The Pennsylvania Game Commission moved a step closer to having hunters pick up the tab for the new $2 million automated license sales system it has implemented statewide.

The Pennsylvania House last week approved a 70-cent fee for every hunting and trapping license and stamp sold. House Bill 92, which authorizes the charges, now moves to the state Senate and ultimately to Gov. Ed Rendell.

"We need this legislation to pass the cost of the system on to the customer, otherwise the game fund would be $2 million up the creek," said Game Commission spokesman Jerry Feaser. "If this doesn't pass, we'd have to seriously consider dropping the point-of-sale program."

The bill met resistance last year when lawmakers who oppose hunting license fee increases erroneously thought it would generate revenue for the Game Commission. Feaser said the commission will receive none of the proceeds. "They'll go to ALS," he said, of Automated License Systems Inc., the Nashville-based company that also handles the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission's sales.

While intended to make transactions more expeditious, the system also will help the Game Commission gather data about its customers.

"We'll know where they live and eventually where they hunt, because it will give folks an online reporting option. Hunters have been asking us for years for an alternative to hunter report cards," said Feaser.

The system also can be used for hunter surveys, and will give wildlife conservation officers a new tool for quickly checking for revoked licenses. The system works with the swipe of a driver's license, the way credit cards are processed in checkout lines in stores. Non-drivers will be assigned identification numbers, Feaser said.

The bill allows the commission to eventually increase the 70-cent fee to up to $1. The fee is in addition to the $1 that issuing agents receive for every license and stamp they sell.

The ALS fees would take effect 60 days after signed into law, most likely in time for the 2010-2011 hunting season.