I

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1815

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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

APRIL 22, 1993

Mr. BREWSTER (for himself, Mr. YOUNG of Alaska, Mr. ORTON, Mr.

HASTERT, Mr. GILLMOR, Mr. SARPALIUS, Mr. MCHUGH, Mr. BARCIA,

Mrs. VUCANOVICH, Mr. OXLEY, Mr. LAROCCO, Mr. CUNNINGHAM, Mr.

HUNTER, Mr. PETERSON of Minnesota, Mr. DINGELL, Mr. EMERSON,

Mr. ZIMMER, Mr. SMITH of Oregon, Mr. PETE GEREN of Texas, Mr.

BAKER of Louisiana, Mr. ROTH, Mr. SUNDQUIST, Mr. HANSEN, Mr.

BONILLA, Mr. BOEHLERT, Mr. TANNER, Mr. SAXTON, Mr. DELAY, Mr.

HOBSON, and Mr. MCINNIS) introduced the following bill; which was referred jointly to the Committees on Natural Resources, Merchant Marine

and Fisheries, and Agriculture

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,
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

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

3 Safety and Preservation Act of 1993’’.

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

5 Congress finds that—

6 (1) recreational hunting, when carried out pur7 suant to law (as implemented by the regulations of

8 Federal and State wildlife management agencies) is

9 a necessary and beneficial element in the proper con10 servation and management of healthy, abundant,

11 and biologically diverse wildlife resources;

12 (2) recreational hunters (because of a generally

13 demonstrated concern with the conservation of wild14 life resources and preservation of habitat necessary

15 for the breeding and maintenance of healthy wildlife

16 populations, and through a familiarity with the re17 sources gained from experience in the field) are a

18 valuable asset in ensuring enlightened public input

19 into decisions regarding management and mainte20 nance programs for wildlife resources and habitat;

21 (3)(A) recreational hunting supports industries

22 highly significant to the national economy through

23 sales in interstate commerce of sporting goods; and

24 (B) the Federal excise taxes imposed on the

25 sales provide a major source of funding for vital pro26 grams of wildlife conservation and management;
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1 (4) various persons are engaging in (and have

2 announced an intent to continue to engage in) a va3 riety of disruptive activities with the premeditated

4 purpose of preventing and interfering with the con5 duct of lawful recreational hunting on Federal lands,

6 which activities—

7 (A) place both recreational hunters and the

8 disruptive persons in imminent jeopardy of

9 grave physical injury or death;

10 (B) disrupt the peaceful, lawful, and pru11 dent conduct of wildlife population and habitat

12 management programs by Federal and State

13 wildlife management agencies; and

14 (C) ultimately may alter the planned pro15 gram objectives, resulting in—

16 (i) undesirable patterns of activity

17 within populations of wildlife;

18 (ii) the endangerment of the future vi19 ability of wildlife species; and

20 (iii) damage to habitat values;

21 (5) Federal lands comprise important wildlife

22 habitat resources that—

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

24 populations of wildlife; and
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1 (B) offer significant opportunities for legal

2 recreational hunting as an important manage3 ment tool to ensure the future viability of the

4 wildlife populations;

5 (6) it is the right of citizens of the United

6 States freely to enjoy lawful recreational hunting on

7 Federal lands in accordance with regulations pro8 mulgated by Federal and State wildlife management

9 agencies; and

10 (7) in many instances under current law, vague11 ness and ambiguity exist regarding the application

12 of State laws and enforcement activities relating

13 to—

14 (A) the safety of hunters; and

15 (B) the legal rights of recreational hunters

16 to participate peacefully in lawful hunts on

17 Federal lands.

18 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

19 As used in this Act:

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

21 lands’’ means—

22 (A) national forests;

23 (B) public lands;

24 (C) national parks; and

25 (D) wildlife refuges.
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1 (2) LAWFUL HUNT.—The term ‘‘lawful hunt’’

2 means an occasion when an individual is engaged in

3 the taking or harvesting (or attempted taking or

4 harvesting) through a legal means and during a

5 specified legal season of a wildlife or fish, on Federal

6 lands, which activity—

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

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

9 (ii) is regulated by game or fishing seasons

10 established by the State in which it takes place;

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

12 United States; and

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

14 owner of private property.

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

16 forest’’ means lands included in the National Forest

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

18 and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act

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

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

21 park’’ means lands and waters included in the na22 tional park system (as defined in section 2(a) of the

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

24 the National Park System and miscellaneous areas

25 administered in connection with that system, and for
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1 other purposes’’, approved August 8, 1953 (16

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

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

4 has the same meaning as is provided in section

5 103(e) of the Federal Land Policy and Management

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

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

8 means—

9 (A) the Secretary of Agriculture with re10 spect to national forests; and

11 (B) the Secretary of the Interior with re12 spect to—

13 (i) public lands;

14 (ii) national parks; and

15 (iii) wildlife refuges.

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

17 refuge’’ means lands and waters included in the Na18 tional Wildlife Refuge System (as established by sec19 tion 4 of the National Wildlife Refuge System Ad20 ministration Act of 1966 (16 U.S.C. 668dd)).

21 SEC. 4. OBSTRUCTION OF A LAWFUL HUNT.

22 (a) VIOLATION.—It is unlawful for a person know23 ingly and with the intent of obstructing, impeding, or

24 interfering with a lawful hunt by an individual to—
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1 (1) obstruct, impede, or otherwise interfere with

2 a lawful hunt by an individual;

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

4 engage in activities designed to affect wildlife on

5 Federal lands;

6 (3) engage in activities that prevent or impede

7 the reasonable and usual means of access by those

8 individuals who intend to participate in a lawful

9 hunt, whether the activities occur on Federal lands

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

11 trail, or other normal route of access to Federal

12 lands;

13 (4) take or abuse property, equipment, or hunt14 ing dogs being used in conjunction with a lawful

15 hunt; or

16 (5) enter onto Federal lands, travel in inter17 state commerce, use the United States mails or an

18 instrumentality of interstate telephonic or electronic

19 communications, or transport or cause to be trans20 ported in interstate commerce a material or item, to

21 further—

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

23 or otherwise interfere with a lawful hunt; or

24 (B) the efforts of another person to ob25 struct, impede, or interfere with a lawful hunt.
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1 (b) MULTIPLE VIOLATIONS.—The Secretary may

2 consider participation by a person in more than one of

3 the activities described in this section to constitute mul4 tiple violations.

5 SEC. 5. CIVIL PENALTIES.

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—A person who engages in an activ7 ity described in section 4 shall be assessed a civil penalty

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

9 violation.

10 (b) VIOLATION INVOLVING FORCE OR VIOLENCE.—

11 Upon a determination by a court that the activity involved

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

13 or violence, against the person or property of another per14 son, a person who engages in an activity described in sec15 tion 4 shall be assessed a civil penalty of not less than

16 $1,000, and not more than $10,000, for each violation.

17 (c) RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER PENALTIES.—The

18 penalties established by this section shall be in addition

19 to other criminal or civil penalties that may be levied

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

21 of section 4.

22 (d) PROCEDURE.—

23 (1) COMPLAINTS FROM GOVERNMENT

24 AGENTS.—Upon receipt of a written complaint from

25 an officer, employee, or agent of the Forest Service,
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1 Bureau of Land Management, National Park Serv2 ice, United States Fish and Wildlife Service, or

3 other Federal agency that a person violated section

4 4, the Secretary shall—

5 (A) forward the complaint to the United

6 States Attorney for the Federal judicial district

7 in which the violation is alleged to have oc8 curred; and

9 (B) request the Attorney General of the

10 United States to institute a civil action for the

11 imposition and collection of the civil penalty

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

13 (2) COMPLAINTS FROM INDIVIDUALS.—Upon

14 receipt of a sworn affidavit from an individual and

15 a determination by the Secretary that the statement

16 contains sufficient factual data to create a reason17 able belief that a violation of section 4 has occurred,

18 the Secretary shall—

19 (A) forward a complaint to the United

20 States Attorney for the Federal judicial district

21 in which the violation is alleged to have oc22 curred; and

23 (B) request the Attorney General of the

24 United States to institute a civil action for the
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1 imposition and collection of the civil penalty

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

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

4 deduction of costs attributable to collection, money col5 lected from penalties shall be—

6 (1) deposited into the trust fund established

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

8 the United States shall aid the States in wildlife-res9 toration projects, and for other purposes’’, approved

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

11 known as the ‘‘Pitman-Robertson Wildlife Restora12 tion Act’’), to support the activities authorized by

13 such Act and undertaken by State wildlife manage14 ment agencies; or

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

16 determines will enhance the funding and implemen17 tation of—

18 (A) the North American Waterfowl Man19 agement Plan signed by the Secretary of the In20 terior and the Minister of Environment for

21 Canada in May 1986; or

22 (B) a similar program that the Secretary

23 determines will enhance wildlife management—

24 (i) on Federal lands; or
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1 (ii) on private or State-owned lands

2 when the efforts will also provide a benefit

3 to wildlife management objectives on Fed4 eral lands.

5 SEC. 6. OTHER RELIEF.

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

7 violation of section 4 may be sought by—

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

9 over fish or wildlife management;

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

11 or

12 (3) any person who is or would be adversely af13 fected by the violation, or a hunting or sportsman’s

14 organization to which the person belongs.

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

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

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

18 which the person belongs, may bring a civil action to re19 cover—

20 (1) actual and punitive damages; and

21 (2) reasonable attorney’s fees.

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

23 CIVIL ACTIONS.

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

25 to preempt a State law or local ordinance that provides
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1 for civil or criminal penalties for a person who obstructs

2 or otherwise interferes with a lawful hunt.

3 (b) CIVIL ACTION.—The bringing of an action pursu4 ant to this Act shall not prevent an independent action

5 against a person under a State law or local ordinance.

6 SEC. 8. REGULATIONS.

7 The Secretary may issue such regulations as are nec8 essary to carry out this Act.

Æ