An Act To Establish a Contingency Wildlife Management Plan
Maine Legislature, Session 127, LD 1593
Committee: Inland Fisheries and Wildlife

Legislative Document 
No. 1593 
H.P. 1083 
House of Representatives, February 18, 2016 
An Act To Establish a Contingency Wildlife Management Plan 
Reported by Representative DUCHESNE of Hudson for the Joint Standing Committee on 
Inland Fisheries and Wildlife pursuant to Joint Order 2015, H.P. 976. 
Reference to the Committee on Inland Fisheries and Wildlife suggested and ordered printed 
pursuant to Joint Rule 218. 
ROBERT B. HUNT 
Clerk 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1.  12 MRSA §§10111 and 10112 are enacted to read: 
§10111.  Contingency wildlife management provisions 
When a ballot measure for a direct initiative of legislation as described in Title 21-A, 
chapter 11 is approved that reduces or alters wildlife management methods or 
management options available to the department, the commissioner shall implement the 
provisions of this section in relation to any fish or wildlife species significantly affected 
either directly or indirectly by the approved measure.  For purposes of this section, 
"animal" means a fish or wildlife species that is significantly affected directly or 
indirectly by the approved ballot measure.  
1.  Expenditures prohibited.  The commissioner may not expend any revenues on 
the animal damage control pursuant to section 10053, subsection 8 or any other nuisance 
animal control activities in excess of the amount expended in the fiscal year prior to the 
effective date of the ballot measure for a direct initiative of legislation as described in 
Title 21-A, chapter 11, adjusted annually for inflation. 
2.  Sterilization program.  The commissioner may not establish or implement a 
sterilization program to control the population of an animal. 
3.  Waste.  The department may not dispose of any animal in a manner that 
constitutes waste under section 11224 and may not dispose of on state-owned land any 
animal killed by the department. 
4.  Landowner depredation program.  The commissioner shall develop a 
landowner depredation program that allows a landowner or landowner's agent to take an 
animal for purposes of depredation on that landowner's property.  The program must 
include, but is not limited to, the following. 
A.  Except as provided in paragraph B, a landowner or landowner's agent may not 
retain, in whole or in part, more than 2 animals of the same species at any one time. 
B.  If a landowner or landowner's agent exceeds the limit established in paragraph A, 
the landowner or the landowner's agent must donate any animal in excess to the 
Hunters for the Hungry program under section 10108 or, if the animal is not suitable 
for donation under the program, the department shall assist the landowner in the 
proper disposal of the animal but may not authorize the landowner to retain the 
animal or any part of the animal beyond the limit established in paragraph A. 
The commissioner shall report annually to the joint standing committee of the Legislature 
having jurisdiction over inland fisheries and wildlife matters on the landowner 
depredation program, including, but not limited to, the number of animals killed pursuant 
to this subsection. 
The commissioner shall adopt rules to implement this section.  Rules adopted 
pursuant to this section are major substantive rules as defined in Title 5, chapter 375, 
subchapter 2-A. 
§10112.  Ballot measure; impact analysis 
Within 90 days after the Secretary of State verifies a petition for a direct initiative of 
legislation as described in Title 21-A, chapter 11 that proposes to reduce or alter wildlife 
management methods or management options available to the department and sends the 
measure to the Legislature, the commissioner shall conduct an impact assessment on that 
measure and report the commissioner's analysis to the joint standing committee of the 
Legislature having jurisdiction over inland fisheries and wildlife matters. The analysis 
must include, but is not limited to, a biological and ecological impact assessment, the 
economic impact to the department and how the department will need to adjust its 
management practices to maintain a healthy wildlife population. 
SUMMARY 
This bill establishes contingent wildlife management provisions that become effective 
when a ballot measure for a direct initiative of legislation is approved that reduces 
wildlife management methods available to the Department of Inland Fisheries and 
Wildlife.  The provisions of this bill apply only to the animals that are significantly 
affected either directly or indirectly by the approved ballot measure.  The bill does the 
following. 
1. It places a cap on the revenue the Commissioner of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife 
may expend to control animals causing damage or any other nuisance animals to the level 
spent in the fiscal year prior to the effective date of the direct initiative of legislation. 
2. It prohibits the commissioner from establishing or implementing a sterilization 
program to control the population of an animal. 
3. It provides that the department may not dispose of an animal in a manner that 
would constitute waste under existing statute and prohibits the department from disposing 
of on state-owned land an animal killed by the department. 
4. It requires the commissioner to develop a landowner depredation program that sets 
a limit on the number of animals that may be retained by the landowner and requires a 
landowner to donate any animal taken from that landowner's land for depredation 
purposes exceeding the limit established by the commissioner to the Hunters for the 
Hungry program. 
5. It also provides that within 90 days after the Secretary of State verifies a petition 
that proposes to reduce or alter wildlife management methods or management options 
available to the department and sends the proposed measure to the Legislature, the 
commissioner must conduct an impact assessment on that measure and report the 
commissioner's analysis to the joint standing committee of the Legislature having 
jurisdiction over inland fisheries and wildlife matters. 
6. It requires the commissioner to report on the landowner depredation program 
annually to the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over inland 
fisheries and wildlife matters.