SB67 LETTER TO SENATORS OF THE PENNSYLVANIA GAME AND FISHERIES COMMITTEE

 

Hunters United For Sunday Hunting  

huntersforsundayhunting@gmail.com

717-350-6741

Senators of the Pennsylvania Game and Fisheries Committee as the lead organization along with the 26-group cohort advocating for Repealing Sunday Hunting Prohibition in Pennsylvania, Senate Bill 67 please take a moment to read this correspondence.  As you discuss, consider, and vote take a moment to understand the coherence of this bill.  SB67 simply removes the 341-year-old blue law that prohibits hunting on Sunday.  SB67 plainly provides full regulatory authority to the Pennsylvania Game Commission to set seasons and bag limits seven days a week.

The legislative standard is to be Sunday-inclusive.  There is no bill that makes it through the legislative process of drafting, proposing, voting, and signing into law that excludes Sundays.  Hunting on Sunday deserves to have the same principle and standard applied.

Hunter-citizens of Pennsylvania have been asking for an update to the blue law for over 50 years.  They want the ability, opportunity, and choice to be able to hunt on Sunday.  The past stumbling block of religion is merely a moot point.  All forms of recreation are allowed on Sunday; fishing, ATV, horseback riding, canoeing, hiking, baseball, football, basketball, and all other organized sports without concern of creed.  Businesses are no longer closed on Sunday as they once were under the blue law.  So why shouldn’t the law be changed accordingly to authorize hunting on Sunday? 

The fact is hunting is occurring on Sundays.  Hunting occurs on the three designated Sundays by exemption to the law along with foxes, coyotes, crows, and non-regulated hunting grounds.  The Pennsylvania Game Commission manages and sets the criteria for this.  There is no reason they shouldn’t be provided with full regulatory authority to set seasons and bag limits for all huntable species regardless of the day of the week to coincide with the Agriculture Code set in 2007 which allows for agriculturists and farmers to hunt and harvest animals all days of the week including Sunday.

The time has come to trust the Pennsylvania Game Commission to do as they are charged and manage the wildlife resources for generations now and future.  You as legislators are in a position to provide that path of additional options and opportunities for current and future hunters.  In order to do this it takes the courage to change and remove the archaic blue law that prohibits hunting on Sunday.

There will be nothing lost but much gained with a YEA vote on SB67.  Landowners will still have liability protection under 2007 Act 11.  Sunday only written permission requirement remains.  The purple paint law is unchanged.  The only change is the ability, choice, and opportunity to hunt on Sunday as a person so chooses as set by the limits of the PGC. 

It is truly time to end this 50-year quest and listen to the words of Senator James Brewster from the previous SB147 vote on this very subject; “When we passed the bill and ran the bill my comment was this will be a complete non-event to folks.”  Those words held true then and they will hold true now.  You have an opportunity to effect much-needed, much-asked, and well-deserved change.  It’s time to look to the future and let go of the biases of the past, “If we open a quarrel between past and present, we shall find that we have lost the future,” Winton Churchill.

Thank you for your time and hope you vote favorably on SB67.  

Kevin B. Askew, Executive Director, Hunters United for Sunday Hunting

Senate Bill 67  Repealing Sunday Hunting Prohibition in Pennsylvania 

Supported and endorsed by: Pennsylvania Board of Game Commissioners, Hunters United for Sunday Hunting, Hunter Nation, Pennsylvania Governor's Youth Council for Hunting Fishing and Conservation, United Bowhunters of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Hunters Sharing the Harvest, Hunting Works for PA, Delta Waterfowl, Safari Club International, Congressional Sportsmen's Foundation, Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, National Deer Association, National Shooting Sports Foundation, Cervicide, Meat Eater, HOWL for Wildlife, Sportsmen’s Alliance, Hunt Quietly, Camps4Vets, Hunt Of A Lifetime Foundation, Ruffed Grouse Society/American Woodcock Society, Steel City Bowhunters, Wild Sheep Foundation, Hunters of Color, Harvesting Nature

YEA VOTE FOR SENATE BILL 607 REPEALING SUNDAY HUNTING PROHIBITION BY PA SENATE GAME AND FISHERIES COMMITTEE

 

CONTACT: Hunters United for Sunday Hunting

TELEPHONE: 717-350-6741

EMAIL: huntersforsundayhunting@gmail.com

WEBSITE: facebook.com/HuntersUnitedForSundayHunting

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE/DISTRIBUTION

The Pennsylvania Senate Game and Fisheries Committee on June 16, 2021, advanced Senate Bill 607 Repealing Sunday Hunting Prohibition in Pennsylvania. with a vote of 7 YEA and 4 NAY.

Senate Bill 607 would completely remove the prohibition on Sundays available for hunting and trapping.  Currently, the law dictates which Sundays are open to hunting, and in certain cases, which species. This legislation would change that and would leave all wildlife management decisions to the Game Commission.

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

“The current law is flawed and needs to be corrected.  Revisiting this issue every year is not the proper way to advance this legislation.  Changing and updating the law will save much-needed legislative time, effort, and money. The PA Game Commission needs the flexibility to manage accordingly, based on species, population, diseases, etc, and not be held to a standard set by non-professionals in wildlife management.”  

The goal of Senate Bill 607 is to bring PA into the 21st Century when it comes to societal and conservation standards.  The same ones practiced and participated in by hunters, farmers, landowners, and all who enjoy the outdoors throughout the country.  

SB607 now advances to the PA Senate Appropriations Committee where a fiscal impact note is prepared and another round of voting.  

View Senate Game and Fisheries Committee meeting and voting here:

https://game.pasenategop.com/game-061621/

View Senate Game and Fisheries Committee YEA/NAY vote here:

https://legiscan.com/PA/votes/SB607/2021

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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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 or Legislative Director Harold Daub at 717-648-1835 or email at daubh@comcast.net.  View our Blog - https://huntersforsundayhunting.blogspot.com/ 

WHATS GOING ON WITH SENATE BILL 147? I HAVEN'T HEARD ANYTHING.

“What’s going on with Senate Bill 147?” I have been asked this question quite frequently since the September 10, 2019, Sunday hunting public hearing held in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives Game and Fisheries Committee.
  
Currently, our national partners from the National Rifle Association and the National Shooting Sports Foundation have asked if they can handle the continued negotiations. This is an agreeable request since these organizations have the resources, knowledge, and experts that understand all the legislative work that takes place.
  
As of this writing, Senate Bill 147 sits in the Pa House Game and Fisheries Committee. The current negotiations regarding whether the request for written permission from the Pa Farm Bureau will be added or not. The PFB is requesting SB147 be amended to include written permission on the Sundays stipulated in the bill. No other days are being considered to include written permission.
  
So essentially the PFB wants lawmakers to write a law for what we already have. Under our current posting regulations, a landowner can require or not require written permission to hunt on their property. If the landowner is comfortable with verbal permission, that is completely up to the property owner.
   
So the question becomes why do we need a law to do what we already can do legally at landowner discretion.

The NRA and NSSF are working through this. Neither has agreed or disagreed with the proposal. The negotiating team is working with lawmakers to understand why they think writing a law to do what can already be done makes sense or not make sense.
  
Now to the big question. Are we going to have the opportunity to hunt this hunting season? I wish I had a solid and straight answer but I don’t. I can assure you that HUSH, NRA, NSSF, and all the of the conservations organizations involved in the Pa Sunday hunting fight are doing all we can to get hunting opportunity as quickly as possible. We know and understand what the extra time afield means to everyone.
  
We are up against politicians and their willingness to act quickly for all the right reasons. As it stands the Pa House Game and Fisheries Committee must vote, SB147 then goes to the entire Pa House for a vote, then back to the Senate for a concurrence vote, and then to the governor's desk for signature. All indications are Governor Wolf will sign the bill into law.
  
The overarching and more pressing issue is: the longer the legislators choose not to take action. The longer SB147 is held up in the process. The timeline gets extended. 

This is why it is extremely important to continue calling and emailing legislators on SB147.

I get it, everyone has been doing that for the past 18 months. Please hear and read my words.  It is because of you, supporters of Sunday hunting opportunity that SB147 is where it is and the ‘needle moved’ further than it has ever been in the past 20 years. I am asking that you continue that momentum, keep those phones ringing and the legislator's email boxes full with SB147 and Sunday hunting messages. Continue making the hunter-conservationists voice heard. 

We are close, please stay in the fight. 

Sincerely;

Kevin B. Askew, Executive Director Hunters United for Sunday Hunting