2023 CODE OF GEORGIA › Title 27 - GAME AND FISH (§§ 27-1-1 — 27-5-12) › Chapter 2 - LICENSES, PERMITS, AND STAMPS GENERALLY (§§ 27-2-1 — 27-2-42) › Article 1 - LICENCES, PERMITS, AND STAMPS GENERALLY (§§ 27-2-1 — 27-2-31) › Section 27-2-30 - Establishment of the Wildlife Endowment Trust Fund; investment of moneys held in the fund; compliance with constitutional provisions; annual accounting of funds; limitations on expenditures from the fund

(a)
The General Assembly recognizes that lifetime sportsman's license purchasers expect and are entitled to assurance that funds for such licenses will be used throughout their life expectancy to provide quality hunting and fishing experiences. Therefore, the General Assembly declares its intent that lifetime licenses yield annual revenue in perpetuity for the support of wildlife management programs of the department and recognizes that annual income generation is necessary for these licenses to be included in apportionment formulas for federal fish and wildlife funding.
(b)
(1)
In recognition of its obligations to lifetime sportsman's license purchasers, the General Assembly directs the state treasurer to establish the Wildlife Endowment Trust Fund as a separate fund in the state treasury and all funds held in the Wildlife Endowment Fund previously established by this Code section shall be transferred to the Wildlife Endowment Trust Fund.
(2)
The state treasurer shall invest the money held in the Wildlife Endowment Trust Fund in the same manner in which state funds are invested as authorized by the State Depository Board pursuant to Article 3 of Chapter 17 of Title 50. Interest earned by the money held in the trust fund shall be accounted for separately and shall be credited to the trust fund to be disbursed as other moneys in the trust fund. The fund is authorized to accept donations from private individuals and entities.
(c)
Under the authority granted and subject to the conditions imposed by Article III, Section IX, Paragraph VI(r) of the Constitution of Georgia, for the period beginning on July 1, 2022, and ending on June 30, 2032, all of the money collected pursuant to subsection (d) of Code Section
27-2-3.1
shall be annually appropriated to the Wildlife Endowment Trust Fund established by subsection (b) of this Code section and such funds shall not lapse as otherwise required by Article III, Section IX, Paragraph IV(c) of the Constitution of Georgia. Each annual appropriation shall be made through the General Appropriations Act and shall include all of the money collected from such source during the most recently completed fiscal year.
(c.1)
The commissioner of natural resources shall be the trustee of the Wildlife Endowment Trust Fund with full authority over the administration of the fund.
(c.2)
All of the money appropriated to the Wildlife Endowment Trust Fund pursuant to subsection (c) of this Code section shall be dedicated for use and expended by the commissioner of natural resources for the purposes provided in subsection (d) of this Code section.
(c.3)
The commissioner of natural resources shall prepare an accounting of the funds expended pursuant to this Code section during the most recently completed fiscal year to be provided to the Office of Planning and Budget, the House Budget and Research Office, and the Senate Budget and Evaluation Office by January 1 of each year.
(d)
The Wildlife Endowment Fund constitutes a special trust derived from a contractual relationship between the state and the members of the public whose lifetime license purchases contribute to the fund. In recognition of such special trust, the following limitations and restrictions are placed on expenditures from the fund:
(1)
No expenditures or disbursements from appropriations equivalent to the income or proceeds derived from the sales of Types I and Y lifetime sportsman's licenses shall be made for any purpose until the respective holders of such licenses attain the age of 16 years. The state treasurer, as custodian of the fund, shall determine actuarially from time to time the amount of such proceeds which remains encumbered by and the amount of such proceeds which is free of this restriction and shall advise the commissioner of such information. For such purposes, the commissioner shall cause the amount of proceeds from Type I licenses to be identified and proceeds from Type Y licenses to be accompanied by information as to the ages of the license recipients;
(2)
No expenditure or disbursement may be made from the principal and interest of the fund except as otherwise provided by law;
(3)
The principal and interest of the fund must be spent only for the conservation and management of wildlife and fisheries resources and the acquisition of habitat upon which such resources are dependent;
(4)
No such habitat acquired with money from the fund shall be voluntarily transferred to the federal government or any international agency or organization;
(5)
The trustee of the Wildlife Endowment Fund may accumulate the income of the fund and may direct expenditures from the income of the fund; and
(6)
Expenditure of the income derived from the fund must be made with the approval of the trustee in accordance with the provisions of the General Appropriations Act. The fund is subject to the oversight of the state treasurer.
(e)
The fund and income from it do not take the place of other state appropriations or agency receipts but are supplemental to other funds and appropriations made available to the department for carrying out its responsibilities under this title.
(f)
If the Department of Natural Resources is dissolved, the chief executive officer of the succeeding agency shall assume the trusteeship of the fund and shall be bound by all the limitations and restrictions placed by this Code section on expenditures from the fund. No repeal or modification of this Code section alters the fundamental purposes to which the fund is applied. No future dissolution of the Department of Natural Resources or substitution of any agency in its stead shall invalidate any lifetime license issued in accordance with this title.
Amended by 2021 Ga. Laws 290,§ 10, eff. 7/1/2022.
Amended by 2015 Ga. Laws 9,§ 27, eff. 3/13/2015.
Amended by 2014 Ga. Laws 667,§ 2, eff. 7/1/2014.
Amended by 2013 Ga. Laws 33,§ 27, eff. 4/24/2013.
Amended by 2010 Ga. Laws 621,§ 3, eff. 7/1/2010.