California’s higher fees for out of state commercial fishing licenses upheld

California’s nonresident fee differential for four commercial fishing licenses, vessel registration and permits is constitutional, the U.S. 9th District Court of Appeals says. A certified class of nonresident commercial fishers challenges the fee differentials under the Privileges and Immunities Clause and the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution. “We hold that California’s fee differentials do not violate either clause,” says the majority opinion, written by Judge William Fletcher. California’s higher fees for out of state commercial fishing vessel registrations, fishing licenses, Dungeness crab permits, and herring gill net permits were less than the amount by which California subsidized the management of the nonresidents’ portions of its commercial fishery, the court says, thus being within the Privileges and Immunities Clause challenge because the differentials were justified by a substantial reason that was closely related to the differential fees. Read the rest here 08:51

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