On November 18, the Senate voted 38 to 11 to send Senate Bill 147 (Laughlin-R-Erie) allowing hunting on 3 Sundays a year to the Governor for his action.
The bill authorizes one day of Sunday hunting in deer rifle season, one Sunday during deer archery season and one other Sunday of the Game Commission’s choosing.
The bill wipes away what the PA Federation of Sportsmen and Conservationists said was a 337-year old “blue” law prohibiting Sunday hunting to help Pennsylvania catch up with modern-day wildlife management..
Sen. Dan Laughlin (R-Erie), prime sponsor of the bill and Majority Chair of the Senate Game and Fisheries Committee, said earlier about the bill, “This will remove one of only two ‘Blue Laws’ remaining in the state of Pennsylvania. You can’t hunt and you can’t buy a car on Sunday in Pennsylvania.”
[Blue laws were a series of state laws adopted over the decades to prohibit a wide variety of commercial activities on Sunday, including closing food and department stories. Most have since been repealed.]
No word yet on whether the Senate will take up the other long-standing wildlife issue-- allowing the Game and Fish and Boat Commissions to set their own licensing fees.
This issue is squarely in the Senate's court.
Senate Bill 553 (Stefano-R-Fayette) authorizing the Game Commission and House Bill 808 (Mehaffie-R- Dauphin) and Senate Bill 553 (Stefano-R-Fayette) allowing the Fish and Boat Commission to set fees for 3 years are all in the Senate Appropriations Committee.
It would be very good for wildlife and the commissions to get this issue behind us and all 3 bills have bipartisan support.
Related Article:
[Posted: November 18, 2019] www.PaEnvironmentDigest.com
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