Maine: Hunting Bills to Be Heard in Committee This Week

This week, the Joint Standing Committee on Inland Fisheries and Wildlife will hold public hearings on three hunting bills of interest. NRA members are urged to contact committee members NOW and encourage them to SUPPORT all pro-hunting bills and OPPOSE all anti-hunting bills before the committee. To contact committee members NOW, click the TAKE ACTION button below.

Public Hearings

Joint Standing Committee on Inland Fisheries and Wildlife

Cross Building, Room 206

Monday, April 7

1:00PM

LD 1322 is a bipartisan pro-hunting bill that directs the State of Maine to create a 2-year pilot program to increase youth participation in hunting. If passed, this bill will create a partnership between the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife and the Department of Economic and Community Development to ensure the state is leveraging resources to increase hunting participation and expand the number of youth hunting days.

Wednesday, April 9

1:00PM

LD 1364 is an anti-hunting bill that seeks to direct the State of Maine to commission a study of the impacts on and risks to wildlife, humans, and the environment of using lead-based ammunition. As seen throughout the country, commissioning these types of studies is the initial action taken by anti-hunting groups to implement their extreme long-term agenda. If passed, this bill would begin the process of potentially banning traditional ammunition, which would decrease hunting participation due to the substantial increase in the cost of ammunition. Maine has over 200,000 hunting license holders, which provides over $307,000,000 in annual economic impact. Restricting Maine's hunting economy through ammunition bans would reduce critical Pittman-Robertson funding and negatively impact Maine's rural economies.

LD 1343 is a pro-hunting bill that clarifies language in Maine's "Right to Food" constitutional amendment to ensure that the definition of "harvest" includes hunting, fishing, and trapping. This language change ensures that Maine sportsmen are protected from potential bad actors seeking to exploit possible anti-hunting loopholes in Maine's current law.