Establishing a sporting heritage grant program, providing an exemption from emergency rule procedures, granting rule-making authority, and making an appropriation. (FE)

In order to be eligible for a grant under Act 20, a nonprofit organization is required to meet certain requirements. Among those requirements are that it has a relationship with a nationally recognized organization that provides firearm safety education, that it teaches courses on firearm safety and training, that it has a relationship with a nationally recognized shooting expert, and that it is not an affiliate of a national federation or organization. Act 20 provides that the recipient of the grant must use it to provide programs and education designed to preserve and protect this state's hunting, fishing, trapping, and shooting traditions.

Act 20 also creates a committee to review grant applications submitted to DNR and to submit recommendations to the secretary of DNR as to which applicant should receive a grant in fiscal year 2013-15.

This bill eliminates the grant program created in Act 20, and the committee established to review grant applications, and creates a different grant program.

Under this bill, DNR is required to promulgate rules to establish a program to award grants to nonprofit organizations to educate and train persons who engage in hunting, fishing, or trapping, to conduct programs to recruit persons to engage in those activities, or to conduct programs to encourage continued engagement in those activities. The bill provides that a nonprofit organization is eligible to receive a grant if it demonstrates to DNR's satisfaction that it is able to perform the activity for which the grant application is made. Beginning with grants awarded in the 2015-17 biennium, a nonprofit organization that receives a grant must contribute funds equal to at least 25 percent of the cost of the activity for which the grant is awarded.

The bill also specifies that DNR must consult with the sporting heritage council in awarding grants under the grant program. Under the bill, DNR may not award grants totalling more than $450,000 in any biennium and no nonprofit organization may receive more than $100,000 in any biennium.