Texas Constitutional Amendment Supports Right to Hunt & Fish to be Considered

hm1996

Moderator
Staff member
Originally Posted By: NRA-ILA ALERTSTexas: Right to Hunt and Fish Constitutional Amendment will Appear as Proposition 6 on the November 2015 Ballot!

This morning, the Texas Secretary of State's office held a drawing to determine the ballot position of constitutional amendments that will be considered by voters on November 3, 2015. We are pleased to announce that NRA-backed Senate Joint Resolution 22, sponsored by state Representative Trent Ashby (R-Lufkin) and state Senator Brandon Creighton (R-Conroe), will appear as Proposition 6 on the ballot this fall.

Proposition 6 proposes an amendment to the Texas Constitution that establishes an individual right to hunt, fish and harvest wildlife in the Lone Star State. It would ensure that wildlife conservation and management decisions continue to be based on sound science in order to preserve Texas' hunting heritage for generations to come and to protect it against future attacks from well-funded, anti-hunting organizations. Not only are hunting and fishing deep-rooted in Texas culture, they have a major economic impact on the state. According to the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation, the Lone Star State's hunters and anglers spend $4.1 billion annually and support 65,993 jobs.

Thank you for all your calls and emails in support of SJR 22 during the recent legislative session. Stay tuned for information on further developments regarding Proposition 6!

NRA-ILA Alerts

Regards,
hm
 
It would be nice if the rest of the States would follow suit.


STATE CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO HUNT AND FISH
Douglas Shinkle3/26/2015
TABLE OF CONTENTS
2015 Update
2014 Update
2012 Election Update
2010 Election Update
Hunting and Fishing a Constitutional Right?
CONTACT
Douglas Shinkle
fish and huntEighteen states guarantee the right to hunt and fish in their constitutions, with 17 of those approved via the voters. While Vermont's language dates back to 1777, the rest of these constitutional provisions—in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming—have passed since 1996. California and Rhode Island have language in their respective constitutions guaranteeing the right to fish, but not to hunt. Advocates also consider Alaska’s constitutional language—“Wherever occurring in their natural state, fish, wildlife, and waters are reserved to the people for common use”—as meeting the test because of its strong case law history.
2015 Update
Currently in 2015, 9 states—Indiana, Kansas, Maine, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon and Texas—are debating bills that would add a constitutional right to hunt and fish. West Virginia considered two bills, but they both failed.
2014 Update
Mississippi became the 18th state with a constitutional right to hunt and fish provision with 88 percent of voters in favor of the amendment. Alabama voters, nearly 80 percent of them, refined already existing language, adding that hunting and fishing are the “preferred means of managing and controlling wildlife."
Eight states— Alabama, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and West Virginia—considered bills in 2014 proposing the creation of a state constitutional amendment to protect the right to hunt and fish. The Indiana legislature adopted a resolution calling for an amendment establishing the right to hunt and fish in their constitution, but it must also pass in the 2015 or 2016 legislative session to be placed on the ballot.
2012 Election Update
In November of 2012, voters in four more states—Idaho, Kentucky, Nebraska, and Wyoming—overwhelmingly passed legislatively referred ballot measures to add a constitutional right to hunt and fish. Seven other states—Hawaii, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York and Pennsylvania—considered legislation to amend the constitution to add the right to hunt and fish in 2012, but were unsuccessful.
2010 Election Update
Arizona, Arkansas, South Carolina, and Tennessee had measures on the 2010 ballot to enshrine the right to hunt and fish in their state constitutions. The measures in Arkansas, South Carolina and Tennessee passed, but Arizona became the first state to reject such an initiative.
STATES WITH CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO HUNT AND FISH
State Year of Adoption
Alabama 1996
Arkansas 2010
Georgia 2006
Idaho 2012
Kentucky 2012
Louisiana 2004
Mississippi 2014
Minnesota 1998
Montana 2004
Nebraska 2012
North Dakota 2000
Oklahoma 2008
South Carolina 2010
Tennessee 2010
Vermont 1777
Virginia 2000
Wisconsin 2003
Wyoming 2012

Hunting and Fishing a Constitutional Right?
2008 State Legislatures article
Sportsmen in many states increasingly feel as if they are the ones outside the duck blind, and they are turning to state constitutions to ensure their hallowed pastime will continue in perpetuity. Increasing urbanization, decreased habitat, declining numbers of sportsmen, and more restrictions on hunting are common factors in the quest to assert the right to hunt and fish in a state's most basic and difficult-to-amend document. On land that has been traditionally open to sportsmen, development of farmland and forests, along with pressure from other recreational groups such as hikers and off-road vehicles, is putting the pinch on the available land for harvesting game and fish.
Well-organized animal rights groups and limitations on methods, seasons and bag limits for certain game species have provoked many hunter advocacy groups to lobby for hunting and fishing as a right, and their call is being heard in statehouses across the country. Twenty-two states, including 12 in 2008 alone, have introduced legislation or ballot measures on this issue, with Oklahoma and Tennessee's measures passing in 2008 and Oklahoma's headed to the ballot in November (it later passed). Senator Glen Coffee, sponsor of the Oklahoma resolution, noted that hunting and fishing have "Historically been unfettered rights," and "Oklahoma was formed by populist people and our constitution is very long already, so I think people do think it is the appropriate place to address this." Senator Coffee feels good about the referendum's chance of success in November.
Opponents state that these provisions clutter a constitution and overstate the threat to these activities, while possibly limiting or increasing the amount and severity of restrictions that can be placed on sportsmen activities. The Humane Society states, "The constitution should guarantee fundamental democratic rights, not provide protection for a recreational pastime."
Some states, such as Florida, have inserted the right to hunt and fish into state statutes, but have not taken the more drastic step of embedding it in the state constitution. The road to changing the constitution often goes through legislatures, with legislators typically introducing resolutions to ask the voters to approve changes.
 
Quote:2010 Election Update
............ but Arizona became the first state to reject such an initiative.
.....and AZ will probably have some kind of anti hunting voter initiative as a ballot proposition in the next election.
 
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