093_SB1527sam003

 










                                     LRB093 02110 BDD 13783 a

 1                    AMENDMENT TO SENATE BILL 1527

 2        AMENDMENT NO.     .  Amend Senate Bill 1527 by  replacing
 3    everything after the enacting clause with the following:

 4        "Section  1.  Short  title.  This Act may be cited as the
 5    Illinois Hunting Heritage Protection Act.
 6        Section 5.  Findings.  The  General  Assembly  finds  the
 7    following:
 8             (1)  Recreational   hunting   is  an  important  and
 9        traditional recreational  activity  in  which  14,000,000
10        Americans 16 years of age and older participate.
11             (2)  Hunters  have been and continue to be among the
12        foremost supporters  of  sound  wildlife  management  and
13        conservation practices in the United States.
14             (3)  Persons  who  hunt and organizations related to
15        hunting provide direct assistance  to  wildlife  managers
16        and  enforcement  officers  of  federal, state, and local
17        governments.
18             (4)  Purchases of  hunting  licenses,  permits,  and
19        stamps  and  payment  of  excise  taxes  on goods used by
20        hunters have generated billions of dollars  for  wildlife
21        conservation, research, and management.
22             (5)  Recreational  hunting is an essential component
23        of effective  wildlife  management,  in  that  it  is  an
 
                            -2-      LRB093 02110 BDD 13783 a
 1        important  tool for reducing conflicts between people and
 2        wildlife and provides incentives for the conservation  of
 3        wildlife,  habitats,  and  ecosystems  on  which wildlife
 4        depend.
 5             (6)  Recreational  hunting  is  an   environmentally
 6        acceptable  activity  that occurs and can be provided for
 7        on State public lands without adverse  effects  on  other
 8        uses of that land.

 9        Section 10.  Definitions. For the purposes of this Act:
10        "Department" means the Department of Natural Resources.
11        "Department-managed  lands"  means  those  lands that the
12    Department owns or those lands of which the Department  holds
13    management authority.
14        "Hunting"  means  the lawful pursuit, trapping, shooting,
15    capture, collection, or killing of wildlife or the attempt to
16    pursue, trap, shoot, capture, collect, or kill wildlife.

17        Section 15.  Recreational hunting.
18        (a)  Subject to valid existing rights, Department-managed
19    lands shall be  open  to  access  and  use  for  recreational
20    hunting  except  as  limited by the Department for reasons of
21    public safety or homeland security or as otherwise limited by
22    law.
23        (b)  The  Department  shall   exercise   its   authority,
24    consistent  with  subsection  (a),  in  a  manner to support,
25    promote, and enhance recreational hunting  opportunities,  to
26    the  extent authorized by law. The Department is not required
27    to  give  preference  to   hunting   over   other   uses   of
28    Department-managed  lands  or  over  land or water management
29    priorities established by State law.
30        (c)  Department land management decisions and actions may
31    not, to the greatest practical extent, result in any net loss
32    of  land  acerage  available  for  hunting  opportunities  on
 
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 1    Department-managed lands that exists on the effective date of
 2    this amendatory Act of the 93rd General Assembly.
 3        (d)  By October 1 of each year, the Governor shall submit
 4    to the General Assembly a written report describing:
 5             (1)  the acerage administered by the Department that
 6        has been closed during the previous year to  recreational
 7        hunting and the reasons for the closures; and
 8             (2)  the acerage administered by the Department that
 9        was  opened  to  recreational  hunting  to compensate for
10        those acerage closed under paragraph (1).
11        (e)  Nothing in this Act shall be construed to compel the
12    opening to recreational hunting of national parks or national
13    monuments administered by the National Park Service.

14        Section 99.  Effective date.  This Act takes effect  upon
15    becoming law.".