BREAKING! House Bill 118 has a hearing scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 15, at 10:30 a.m. in the House Fish and Game and Marine Resources Committee in LOB Room 210. There will be another hearing on Wednesday, Sept. 22, at 9 a.m. in LOB Room 307.
BREAKING UPDATE! House Bill 118 was voted on in February to be pushed off until 2022, but the bill will now have a work session on April 28 at 10 a.m. in the House Fish and Game and Marine Resources Committee in preparation for 2022. The hearing will be conducted remotely.
Take Action Today! New Hampshire members should contact committee Chair Timothy Lang and urge him to pull the bill from committee consideration entirely. Chair Lang can be reached at (603) 566-9802.
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New Hampshire State Representative Cathryn Harvey’s legislation that would have allowed anti-hunting organizations to nominate people to serve on the state Fish and Game Commission died in its first committee hearing last week. The Sportsmen’s Alliance, along with state partners, sent letters and contacted the committee urging them to oppose this legislation in order to protect science-based wildlife conservation.
Currently, anyone that has held a hunting/fishing/trapping license for at least five of the last 10 years can be nominated. Nominations are proposed by sporting clubs that have a specific interest in hunting, fishing, trapping, wildlife and habitat conservation. However, HB 118 would have reduced the number of years a nominee must have held a license to just two of the last five years and removes the requirement for nominating organizations to have an interest in hunting, fishing or trapping. Instead, an organization that has an interest in habitat conservation could have made nominations.
“This bill would have kicked the door wide open for groups like HSUS and their Wildlife Land Trust, who are opposed hunting, to make appointments to the New Hampshire Fish and Game Commission,” said Jacob Hupp, associate director of state services at the Sportsmen’s Alliance. “We are glad to see this legislation did not make it out of its first committee, but this legislation is likely to return in 2022 as it has been introduced in each of the last two legislative sessions.”
About the Sportsmen’s Alliance: The Sportsmen’s Alliance protects and defends America’s wildlife conservation programs and the pursuits – hunting, fishing and trapping – that generate the money to pay for them. Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation is responsible for public education, legal defense and research. Its mission is accomplished through several distinct programs coordinated to provide the most complete defense capability possible. Stay connected to Sportsmen’s Alliance: Online, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
