II

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 187

To protect individuals engaged in a lawful hunt on Federal lands, to establish

an administrative civil penalty for persons who intentionally obstruct,

impede, or interfere with the conduct of a lawful hunt, and for other

purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JANUARY 26 (legislative day, JANUARY 5), 1993

Mr. BURNS (for himself, Mr. SHELBY, Mr. HOLLINGS, Mr. PRYOR, Mr. BOND,

Mr. SASSER, Mr. KEMPTHORNE, and Mr. REID) introduced the following

bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and

Natural Resources

A BILL

To protect individuals engaged in a lawful hunt on Federal

lands, to establish an administrative civil penalty for

persons who intentionally obstruct, impede, or interfere

with the conduct of a lawful hunt, and for other

purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Recreational Hunting

5 Safety and Preservation Act of 1993’’.
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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

2 Congress finds that—

3 (1) recreational hunting, when carried out pur4 suant to law (as implemented by the regulations of

5 Federal and State wildlife management agencies) is

6 a necessary and beneficial element in the proper con7 servation and management of healthy, abundant,

8 and biologically diverse wildlife resources;

9 (2) recreational hunters (because of a generally

10 demonstrated concern with the conservation of wild11 life resources and preservation of habitat necessary

12 for the breeding and maintenance of healthy wildlife

13 populations, and through a familiarity with the re14 sources gained from experience in the field) are a

15 valuable asset in ensuring enlightened public input

16 into decisions regarding management and mainte17 nance programs for wildlife resources and habitat;

18 (3)(A) recreational hunting supports industries

19 highly significant to the national economy through

20 sales in interstate commerce of sporting goods; and

21 (B) the Federal excise taxes imposed on the

22 sales provide a major source of funding for vital pro23 grams of wildlife conservation and management;

24 (4) various persons are engaging in (and have

25 announced an intent to continue to engage in) a va26 riety of disruptive activities with the premeditated
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1 purpose of preventing and interfering with the con2 duct of lawful recreational hunting on Federal lands,

3 which activities—

4 (A) place both recreational hunters and the

5 disruptive persons in imminent jeopardy of

6 grave physical injury or death;

7 (B) disrupt the peaceful, lawful, and pru8 dent conduct of wildlife population and habitat

9 management programs by Federal and State

10 wildlife management agencies; and

11 (C) ultimately may alter the planned pro12 gram objectives, resulting in—

13 (i) undesirable patterns of activity

14 within populations of wildlife;

15 (ii) the endangerment of the future vi16 ability of wildlife species; and

17 (iii) damage to habitat values;

18 (5) Federal lands comprise important wildlife

19 habitat resources that—

20 (A) support many large, diverse, and vital

21 populations of wildlife; and

22 (B) offer significant opportunities for legal

23 recreational hunting as an important manage24 ment tool to ensure the future viability of the

25 wildlife populations;
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1 (6) it is the right of citizens of the United

2 States freely to enjoy lawful recreational hunting on

3 Federal lands in accordance with regulations pro4 mulgated by Federal and State wildlife management

5 agencies; and

6 (7) in many instances under current law, vague7 ness and ambiguity exist regarding the application

8 of State laws and enforcement activities relating

9 to—

10 (A) the safety of hunters; and

11 (B) the legal rights of recreational hunters

12 to participate peacefully in lawful hunts on

13 Federal lands.

14 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

15 As used in this Act:

16 (1) FEDERAL LANDS.—The term ‘‘Federal

17 lands’’ means—

18 (A) national forests;

19 (B) public lands;

20 (C) national parks; and

21 (D) wildlife refuges.

22 (2) LAWFUL HUNT.—The term ‘‘lawful hunt’’

23 means an occasion when an individual is engaged in

24 the taking or harvesting (or attempted taking or

25 harvesting) through a legal means and during a
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1 specified legal season of a wildlife or fish, on Federal

2 lands, which activity—

3 (A)(i) is authorized by or licensed under

4 the law of the State in which it takes place; or

5 (ii) is regulated by game or fishing seasons

6 established by the State in which it takes place;

7 (B) is not prohibited by a law of the

8 United States; and

9 (C) does not infringe upon a right of an

10 owner of private property.

11 (3) NATIONAL FOREST.—The term ‘‘national

12 forest’’ means lands included in the National Forest

13 System (as defined in section 11(a) of the Forest

14 and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act

15 of 1974 (16 U.S.C. 1609(a))).

16 (4) NATIONAL PARK.—The term ‘‘national

17 park’’ means lands and waters included in the na18 tional park system (as defined in section 2(a) of the

19 Act entitled ‘‘An Act to facilitate the management of

20 the National Park System and miscellaneous areas

21 administered in connection with that system, and for

22 other purposes’’, approved August 8, 1953 (16

23 U.S.C. 1c(a))).

24 (5) PUBLIC LANDS.—The term ‘‘public lands’’

25 has the same meaning as is provided in section
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1 103(e) of the Federal Land Policy and Management

2 Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1702(e)).

3 (6) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’

4 means—

5 (A) the Secretary of Agriculture with re6 spect to national forests; and

7 (B) the Secretary of the Interior with re8 spect to—

9 (i) public lands;

10 (ii) national parks; and

11 (iii) wildlife refuges.

12 (7) WILDLIFE REFUGE.—The term ‘‘wildlife

13 refuge’’ means lands and waters included in the Na14 tional Wildlife Refuge System (as established by sec15 tion 4 of the National Wildlife Refuge System Ad16 ministration Act of 1966 (16 U.S.C. 668dd)).

17 SEC. 4. OBSTRUCTION OF A LAWFUL HUNT.

18 (a) VIOLATION.—It is unlawful for a person know19 ingly and with the intent of obstructing, impeding, or

20 interfering with a lawful hunt by an individual to—

21 (1) obstruct, impede, or otherwise interfere with

22 a lawful hunt by an individual;

23 (2) scare, herd, harass, decoy, or otherwise

24 engage in activities designed to affect wildlife on

25 Federal lands;
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1 (3) engage in activities that prevent or impede

2 the reasonable and usual means of access by those

3 individuals who intend to participate in a lawful

4 hunt, whether the activities occur on Federal lands

5 or upon a public or private road, highway, path,

6 trail, or other normal route of access to Federal

7 lands;

8 (4) take or abuse property, equipment, or hunt9 ing dogs being used in conjunction with a lawful

10 hunt; or

11 (5) enter onto Federal lands, travel in inter12 state commerce, use the United States mails or an

13 instrumentality of interstate telephonic or electronic

14 communications, or transport or cause to be trans15 ported in interstate commerce a material or item, to

16 further—

17 (A) a scheme or effort to obstruct, impede,

18 or otherwise interfere with a lawful hunt; or

19 (B) the efforts of another person to ob20 struct, impede, or interfere with a lawful hunt.

21 (b) MULTIPLE VIOLATIONS.—The Secretary may

22 consider participation by a person in more than one of

23 the activities described in this section to constitute mul24 tiple violations.
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1 SEC. 5. CIVIL PENALTIES.

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—A person who engages in an activ3 ity described in section 4 shall be assessed a civil penalty

4 of not less than $500, and not more than $5,000, for each

5 violation.

6 (b) VIOLATION INVOLVING FORCE OR VIOLENCE.—

7 Upon a determination by a court that the activity involved

8 the use of force or violence, or the threatened use of force

9 or violence, against the person or property of another per10 son, a person who engages in an activity described in sec11 tion 4 shall be assessed a civil penalty of not less than

12 $1,000, and not more than $10,000, for each violation.

13 (c) RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER PENALTIES.—The

14 penalties established by this section shall be in addition

15 to other criminal or civil penalties that may be levied

16 against the person as a result of an activity in violation

17 of section 4.

18 (d) PROCEDURE.—

19 (1) COMPLAINTS FROM GOVERNMENT

20 AGENTS.—Upon receipt of a written complaint from

21 an officer, employee, or agent of the Forest Service,

22 Bureau of Land Management, National Park Serv23 ice, United States Fish and Wildlife Service, or

24 other Federal agency that a person violated section

25 4, the Secretary shall—
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1 (A) forward the complaint to the United

2 States Attorney for the Federal judicial district

3 in which the violation is alleged to have oc4 curred; and

5 (B) request the Attorney General of the

6 United States to institute a civil action for the

7 imposition and collection of the civil penalty

8 specified in subsection (a) or (b).

9 (2) COMPLAINTS FROM INDIVIDUALS.—Upon

10 receipt of a sworn affidavit from an individual and

11 a determination by the Secretary that the statement

12 contains sufficient factual data to create a reason13 able belief that a violation of section 4 has occurred,

14 the Secretary shall—

15 (A) forward a complaint to the United

16 States Attorney for the Federal judicial district

17 in which the violation is alleged to have oc18 curred; and

19 (B) request the Attorney General of the

20 United States to institute a civil action for the

21 imposition and collection of the civil penalty

22 specified in subsection (a) or (b).

23 (e) USE OF PENALTY MONEY COLLECTED.—After

24 deduction of costs attributable to collection, money col25 lected from penalties shall be—
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1 (1) deposited into the trust fund established

2 pursuant to the Act entitled ‘‘An Act to provide that

3 the United States shall aid the States in wildlife-res4 toration projects, and for other purposes’’, approved

5 September 2, 1937 (16 U.S.C. 669) (commonly

6 known as the ‘‘Pitman-Robertson Wildlife Restora7 tion Act’’), to support the activities authorized by

8 such Act and undertaken by State wildlife manage9 ment agencies; or

10 (2) used in such other manner as the Secretary

11 determines will enhance the funding and implemen12 tation of—

13 (A) the North American Waterfowl Man14 agement Plan signed by the Secretary of the In15 terior and the Minister of Environment for

16 Canada in May 1986; or

17 (B) a similar program that the Secretary

18 determines will enhance wildlife management—

19 (i) on Federal lands; or

20 (ii) on private or State-owned lands

21 when the efforts will also provide a benefit

22 to wildlife management objectives on Fed23 eral lands.
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1 SEC. 6. OTHER RELIEF.

2 (a) INJUNCTIVE RELIEF.—Injunctive relief against a

3 violation of section 4 may be sought by—

4 (1) the head of a State agency with jurisdiction

5 over fish or wildlife management;

6 (2) the Attorney General of the United States;

7 or

8 (3) any person who is or would be adversely af9 fected by the violation, or a hunting or sportsman’s

10 organization to which the person belongs.

11 (b) DAMAGES AND ATTORNEY’S FEES.—Any person

12 who is or would be adversely affected by a violation of

13 section 4, or a hunting or sportsman’s organization to

14 which the person belongs, may bring a civil action to re15 cover—

16 (1) actual and punitive damages; and

17 (2) reasonable attorney’s fees.

18 SEC. 7. RELATIONSHIP TO STATE AND LOCAL LAW AND

19 CIVIL ACTIONS.

20 (a) LAW OR ORDINANCE.—This Act is not intended

21 to preempt a State law or local ordinance that provides

22 for civil or criminal penalties for a person who obstructs

23 or otherwise interferes with a lawful hunt.

24 (b) CIVIL ACTION.—The bringing of an action pursu25 ant to this Act shall not prevent an independent action

26 against a person under a State law or local ordinance.
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1 SEC. 8. REGULATIONS.

2 The Secretary may issue such regulations as are nec3 essary to carry out this Act.

Æ