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Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Ind. Gov't. - Canned deer hunting bill stymied, at least for now

Niki Kelly of the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette reports today:

Senate President Pro Tem Robert Garton, R-Columbus, sent the bill to the Senate Rules Committee where he said it will die.

He said the Senate for years has refused to pass legislation that would affect pending litigation, and a lawsuit was filed in August against Hupfer and the DNR after the agency moved to ban the facilities.

“I’ve never been a supporter of them, but that’s irrelevant,” Garton said Monday.

Sen. Tom Weatherwax, R-Logansport, sponsor of the bill in the Senate, said the entire issue is on life support. He could try to find another bill to amend the language into – that is allowed because it already passed one chamber – but hasn’t identified a new home yet. “A lot of people like what [DNR] Director Hupfer did,” Weatherwax conceded.

From earlier in the story:
bill giving high-fenced hunting preserves a reprieve has been scuttled in the Senate, leaving legislators scurrying to find a new home for the somewhat unpopular language.

The House recently passed House Bill 1349 by a slim margin. It would have given existing shooting preserves until 2013 to recoup money invested in their operations before closing down the facilities.

There has been confusion in recent years about the legality of the sites, which allow hunters to pay money to shoot pen-raised deer and elk in a confined area.

But Department of Natural Resources Director Kyle Hupfer announced in August that nothing in Indiana law allows these preserves to exist, and said he would shut them down unless the legislature acted to stop him.

Some lawmakers have argued this year that previous administrations allowed the businesses to start, and closing them without warning would be unfair. As a result, the House voted 53-29 to grandfather existing canned hunting sites – about a dozen around the state – until 2013.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on February 14, 2006 06:10 AM
Posted to Environment | Indiana Government | Indiana Law