Peril hidden in bill
Initiative the intent; hunting advocates see majority legislating against outdoorsmen
By DENNIS APRILL, Outdoors Writer
The New York State Senate recently passed a bill that could, if also approved by the Assembly and signed into law by the Governor, have a profound impact on certain outdoor activities in the state.
Senate Bill 7306 allows a person or group to directly submit legislation to voters, instead of having to go through the legislature first. On the surface, this sounds like a good thing: the public initiating the legislative process. Bill 7306, however, has the potential to seriously restrict or even eliminate certain types of hunting and trapping in the state.
Here’s why: According to the U.S. Sportsman’s Alliance, formerly the Wildlife Legislative Fund of America, "Animal rights groups have used the initiative process to take hunting and trapping rights away in Arizona, California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Oregon and Washington." In the few states hunters or trappers have won, it was a costly victory. In Michigan, for example, the Sportsman’s Alliance estimates, it took $2 million and two years to raise campaign funds to save bear hunting.
If Bill 7306 becomes law, here’s a possible scenario: An animal-rights group, through petitions, gets a proposition on the November ballot to eliminate archery hunting or, more likely, trapping, in the state. A well-financed media campaign, focusing on the New York City area, where hunting and trapping are as familiar to the people there as Broadway is to us, could target an estimated 11 million (58 percent) of New Yorkers. The U.S. Sportsman’s Alliance figures it would take at least $4 million to oppose such a proposition, and then there would be no guarantee of defeating it.
The Senate vote was 57-3 in favor of Bill 7306, Sen. Ronald Stafford voting with the majority. However, a legislature source said he didn’t expect the bill to pass the Assembly, and even if it did, Gov. Pataki probably wouldn’t sign it.
Considering the changes going on now in North Country politics, it might not be a bad idea for interested constituents to see where our Assembly representatives — Chris Ortloff and Betty Little — come in on the proposed initiative process legislation.