I'll be honest, I was on the lake running 2 bubblers at my place for 10 years and never heard anything about needed a permit for them....Other than the required thin ice signs (we used 2), I never knew anything about it.
Nobody even goes out to check if you have them or not, either at the state or local level. I could certainly care less about the $1.00 per year for the 2, but the whole thing seems absurd. What is the purpose? Its not like they are keeping a map of who has and doesn't have them, and publishing it for safety reasons....