Game Committee       05-08-08

 

 

 

 

PGC Release #045-08      (excerpt)
April 29, 2008

GAME COMMISSION SUPPORTS REP. LEVDANSKY'S FUNDING PROPOSAL

HARRISBURG - Pennsylvania Game Commission Deputy Executive Director Michael W. Schmit today offered testimony on behalf of the agency before the House Finance Committee in support House Bill 1676 to provide for an alternative funding stream for agency operations.  Rep. David Levdansky (D-Allegheny) sponsored HB 1676, and serves as House Finance Committee chairman.

 

HB 1676 Levdansky:  Amending the act of March 4, 1971 (P.L.6, No.2), (SALES AND USE TAX) the act is amended by adding a section to read: Section 281.3.  Game Fund and Fish Fund Transfers. Notwithstanding any other provision of this article, the following shall apply to revenues collected on or after the effective date of this section:

(1) One hundred and sixteen thousandths percent (.00116) of the revenues collected from the tax imposed under this article shall be annually transferred to the Game Fund.

(2) Fifty-eight thousandths percent (.00058) of the revenues collected from the tax imposed under this article shall be annually transferred to the Fish Fund.

(This would provide about $10 million for the PGC, and $5 million for the PF&BC)

Referred to Finance Committee, (07-03-07) Finance Committee Hearing, (04-29-08)

è    This bill would end the independent status of the Game and Fish Commissions and place both under legislative oversight, as they will no longer be funded solely by sportsmen.  The ACSL position is steadfast at preserving independent commissions to prevent them from becoming political footballs.  Public funding would also revive the effort to open Game Lands to multiple uses (public money means public access).   During the hearing, Rep. Denlinger voiced concern that the bill would open the door for militant environmentalists and anti-hunting groups to negatively influence the Game Commission.  

It’s unfortunate that the Game Commission is willing to sacrifice independence because of current financial troubles, and grasp at money wherever it’s dangled.  

              It’s unfortunate that the Game and Fisheries Committee is holding a license fee

increase hostage to the consequences of the deer management program.

It’s unfortunate that the legislator who introduce the bill, and who refers to himself 

as a sportsman, is eager to terminate the independence of the commissions.

We have only to look to New Jersey for an example of a dependent agency that              

has been manipulated to the detriment of hunting.

An excise tax on outdoor equipment may be a more feasible proposal for long        term dedicated funding.

PA Senate

 

SB 1371 Rhoades: Amending Title 34 (Game) further providing for powers and duties of commission; and providing for citizen advisory committee.  

Establishes a citizen advisory committee for each wildlife management unit. Each citizen advisory committee established shall include no more than 24 members from stakeholder groups, including, but not limited to, sportsmen, conservationists, farmers, homeowners and forest representatives from each wildlife management unit. No fewer than 50% of the members of each advisory committee shall have participated in one of the Commonwealth's antlered or antlerless deer seasons within the preceding three years.

The committee shall meet at least quarterly and shall annually submit a written report to the commission recommending seasons and bag limits for hunting or furtaking, the possession of certain species or parts thereof. (2) The written report shall be provided to the chairman and minority chairman of the Game and Fisheries Committee of the Senate and the chairman and minority chairman of the Game and Fisheries Committee of the House of Representatives and shall also be made available on the commission's publicly accessible Internet website.

Prior to establishing seasons and bag limits, the commission shall consider recommendations contained in the written report submitted by the citizen advisory committees.  If the commission does not implement the recommendations submitted by the citizen advisory committees, the commission shall set forth in writing the rationale for not implementing the recommendations. 

Referred to Game & Fisheries Committee (04-14-08)

 

      SR 294 White, M: Resolution REAFFIRMING that the consent of Pennsylvania to the acquisition of Allegheny National Forest Lands by the United States is conditioned upon preservation of property interests of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania & privately owned property interests.
Referred to Environmental Resources & Energy Committee (04-24-08)

      Reported as amended (04-29-08)

      Adopted (Vote: 50-0) (05-05-08) 

 

    

       Former Beatle Joins PETA Crusade    

               April 29, 2008   U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance        www.ussportsmen.org

Sir Paul McCartney, formerly of the legendary band The Beatles, is one of the latest stars of the entertainment world to join forces with anti-hunting group, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).

McCartney appears in a PETA print advertisement, wearing one of the organization’s pro-vegetarian t-shirts.  PETA also featured an interview with McCartney on its website.

The text of the ad relates the moment when McCartney first became a vegetarian.  He says that he realized it when he was fishing and the fish on his line was dying and struggling for breath

HSUS Grooming Future Anti-Hunting Activists  

April 23, 2008   U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance           www.ussportsmen.org

The nation’s biggest anti-hunting organization has launched a new tool in its attempt to recruit young people.
The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) recently launched a free online service learning program aimed at middle- and high-school students. 

The program is called “Humane High School” and according to information from the anti, the first course is “Using the Legislative Process to Speak Up for Animals.”  In the online course students are taught how to communicate with an elected official, how to research and develop a message and how government works.
The organization already has several programs in place to enlist youth into its causes, including the KIND News newspaper that spreads the group’s message to 35,000 elementary school classes nationwide.

                Ohio Television Stations Refuse to Run PETA’s KKK Ad

April 29, 2008 (National)     U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance       www.ussportsmen.org

Sandusky and Cleveland, Ohio-area television networks and cable stations have refused to broadcast a People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) advertisement featuring the Ku Klux Klan (KKK).
The commercial shows a KKK member attending an American Kennel Club (AKC) meeting.  A PETA official says it is meant to show similarities between the two organizations and that “the AKC is a shameless promotion of pure bloodlines and against mixed breeding.”
According to the PETA official, the advertisement in question has run in other areas, including on stations in the New York City area during the Westminster Dog Show. 

    Anti’s Attack School Hunting Program

   April 16, 2008 (Wisconsin)  U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance       www.ussportsmen.org

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has chosen a Wisconsin middle school as one of the newest targets in its anti-hunting fight.
Students at Northwestern Middle School in Poplar, Wisconsin have a Hunter’s Wall, which is a spot where they can post photos of their kills, celebrating the rich hunting heritage of the region.
The photo wall is in the classroom of science teacher Russ Bailey, who also teaches an after-school hunter education course in the room.
PETA sent a letter to the principal of the school, Ken Bartelt, asking him to remove the Hunter’s Wall because the organization believes it promotes violence.  The letter was also posted online and was sent to local media.

Bartelt said he feels the wall is positive for the students and the community.  The Hunter’s Wall for this year features 52 photos of animals taken by the students throughout the year.
School officials say they have received letters from people supporting the wall and its message about the region’s hunting culture.  The school has not received letters against the wall, except for the one from PETA.

PA Dog Law Revamp Is Prosecutor’s

Dream, Civil Libertarian’s Nightmare

 

               Makes Some Changes For Commercial Breeders While Concealing Plan For New Private Kennel Regulations

 

by JOHN YATES

The American Sporting Dog Alliance                        May 3, 2008       (excerpt)

http://www.americansportingdogalliance.org

 

HARRISBURG, PA – A deal has been cut to hold back new regulations that will affect all of Pennsylvania’s 2,600 licensed kennels in order to push through legislation calling for tougher rules for large commercial breeders, penalties that have the potential to destroy the lives of all dog owners for even minor infractions, and rules of prosecution that throw the Bill of Rights in the trash can.

 

The 82-page-long legislation was written under the direction of Gov. Ed Rendell, and will be introduced into the Legislature by Rep. James E. Casorio, D-Westmoreland County.

 

Rendell has vowed to tighten the rules for what he terms “puppy mills,” and has kept his promise in this legislation. However, the legislation also sets up a framework to enforce the kind of irrational and unworkable regulations that were the centerpiece of previous draft versions. Regulations would affect every kennel.

 

It is important to understand the difference between laws and regulations. Legislation leads to laws. Laws enable a department to create regulations that actually implement a law. In the case of this bill, regulations for large commercial breeders are written into the law, but regulations that will have a major impact on all of Pennsylvania’s 2,600 licensed kennels are being kept hidden in the shadows.

 

We are not merely speculating about the hidden regulations. Annual fees for kennel licenses have been removed from the legislation, and regulations will be required to create license fees simply to pay for the operating costs of the Bureau of Dog Law Enforcement.

 

The American Sporting Dog Alliance has obtained copies of the Rendell/Casorio legislation, a letter from Casorio to other legislators seeking cosponsors, and documentation about the deal to hold back on the regulations until there is a new law.

 

                  Nirvana For The Prosecution

 

The legislation provides a multi-tiered structure of fines, penalties, license revocations, dog seizures and confiscations that in many cases deny an accused person his or her day in court.

 

In addition, constitutional protections that require probable cause to obtain a warrant to search a person’s home, land, building, personal records and even her or his children have been discarded.  The Constitution has been replaced by a prosecutor’s dream definition of “probable cause” as either following a Bureau plan for enforcement or a simple belief by a dog warden that there may be a violation.

 

The legislation gives the Bureau of Dog Law Enforcement the power to revoke licenses, confiscate dogs and levy penalties of up to $1,000 a day, even for someone who is later found not guilty in a court of law. The Bureau also would be given the power to levy those penalties and confiscate dogs without even filing charges against a person who is accused of a violation.

 

In the tradition of American jurisprudence, an accused person is presumed to be innocent unless she or he is found guilty in a court of law, with the constitutionally guaranteed right to a trial by a jury of peers. The burden of proof is upon the prosecution.

 

The new kennel legislation pitches those constitutional guarantees into the gutter.

 

An accused person’s fate rests entirely in the hands of the dog warden, the Bureau that employs the dog warden, and an administrative panel or law judges who are employed by the Bureau. An accused person is required to prove her or his innocence – in fact, he or she must convince his accusers in order to have the charges and penalties dropped or reduced.

 

This legislation thus attempts to transform the Dog Law Bureau into the judge, jury and hangman.

 

We strongly support stiff penalties for people who evade kennel licensing requirements, but also oppose the administrative procedure contained in the legislation that would eliminate standard rules of evidence, due process under the law and other protections guaranteed by the Bill of Rights.

 

Read entire article at www.acslpa.org  (click on What’s Behind the Dog Laws)

 

 

PGC Release #040-08
April 22, 2008

BOARD TAKES ACTION TO LIFT PROTECTION ON WILD BOARS
Based on a motion by Game Commission David W. Schreffler, of Bedford County, the Pennsylvania Board of Game Commissioners today unanimously voted to direct the Executive Director to use his regulatory authority to issue an order to remove protection on wild boars, also known as feral swine.

This authority, found in Section 139.3(b) of the Game Commission regulations (Title 58), also allows the Executive Director to modify the order to allow protection in those townships and/or counties where trap-and-removal efforts are underway. 

On Dec. 27, 2007, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that wild boars are protected mammals under the Game and Wildlife Code. As a result, the agency must take regulatory action to remove protection from wild boars. 

"By taking this action, the Game Commission will avoid confusion that feral swine are a game species, and clearly deliver the message that the agency's goal is the eradication of this invasive species," Schreffler said.