1206 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 2014– 

2023 period because the legislation would not have a significant 

impact on the number of federal duck stamps purchased. 

H.R. 1206 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. 

The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Martin von Gnechten. 

The estimate was approved by Theresa Gullo, Deputy Assistant Director for Budget Analysis. 

2. Section 308(a) of Congressional Budget Act. As required 

by clause 3(c)(2) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives and section 308(a) of the Congressional Budget Act of 

1974, this bill does not contain any new budget authority, spending 

authority, credit authority, or an increase or decrease in revenues 

or tax expenditures. 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 2014–2023 period because the legislation would not 

have a significant impact on the number of federal duck stamps 

purchased. 

3. General Performance Goals and Objectives. As required 

by clause 3(c)(4) of rule XIII, the general performance goal or objecVerDate Mar 15 2010 23:39 May 20, 2013 Jkt 029006 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6659 Sfmt 6602 E:\HR\OC\HR067.XXX HR067

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tive of this bill is to grant the Secretary of the Interior permanent 

authority to authorize States to issue electronic duck stamps. 

EARMARK STATEMENT

This bill does not contain any Congressional earmarks, limited 

tax benefits, or limited tariff benefits as defined under clause 9(e), 

9(f), and 9(g) of rule XXI of the Rules of the House of Representatives. 

COMPLIANCE WITH PUBLIC LAW 104–4

This bill contains no unfunded mandates. 

COMPLIANCE WITH H. RES. 5

Directed Rule Making. The Chairman does not believe that 

this bill directs any executive branch official to conduct any specific 

rule-making proceedings. 

Duplication of Existing Programs. This bill does not establish 

or reauthorize a program of the federal government known to be 

duplicative of another program. Such program was not included in 

any report from the Government Accountability Office to Congress 

pursuant to section 21 of Public Law 111–139 or identified in the 

most recent Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance published pursuant to the Federal Program Information Act (Public Law 95–220, 

as amended by Public Law 98–169) as relating to other programs. 

PREEMPTION OF STATE, LOCAL OR TRIBAL LAW

This bill is not intended to preempt any State, local or tribal law. 

CHANGE IN EXISTING LAW

If enacted, this bill would make no changes in existing law. 

Æ 


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