Analysis of Texas Resident Angler License Purchases to Estimate Impacts of Year from Purchase Licenses

Texas Parks and Wildlife (TPWD) may consider changing its license model from one where licenses are valid for a fiscal year (FY) to a model in which licenses are valid for one-year from purchase. In 2005, TPWD added a license that used the year-from-purchase (YFP) model. We compared the behavior of FY licensees to YFP licensees.  Specifically, we looked at the following measures: time interval between adjacent purchases of a license, number of licenses purchased, transition between licenses, and changes in first-time purchase trends. We found that purchasers of the YFP license were less likely to purchase multiple licenses, took longer to repurchase, and were less likely to purchase higher-priced hunting and fishing combination licenses. We also found that many first-time purchasers were choosing the YFP license instead of the FY license. Using these findings, we then estimated the effects of these differences on the revenue TPWD might expect were all fishing licenses switched from the FY model to the YFP model. Future revenue projections were compared to projections in which no change was made. We estimated that TPWD could see a revenue short-fall if the YFP model was adopted but fees remained the same.