Feral hogs; employees of DGIF & federal agencies allowed to hunt or kill from aircraft, etc. (HB137)
Introduced By
Del. Barry Knight (R-Virginia Beach)
Progress
✓ |
Introduced |
✓ |
Passed Committee |
✓ |
Passed House |
✓ |
Passed Senate |
✓ |
Signed by Governor |
☐ |
Became Law |
Description
Killing feral hogs. Allows employees of the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries and federal agencies having responsibility for fisheries and wildlife management to hunt or kill, from aircraft and with the permission of the landowner, feral hogs in False Cape State Park and Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge, except during waterfowl season. Read the Bill »
Outcome
Bill Has Passed
History
| Date | Action |
|---|---|
| 12/18/2015 | Committee |
| 12/18/2015 | Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/13/16 16102939D |
| 12/18/2015 | Referred to Committee on Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources |
| 01/12/2016 | Impact statement from DPB (HB137) |
| 01/13/2016 | Assigned to sub: Subcommittee Natural Resources |
| 01/13/2016 | Assigned ACNR sub: Subcommittee Natural Resources |
| 01/13/2016 | Assigned ACNR sub: |
| 01/20/2016 | Subcommittee recommends reporting (9-Y 0-N) |
| 01/27/2016 | Reported from Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources (22-Y 0-N) (see vote tally) |
| 01/28/2016 | Read first time |
| 01/29/2016 | Read second time and engrossed |
| 02/01/2016 | Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (98-Y 0-N) |
| 02/01/2016 | VOTE: BLOCK VOTE PASSAGE (98-Y 0-N) (see vote tally) |
| 02/02/2016 | Constitutional reading dispensed |
| 02/02/2016 | Referred to Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources |
| 02/18/2016 | Reported from Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources (15-Y 0-N) (see vote tally) |
| 02/22/2016 | Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N) (see vote tally) |
| 02/23/2016 | Read third time |
| 02/23/2016 | Passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) (see vote tally) |
| 02/24/2016 | Enrolled |
| 02/24/2016 | Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB137ER) |
| 02/24/2016 | Impact statement from DPB (HB137ER) |
| 02/24/2016 | Signed by Speaker |
| 02/25/2016 | Signed by President |
| 02/25/2016 | Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on 02/25/16 |
| 02/25/2016 | G Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, March 3, 2016 |
| 03/01/2016 | G Approved by Governor-Chapter 116 (effective 7/1/16) |
| 03/01/2016 | G Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0116) |
Comments
A little background on this: there's a serious problem with feral hogs in False Cape State Park and Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge, and currently the only method of dealing with that is a hunt, with just a few hunters permitted to join, on a first-come, first-served basis, for just a single day each year. This is going badly—the population of hogs keeps growing, and it's wreaking havoc on the native ecosystem. If I recall correctly, the state lacks the authority to allow people to hunt more often in Back Bay, since that's a national wildlife refuge, but presumably DGIF is permitted to hunt there more often, if the state gives them the authority to do so.