lvc@cbnews.att.com (03/22/91)
From: lvc@cbnews.att.com Below is the text of HR-371 as introduced by Congressman Marlenee. Please contact your representatives and indicate your support for this bill. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 102d Congress 1st Session H.R. 371 To protect persons engaged in a lawful hunt within a national forest; establishing an administrative civil remedy against individuals or groups intentionally obstructing, impeding, or interfering with the conduct of a lawful hunt; and for other purposes. In the United States House of Representatives January 3, 1991 Mr. Marlenee (for himself, Mr. Schulze, Mr. Clement, Mr. Dannemeyer, Mr. DeLay, Mr. Dingell, Mr. Espy, Mr. Hancock, Mr. Hansen, Mr. Harris, Mr. Herger, Mr. Holloway, Mr. Hunter, Mr. Johnson of South Dakota, Mr. Lagomarsino, Mr. McCrery, Mr. Murphy, Mr. Paxon, Mr. Payne of Virginia, Mr. Quillen, Mr. Smith of Oregon, Mr. Stump, Mr. Thomas of Georgia, Mrs. Vucanovich, Mr. Dickinson, Mr. Emerson, Mr. Costello, Mr. Applegate, Mr. Perkins, Mr. Laughlin, Mr. Mollihan, Mr. Stallings, Mr. Sundquist, Mr. Ridge, Mr. Frost, Mr. Schaefer, Mr. Parker, Mr. Barton of Texas, Mr. Kolter, and Mr. Hayes of Louisiana) introduced the following bill; which was referred jointly to the Committees on Agriculture, Interior and Insular Affairs, and Merchant Marine and Fisheries. A Bill To protect persons engaged in a lawful hunt within a national forest; establishing an administrative civil remedy against individuals or groups intentionally obstructing, impeding, or interfering with the conduct of a lawful hunt; and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, Section 1. SHORT TITLE. This act may be cited as the "Sport Hunting Safety and Preservation Act of 1991". Section 2. FINDINGS. The Congress finds that --- (a) sport hunting, when carried out pursuant to law, as implemented by the regulations of State and Federal wildlife management agencies, is a necessary and beneficial element in the proper conservation and management of healthy, abundant, biologically diverse wildlife resources; (b) sport hunters, due to a generally demonstrated concern with conservation of wildlife resources and preservation of habitat necessary for the breeding and maintenance of healthy wildlife populations, and through a familiarity with such resources gained from experience in the field, are a valuable asset in ensuring enlightened public input into decisions regarding management and maintenance programs for such wildlife resources and habitat; (c) sport hunting supports industries highly significant to the national economy through sales in interstate commerce of sporting goods, and the Federal excise taxes imposed on such sales provide a major source of funding for vital programs of wildlife conservation and management; (d) various individuals, groups, and entities are engaging in, and have announced an intent to continue to engage in, a variety of disruptive activities with the calculated and premeditated purpose of preventing and interfering with the conduct of lawful sport hunting within the boundaries of national forests and other Federal lands, which activities --- (1) place both sport hunter and such disruptive individuals or groups themselves in imminent jeopardy of grave physical injury or death; (2) disrupt the peaceful, lawful, and prudent conduct of wildlife population and habitat management programs by State and Federal wildlife management agencies; and (3) ultimately may alter the planned program objectives, resulting in undesirable patterns of activity within populations of wildlife, endangering the future viability of wildlife species, and causing damage to habitat values; (e) national forests comprise one important wildlife habitat resource which supports many large, diverse, and vital populations of wildlife and which offer significant opportunities for legal sport hunting as an important management tool to ensure the future viability of such wildlife populations; (f) it is the right of those citizens of the United States who so desire to freely enjoy lawful sport hunting in national forests in accordance with regulations promulgated by State and Federal wildlife management agencies; and (g) in many instances under current law, vagueness and ambiguity exists regarding the application of State statutes and enforcement activities relating to the safety of hunters and the legal rights of sport hunters to peacefully participate in lawful hunts within national forests and upon other Federal lands. Section 3. OBSTRUCTION OF LAWFUL HUNTING. (a) It shall be a violation of this act for any person knowingly and with the intent of preventing the lawful hunting, taking or harvesting through any legal means, by another individual of wildlife, game, or fish to --- (1) obstruct, impede, or otherwise interfere with an individual or group engaged in a lawful hunt within national forests as such actions shall be defined in regulations promulgated by the Secretary of Agriculture; (2) scare, herd, harass, decoy, or otherwise engage in activities designed to affect wildlife on national forest lands for the purpose of obstructing, impeding, or interfering with a lawful hunt on such land as such actions shall be defined in regulation by the Secretary; (3) enter upon national forest lands for the purpose of obstructing, impeding, or otherwise interfering with a lawful hunt; (4) engage in activities which prevent or impede the reasonable and usual means and ways of access by those who intend to participate in a lawful hunt on National Forest Service property, whether such activities occur within the national forest or upon a public or private road, highway, path, trail, or other normal route of access; or (5) travel in interstate commerce, make user of the Federal mails or any instrumentality of interstate telephonic or electronic communications, or transport or cause to be transported in interstate commerce any material or item intended for the purpose of furthering a scheme or effort to obstruct, impede, or otherwise interfere with a lawful hunt within a national forest, or for the purpose of furthering the efforts of other individuals or groups in obstructing, impeding, or interfering with such lawful hunt. (b) It may be construed by the Secretary that participation by a person in more than one of the activities described in this section shall each and individually constitute separate violations, regardless of the fact that multiple violations are alleged as a result of one uninterrupted undertaking by the party or parties accused. (c) Any person or persons who are determined to have engaged in activities described in this section as violations of this act shall be subject to a civil penalty or penalties as a result of such violations as provided in this act. Section 4. CIVIL PENALTY. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, civil penalties may be levied in accordance with this section and, after deduction of costs attributable to collection, shall be deposited into the trust fund established pursuant to Section 669 of Title 16, United States Code, to support the activities authorized therein and undertaken by State wildlife management agencies, or may be utilized in such other fashion as the Secretary may determine will enhance the funding and implementation the North American Waterfowl Management Plan or any other similar program which the Secretary determines will enhance wildlife management within national forest areas or on private or State-owned lands when such efforts will also provide a benefit to wildlife management objectives within national forest areas. (a) IN GENERAL. --- Any person who engages in one or more of the activities described in Section 3 of this act may, upon the complaint of the Secretary, or upon the sworn affidavit of any individual directly and adversely affected by such activities, be assessed a civil penalty of not less than $500, but not to exceed the sum of $5000 for each violation. (b) VIOLATION INVOLVING FORCE OR VIOLENCE. --- Any person who engages in one or more of the activities described in Section 3 of this act shall, upon a determination that the activity involved the use of force or violence, or the threatened use of force or violence, against the person or property of another, be assessed a civil penalty of not less than $1000, but not to exceed $10000 for each such violation. (c) The penalties provided by this section shall be in addition to and not in lieu of any other criminal or civil penalties which may lie against the person as a result of the activities undertaken in violation of this act. (d) PROCEDURE. --- The Secretary of Agriculture shall, upon receipt of a written complaint from any officer, employee, or agent of the Forest Service or other Federal agency, forward such complaint to the United States attorney for the Federal judicial district in which the violation is alleged to have occurred, requesting the Attorney General of the United States to institute a civil action for the imposition and collection of the civil penalty as specified in subsections (a) or (b) of this section. The Secretary shall also forward a complaint which is based upon the sworn affidavit of any individual if the Secretary determines that the statement contains sufficient factual data to reasonably believe that a violation of this act has occurred. Section 5. OTHER RELIEF. (a) INJUNCTIVE RELIEF. --- The head of a State agency with jurisdiction over fish and wildlife management, the Attorney General of the United States, or any person intending to participate in a lawful hunt on land affected with a Federal interest may seek injunctive relief against a violation of section 3 of this act. (b) DAMAGES AND ATTORNEY'S FEES. --- Any person aggrieved by a violation of Section 3 of this act may, in a civil action, recover appropriate actual and punitive damages and reasonable attorney's fees as determined by the court. (c) STANDING. --- Any hunting or sportsman's organization which is recognized as a legal entity under the laws of any State shall have standing to bring an action referred to in this section on behalf of one or more of its members in lieu of separate actions brought individually by such members. Section 6. DEFINITION. As used in this act, the term "lawful hunt" shall mean an occasion during which an individual, or group of individuals, are engaged in the taking or harvesting, or attempted taking or harvesting, through any legal means and during any specified legal seasons of any wildlife, game, or fish which activity --- (1) is authorized by or licensed under the law of the State in which it takes place, or is regulated by game or fishing seasons established by the State in which it takes place; and (2) is not prohibited by the laws of the United States; and (3) does not infringe upon any rights of owners of private property without securing the appropriate permission of such owners in advance; Section 7. EFFECT. Nothing in this act shall be construed to preempt State statutes or local ordinances which may also provide for either civil or criminal penalties, or both, for persons who obstruct or otherwise interfere with a lawful hunt, and the bringing of an action pursuant to this act shall not prevent independent actions against an individual or entity under such State statutes or local ordinances. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright (C) 1991, by Lawrence V. Cipriani This text may not be duplicated, in part or in whole, by any means, by any persons or groups working to further animal rights. All other distribution is permitted. -- Larry Cipriani, att!cbvox!lvc or lvc@cbvox.att.com "Fight fire with fire, I always say" -- Bugs Bunny