Yesterday Governor Roy Cooper signed House Bill 559 into law. The final version of HB 559 expanded on the Sunday Hunting provisions passed in 2015. The Outdoor Heritage Act of 2015 removed the absolute prohibition on hunting with firearms on Sunday in North Carolina. However, it only applied to hunting on private land, maintained a prohibition on hunting migratory birds, exempted counties with populations over 700,000 from being included, and did not allow hunting within 500 yards of a residence not owned by the landowner.
HB 599 was introduced this year to further expand hunting opportunities in the Tar Heel State. HB 559's changes include:
· Allowing the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission (WRC) to study the impact of expanding the hunting of migratory birds to include hunting on Sunday;
· Expanding hunting on Sunday to public lands;
· Removing the exemption of counties with a population over 700,000 from hunting on Sundays;
· Removing the prohibition on hunting within 500 yards of a residence on Sundays;
· Changing the standards for counties to opt-out of allowing hunting on Sundays.
· HB 559 requires any county opt-out to be approved by a public referendum. By statute, the referendum can only take place in an even-numbered year, which pushes any possible county opt-out to 2018.
NRA-ILA issued the following press release announcing that final executive action had taken place on the measure Tuesday afternoon.
HB 559 represents a tremendous victory for the hunting community. While many legislators were extremely helpful in navigating this bill through the legislative process, we are especially thankful for the efforts by the bill's primary sponsors which include state Representatives Chris Millis (R-16) and John Bell (R-10). Your NRA-ILA would also like to thank state Senators John Alexander (R-15) and Bill Rabon (R-8) for their hard work on HB 559 in the Senate, as well as House Speaker Tim Moore, Rep. Brian Turner, Senate Pres Pro Tem Phil Berger, and Sen. Danny Britt for their leadership in the Legislature.
Your NRA-ILA would like to thank all legislators who voted in support of this legislation and Governor Cooper for signing the bill into law. NRA also thanks members who contacted their lawmakers in support of this Sunday hunting expansion, as passage would not have been possible without your active support.
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