18 YEA's REPEALING SUNDAY HUNTING PROHIBITION IN PENNSYLVANIA - HB1431 PASSES OUT OF COMMITTEE.

CONTACT: Hunters United for Sunday Hunting

TELEPHONE: 717-350-6741

EMAIL: huntersforsundayhunting@gmail.com

WEBSITE: facebook.com/HuntersUnitedForSundayHunting

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE/DISTRIBUTION 

YEA VOTE FOR REPEALING SUNDAY HUNTING PROHIBITION IN PENNSYLVANIA - HB1431 BY PA HOUSE GAME AND FISHERIES COMMITTEE. 

  

The Pennsylvania House Game and Fisheries Committee on June 3, 2025, advanced PA House Bill 1431, Repealing Sunday Hunting Prohibition in Pennsylvania, with a vote of 18YEA, 8NAY.

The vote was consistent with the Democratic majority voting favorably, along with four Republican minority members supporting.  

View the PA House Game and Fisheries Committee meeting and voting here. The advancement of this legislation is important in helping hunters and farmers.  Over the past years, hunter-conservation identified their number one issue as removing the prohibitive blue law restricting hunting on Sunday.  Agriculture identified its number one issue as being economic, locally and as a whole, through losses associated with crop damage.  

HB1431:

• Removes the blue law prohibiting hunting on Sunday and provides the Pennsylvania Game Commission with full regulatory authority to set seasons and bag limits seven days a week. 

• Provides for a member of the Board of Pennsylvania Game Commissioners who represents the interest of agricultural commodities that pertain to normal agricultural operations and wildlife. That applicant will now have to meet the criteria of being knowledgeable in the area of wildlife management as well as actively engaged in a normal agricultural operation as defined in the Right-to-Farm Law.

• Directs the labeling of natural deer urine for the use of hunting.  The urine must have adequate labeling and testing to ensure they are free of Chronic Wasting Disease. 

• Guides the reporting of harvested animals for crop damage. 

• Strengthens private property trespass rules. 

Statement from Kevin Askew, Executive Director, Hunters United for Sunday Hunting:

“ Hunter-citizens of Pennsylvania have been asking for an update to the blue law for over 50 years.  I would like to thank legislators for demonstrating their trust in the Pennsylvania Game Commission to do as they are charged and manage PA’s wildlife resources for generations now and future.  Your ongoing courage to change and remove the archaic blue law that prohibits hunting on Sundays will have a lasting effect for current and future hunters.”

“I want to also recognize the efforts of our partnerships with Hunter Nation-PA, the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau, the Pennsylvania Game Commission, and Representative Mandy Steele (D), Allegheny Co.  Without legislative cooperation, we would not be at the point of ending the 343-year-old blue law and the 50-year benign seven-day-a-week hunting issue.”   

HB1431 will now move to the Pennsylvania House for a full floor vote.  

For more information about this topic, please contact Hunters United for Sunday Hunting, Executive Director Kevin Askew at 717-350-6741 or email at huntersforsundayhunting@gmail.com.  View our Blog - https://huntersforsundayhunting.blogspot.com/ 

HUSH Mission Statement - Remove the prohibition of Sunday hunting in PA Title 34 Game Law through education, and influence legislatures to change the law accordingly.

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YEA VOTE FOR THE STEELE DEAL - REPEALING SUNDAY HUNTING PROHIBITION PASSES OUT OF COMMITTEE

 

CONTACT: Hunters United for Sunday Hunting

TELEPHONE: 717-350-6741

EMAIL: huntersforsundayhunting@gmail.com

WEBSITE: facebook.com/HuntersUnitedForSundayHunting

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE/DISTRIBUTION

YEA VOTE FOR REPEALING SUNDAY HUNTING PROHIBITION IN PENNSYLVANIA - THE STEELE DEAL HB2106, HB2107, HB2108  BY PA HOUSE GAME AND FISHERIES COMMITTEE.

The Pennsylvania House Game and Fisheries Committee on May 22, 2024, advanced THE STEELE DEAL HB2106, HB2107, HB2108  Repealing Sunday Hunting Prohibition in Pennsylvania. with a vote of 13 YEA, 11 NAY, and 1 NO VOTE on HB2106;  14 YEA and 11 NAY on HB2107; and 13 YEA, 11 NAY, and 1 NO VOTE  on HB2108.

The vote was consistent down party lines with the Democrat majority supporting all three bills and the Republican minority opposing all three bills.

How did we get here?  Simple, by Representative Mandy Steele doing her due diligence for eight months listening, learning, and having conversations on how to help grow the booming outdoor industry in PA while also assisting agriculture in its goals.  Hunter-conservation identified their number one issue as removing the prohibitive blue law restricting hunting on Sunday.  Agriculture identified its number one issue as being economic locally and as a whole through losses associated with crop damage.

HB2106 removes the blue law prohibiting hunting on Sunday and provides the Pennsylvania Game Commission with full regulatory authority to set seasons and bag limits seven days a week. HB 2106 also strengthens trespass laws by outlining the requirements and responsibilities for landowners and hunters alike.

HB2107 merely finishes what has been started.  It is known the PGC has been working towards a revision and updates to the hunter agriculture crop damage system.  Be it that all legalities and mechanics for implementation can be worked out.  HB2107 finishes the puzzle of connecting hunters, agriculturalists, and farmers by creating an online network to streamline the process for better interaction and results for those farmers seeking help with crop damage.

HB2108 is a hunter-conservation and agriculture mission multiplier when viewed and interpreted correctly.  There are currently two sitting agriculturalists on the PGC Board of Commissioners.  HB2108 updates and provides the needed defining criteria for the best selection possible for the most qualified candidate.  That applicant will now have to meet the criteria of being knowledgeable in the area of wildlife management as well as actively engaged in a normal agricultural operation as defined in the Right-to-Farm Law.

Statement from Kevin Askew, Executive Director, Hunters United for Sunday Hunting;

“The Steele Deal is a good deal; it provides for everything needed, not everything wanted.  I would like to thank Representative Mandy Steele for her dedication in bringing this package of needed bills that helps hunters, conservationists, agriculturalists, and farmers.  I would also like to extend a thank you to all the Democrats who worked on and supported the Steele Deal.  Far too often democrats are painted, portrayed, and stigmatized as not supporting hunting conservation and agriculture.  Your bold party line YEA vote today has demonstrated what has historically been recorded in the voting record on conservation issues. That is as a whole, Democrats have voted YEA on conservation issues much more than your Republican counterparts.  Today’s vote could be the first step in breaking that stigma.”

For more information about this topic, please contact Hunters United for Sunday Hunting, Executive Director Kevin Askew at 717-350-6741 or email at huntersforsundayhunting@gmail.com.  View our Blog - https://huntersforsundayhunting.blogspot.com/ 

View the PA House Game and Fisheries Committee meeting and voting here: https://www.youtube.com/live/Tc-oR-aF1No

View the PA House Game and Fisheries Committee vote here: 

HB2106 https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/billinfo/bill_votes.cfm?syear=2023&sind=0&body=H&type=B&bn=2106

HB2107 https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/billinfo/bill_votes.cfm?syear=2023&sind=0&body=H&type=B&bn=2107

HB2108 https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/billinfo/billinfo.cfm?syear=2023&sind=0&body=H&type=B&bn=2108

HUSH Mission Statement - Remove the prohibition of Sunday hunting in PA Title 34 Game Law through education, and influence legislatures to change the law accordingly.

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THE STEELE DEAL TESTIMONY - HB2106, HB2107, HB2108

 

April 9, 2024. 

Testimony to Pennsylvania House Game and Fisheries Committee for Informational Meeting on HB2106, HB2107, HB2108.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Members

My name is Kevin Askew, I am the executive director for Hunters United for Sunday Hunting, the lead organization working to end the archaic blue law prohibiting hunting on Sunday.  Our mission:  Remove the prohibition of Sunday Hunting in PA Title 34 Game Law through education, and influence legislatures to change the law accordingly.  This educational effort has brought us to this meeting today regarding Pennsylvania House Bills 2106, 2107, and 2108; the Steele Deal as it is now being called.

How did we get here?  Simple, by Representative Mandy Steele doing her due diligence for eight months listening, learning, and having conversations on how to help grow the booming outdoor industry in PA while also assisting agriculture in its goals.  Hunter-conservation identified their number one issue as removing the prohibitive blue law restricting hunting on Sunday.  Agriculture identified its number one issue as being economic locally and as a whole through losses associated with crop damage.

As you are aware there is much crossover between the hunter-conservation community and the agriculture community.  That is why the inclusiveness of the Steele Deal is a solid piece of legislation. 

HB2106 removes the blue law prohibiting hunting on Sunday and provides the Pennsylvania Game Commission with full regulatory authority to set seasons and bag limits seven days a week. HB 2106 also strengthens trespass laws by outlining the requirements and responsibilities for landowners and hunters alike.

HB2107 merely finishes what has been started.  It is known the PGC has been working towards a revision and updates to the hunter agriculture crop damage system.  Be it that all legalities and mechanics for implementation can be worked out.  HB2107 finishes the puzzle of connecting hunters, agriculturalists, and farmers by creating an online network to streamline the process for better interaction and results for those farmers seeking help with crop damage.

HB2108 is a hunter-conservation and agriculture mission multiplier when viewed and interpreted correctly.  There are currently two sitting agriculturalists on the PGC Board of Commissioners.  HB2108 updates and provides the needed defining criteria for the best selection possible for the most qualified candidate.  That applicant will now have to meet the criteria of being knowledgeable in the area of wildlife management as well as actively engaged in a normal agricultural operation as defined in the Right-to-Farm Law.

During my tenure, one of the common suggestions that myself and my team have received from legislators is ‘that the hunter community and the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau need to work together. Bring us a deal that you all can agree to.’  We thank Representative Steele for getting us to this point.  Abraham Lincoln said; “The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew.”

Together the Steele Deal legislative sponsors, hunter-conservation, the Pennsylvania Game Commission, and the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau have risen to the occasion, thought anew, and acted anew.   The expectation is that you and your colleagues will do the same.  This is not a partisan political issue of Democrat versus Republican.  It’s a Commonwealth issue of doing the right thing and ending the 342-year-old blue law and the 50-year benign seven-day-a-week hunting issue. 

The Steele Deal is a good deal; it provides for everything needed, not everything wanted. The question is do you have the insight to see this bipartisan issue as it is and get it to the Governor's desk for signature into law?  History indicates that you do. 

Thank you for your time. 

///Kevin B. Askew///

Executive Director, Hunters United for Sunday Hunting

Reference:

The outdoor industry [including hunting/shooting/trapping] added more value to our commonwealth’s gross domestic product than all of Pennsylvania’s farms, all of Pennsylvania’s oil and gas wells, and even all of Pennsylvania’s lawyers.  2021 Bureau of Economic Analysis, US Department of Commerce.

PA House Bill 2106 

PA House Bill 2107

PA House Bill 2108

LETTER FOR JOINT PUBLIC HEARING OF PA SENATE FISH AND GAME AND AGRICULTURE, RURAL AFFAIRS COMMITTEES ON CROP DAMAGE

 

Letter of submission to and for the joint public hearing to discuss crop damage scheduled October 23, 2023

PA Senate Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee

PA Senate Game and Fisheries Committee

Pennsylvania Game Commission

Pennsylvania Farm Bureau

PA Senate Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee and PA Senate Game and Fisheries Committee - as you all discuss what can be done to help the agriculture community with their crop damage concern it comes down to two options.  First is financial and second is a long-term and sustainable solution.  The financial solution involves helping secure funding for crop loss through the established United States Department of Agriculture crop loss Noninsured Disaster Assistance Program (NAP).  This is a federal program available to all farmers.  To secure this funding it involves a legislative commitment to bring it to PA farmers for use.  The second and long-term sustainable solution is sitting in the Senate Game and Fisheries Committee right now.   Senate Bill 67 would provide full regulatory authority to the Pennsylvania Game Commission to authorize seven-day-a-week hunting.  Just like yourselves, hunter-conservationists are busy with life and work.  SB67 would provide another tool for the PGC to use so hunters can help harvest animals in a sustainable manner to assist with the over $70 million loss yearly in crop damage situations.  Farmers are trying to help themselves ninety-one percent of Pennsylvania farmers allowed deer hunting on their farms,  Farmers and hunters are working together for the common goal of less crop damage.  The best way to legislatively assist is to provide full regulatory authority to the PGC to allow the most benefit of time and days when hunters are available.  Combine that with bringing and educating the agriculture community on the USDA NAP program you have the perfect storm and path forward to the ongoing economic crop loss concern of yourselves and agriculturalists.

Pennsylvania Game Commission - as you participate in this forum understand that hunter-conservationists are standing beside you knowing the sustainability of PA’s wildlife is always top of mind and top of mission for the agency.  There is no disputing wildlife causes financial loss not only in agriculture but in other industries as well.  What also is indisputable is how sustainable hunting practices and your agency having full regulatory authority for seven-day-a-week hunting will help.  Many lawmakers are under the misguided impression that seven-day-a-week hunting will be detrimental.  As wildlife managers and conservationists, we know better.   The bottom line is farmers need hunters and hunters need farmers  As reported fencing and shooting were the only methods rated as being at least moderately effective in helping with crop damage.  This falls directly in line with the goal of SB67 and full regulatory authority to provide additional time and opportunity for hunters to harvest animals on farms helping mitigate wildlife crop damage.  This is the time to bridge the legislative body and recognize where the real help will come from and how it can be implemented.

Pennsylvania Farm Bureau - hunters want to help with the crop damage issue.  Recognizing the value of SB67 and accepting its goal will go a long way in the viability of the solution moving forward. There is no need to reinvent the wheel.  Just add another spoke to it.   Combining SB67 with the USDA NAP program creates the perfect scenario for small and large farms alike that need assistance with crop damage.  It helps financially as well as provides a long-term sustainable option.   

Letter sent and endorsed by the undersigned organizations. To discuss this contact 717-350-6741. 

/s/ Hunters United for Sunday Hunting

/s/ Hunter Nation

/s/ Keystone Conservation Action

/s/ Pennsylvania Cooperating Conservation Organizations

References: 

University of Wildlife Damage to Agricultural Crops in Pennsylvania: The Farmers' Perspective Dated 1997 / Updated listing 2023

USDA Noninsured Disaster Assistance Program (NAP) 

Pennsylvania Senate Bill 67