§669h–1 Firearm and Bow Hunter Education and Safety Program Grants

Summary

The law sets aside $7,500,000 for each of fiscal years 2001 and 2002, and $8,000,000 for fiscal year 2003 and every year after. The Secretary of the Interior must divide that money among the States as described in section 669c(c). If a State has not used all of its regular apportionment under section 669c(c) the grant money must be used to improve hunter education, firearm and bow safety, interstate coordination, shooting and archery range construction and safety updates, and recruitment of hunters and recreational shooters. If a State already used all its regular apportionment under section 669c(c) as described in section 669g(b), the State may spend the grant on any activity allowed by this chapter, including hunter safety programs and building, operating, or maintaining public target ranges. The federal government will pay no more than 75 percent of grant project costs in most cases. For buying land or building or expanding a public target range, the federal share can be up to 90 percent. A State does not have to spend more than the amount described in section 669g(b) on hunter safety programs and public target ranges. A State may choose to use up to 10 percent of its section 669c(b) apportionment together with these grants for public target range land or construction. Grant money is generally available only for the fiscal year it is given, except money for public target range land or construction can be used for a 5-fiscal-year period starting October 1 of the first year the money is provided. Any unused funds after that period will be reallocated to States eligible under the chapter.