§20-1-17. Natural Resources Commission -- Organization and services.

(a) Members of the Natural Resources Commission shall take and subscribe to the public officer's oath prescribed by the Constitution before entering upon the duties of their office. All such executed oaths shall be filed in the office of the Secretary of State. Members of the Commission shall receive no compensation as such, but each shall be reimbursed for his or her actual and necessary traveling expenses incurred in the performance of his or her official duties.

(b) The Director of the Division shall be ex officio a member of the Commission and its presiding officer. A majority of the Commission shall constitute a quorum for transaction of business. Four regular meetings of the Commission shall be held each year One meeting shall be held in each quarter of the calender year. The date of the meeting shall be at the discretion of the Director of the Division of Natural Resources. Special meetings may be convened by the Governor, the Director or by a majority of the Commission. The meetings of the Commission shall be regularly held at locations designated by the Director. The time and place of the meeting shall be announced in accordance with section one, article nine-a, chapter six, et seq., of this code. The Director shall furnish all articles and supplies required by the Commission in the performance of its duties and shall provide necessary stenographic, secretarial and clerical assistance therefor. All such materials and services shall be paid for from Department funds.

The Director, at any regular or special meeting of the Commission, may submit to the Commission any program or policy matters on which he or she wishes to obtain the advice, counsel and opinion of the Commission and may consult with members of the Commission on functions, services, policies and practices of the Department at any time. The Commission shall serve as a body advisory to the Director and shall perform all other duties assigned to it by law. It shall have the following powers and duties:

(1) To consider and study the entire field of legislation and administrative methods concerning the forests and their maintenance and development, the protection of fish and game, the beautification of the state and its highways, and the development of lands, minerals, waters and other natural resources;

(2) To advise with the Director concerning the conservation problems of particular localities or districts of the state;

(3) To recommend policies and practices to the Director relative to any duties imposed upon him or her by law;

(4) To investigate the work of the Director, and for this purpose to have access at reasonable times to all official books, papers, documents and records;

(5) To advise or make recommendations to the Governor relative to natural resources of the state;

(6) To keep minutes of the transactions of each session, regular or special, which shall be public records and filed with the Director; and

(7) To fix by regulation which it is hereby empowered to promulgate, in accordance with the provisions of chapter twenty-nine-a of this code, the open seasons and the bag, creel, size, age, weight and sex limits with respect to wildlife in this state.