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An Act To Auction Off Moose Permits to Maine Guides
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  12 MRSA §11154, sub-§14  is enacted to read:
 
14.  Maine guide moose hunting permit lottery.     Notwithstanding subsection 2, the commissioner shall establish a lottery to issue 300 moose hunting permits each year to resident guides licensed under chapter 927. Moose hunting permits available under this subsection must be divided among all moose hunting zones proportionally to the distribution and number of moose hunting permits issued under subsection 2. A licensed Maine guide may not receive more than 2 moose hunting permits under this subsection per year. The 300 moose hunting permits issued under this subsection are in addition to the number of moose hunting permits allotted each year under subsection 2.
 
A.  The cost for a moose hunting permit issued under this subsection is $1,000, except that the cost of a moose hunting permit for an antlerless moose issued under this subsection is $500.
 
B.  A licensed Maine guide that receives a moose hunting permit under this subsection may sell that permit at a sportsman show recognized as such by the commissioner.
 
C.  Revenues raised by the department under this subsection must be used to support biologists conducting moose-related research in the State.
 
SUMMARY
This bill directs the Commissioner of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife to issue 300 moose hunting permits each year to licensed Maine guides. The 300 moose hunting permits for licensed Maine guides are in addition to those moose hunting permits allotted under the regular lottery system. The bill limits the number of moose hunting permits a licensed Maine guide can receive in one year to 2 and allows that licensed Maine guide to sell those moose hunting permits at sportsman shows. The bill establishes a fee structure and provides that money raised from those fees must be used to support biologists conducting moose-related research in the State.