[{"_1":2,"_100":-5,"_101":-5},"loaderData",{"_3":4,"_26":27},"root",{"_5":6,"_17":10,"_18":19,"_20":21,"_22":10,"_23":-5,"_24":-5,"_25":10},"user",{"_7":8,"_9":10,"_11":10,"_12":-5,"_13":-5,"_14":15,"_16":-5},"roles",[],"isAuthenticated",false,"isPremium","planName","subscriptionStatus","featureFlags",{},"insightsBudget","isDevelopmentHost","userPreferences",{},"recaptchaSiteKey","6LcvOJcUAAAAAHsB-gPGfGktcRlKpH7OTIU_dMTD","isImpersonating","impersonation","affiliateStatus","isFreedomPortal","routes/v2/article/layout",{"_28":29,"_30":31},"notFound",true,"relatedArticles",[32,76,88],{"_33":34,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":40,"_41":42,"_43":44,"_45":46,"_47":48,"_49":50,"_51":52,"_53":54,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":60,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":66,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":74},"mediaId",6215429,"mediaKeyId","3659476-e66bfa4b9a9ae7af40dc312fb2000881","parentId",3659476,"title","Committee advances bill to allow Sunday hunting, change trespass rules and other Game Commission provisions after multiple failed amendments","audioSeconds",1750,"startMs",1030000,"endMs",2780000,"viewUrl","/Search/View?dp=1&key=3659476-e66bfa4b9a9ae7af40dc312fb2000881&start=1030&end=2780","thumbnailUrl","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/3659476-e66bfa4b9a9ae7af40dc312fb2000881/thumbnail_1030000.jpg","articleUrl","/articles/6215429/Pennsylvania/Committee-advances-bill-to-allow-Sunday-hunting-change-trespass-rules-and-other-Game-Commission-provisions-after-multiple-failed-amendments","mediaUrl","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6215429-0fe54629aa798460d3e054d4c1ad39c1/orig.mp4?Expires=1771161192&Signature=HQjiWF~t5DWIQDtRYhAZuB8F4MKvjSYlXPPMkJYdS0rJZOju-21d~M3uYnSR1akzbRDUT0hmAgvMt7FLZhTG8gSS-TCuOvb-V~uI5HcBE4qj4g6ZVV8tgr3HNjcjGdOObf6IVdn9UY4JFer-B~Wxp8W5f132L4fdWLo4Xwbk1a2BsFsQXhHW-cqcSBUwkHigJ5uZZs2JGM~6FRDa6aAG7QSOlVFxUdKzMd2adnJgFYSpophW615XLk3pFAc-ixYBnMqRgYZKm1k7Y2buI~JmLdeioBijFHHoYKE39vunFRTmcLZOqfmTqdGAQqWk8pVAAMRF9RNEdYsjXDSlsmQIHw__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","author","Pennsylvania House of Representatives","date","2025-06-04T01:50:10Z","article","House Bill 1431, a broad amendment to Title 34 of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes addressing Sunday hunting, trespass penalties, Game Commission board composition, deer urine use, and a self-reporting system for deer removed for crop damage, was reported out of the House Game and Fishery Committee after a contentious debate and several failed amendment votes.

Paul read the bill summary to the committee: the legislation “would amend Title 34… to provide for Sunday hunting and would change provisions and penalties related to trespassing on private property while hunting. It would require at least one member of the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s Board of Commissioners to have agricultural background. It would allow for the use of deer urine while hunting and would establish a self reporting system that allows a person assigned to remove deer for crop damage purposes to report each harvest to an officer of the commission via toll free phone number, online application, or publicly accessible Internet website.”

The committee considered four named amendments. Representative Maloney offered an amendment to let sportsmen and sportsmen’s groups nominate and select Game Commission commissioners; Griffin (committee staff) summarized that amendment as providing for “the nomination and selection of game commission commissioners by a vote of the sportsmen and sportsmen’s groups.” That amendment failed on roll call.

Representative Smith offered an amendment to restore the traditional Monday deer opener and argued the Saturday opener change had hurt hunters and businesses; Smith asserted the Game Commission had not studied economic impacts of its prior change and repeated that the Commission’s executive director had said the opener change did not affect license sales. Smith’s amendment also failed on roll call.

Chairman Maloney offered two amendments to restrict agency practices: one to ban the use of high-polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) sealants (essentially asphalt) on Game Commission properties and another to ban glyphosate herbicides on Game Commission properties; both amendments were summarized by committee staff and both failed on roll call. Maloney described concerns about glyphosate and said the agency should “lead by example” on wildlife management practices.

Representative Steele, the bill sponsor, urged passage and described a coalition supporting the bill, saying it had the full support of the Pennsylvania Game Commission, the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau, Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, the Pennsylvania Federation of Sportsmen, and Hunter Nation. Steele said Sunday hunting would provide additional opportunities for busy families, help farmers facing crop damage, and assist wildlife managers with herd management.

Chairman Maloney spoke at length against portions of the bill, raising several concerns: he warned that changes to trespass rules could increase penalties for people who mistakenly believed they could retrieve dogs and recounted a recent prosecution of a hunter in Lancaster County; he said waterfowl compensatory days could be reduced if Sundays were added to other hunting calendars; he questioned deer population estimates and allocations, citing testimony that antlerless doe allocations had been increased to 1,300,000 with an estimated 1,500,000 deer on the landscape; and he called for more detail on unintended consequences.

After debate and the four failed amendment votes, the committee voted to report House Bill 1431. The transcript includes a roll-call sequence for the report vote in which many members voted yes and some no; the chair announced the bill “passes” the committee and it was reported to the full House for further consideration.

","mediaType","Video","parentTitle","Game & Fisheries Committee -- June 3, 2025","oneSentenceSummary","House Bill 1431, which would allow Sunday hunting and make several changes to Game Commission policies including trespass penalties and board composition, was reported out of the House Game and Fishery Committee after debate and multiple failed amendments.","taxTitle","Game & Fisheries, House of Representatives, Legislative, Pennsylvania","taxId",29237,"location","Pennsylvania","headline","","shortSummary",{"_33":77,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":78,"_41":79,"_43":80,"_45":81,"_47":82,"_49":83,"_51":84,"_53":85,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":86,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":87,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":74},6215439,"House committee votes to report bill removing Game Commission questioning penalty cited as unconstitutional",408,226000,634000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=3659476-e66bfa4b9a9ae7af40dc312fb2000881&start=226&end=634","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/3659476-e66bfa4b9a9ae7af40dc312fb2000881/thumbnail_226000.jpg","/articles/6215439/Pennsylvania/House-committee-votes-to-report-bill-removing-Game-Commission-questioning-penalty-cited-as-unconstitutional","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6215439-d711f0ec4a793115a99f1a04b4bd7c64/orig.mp4?Expires=1771161192&Signature=cF9MyAi~XEvM7J23HSxrX3H53aVubgagy-otLuYM19OfQanhxycXIbV0i775r7v0qpW89zXvAy1fFK8RHl52~m-jpxBlk30HOkLBWglNiWexsvZq60QhuYVQd-D-vSDleWpMMDS97L6SSHxO0L0rE1ftvHLQOb6cwMf~a66Tqy1wiVnxtN2QRsG5p-rXGIZs7PbBpmg7T4cox-2fADmyK1MzH7nAz9MiWJZuR7VXjtykkmBu6gS0fK1P52mpUvB48jWFHVcy7wab~iVNhrL4Gc-fUCra05HTEjuRBvQNWD~LBjNAG4TB9Bm5UqVss7Tiuzhdt7~2DyWsd~Ve9-Neog__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","Senate Bill 518, which would remove provisions in Title 34 of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes making it unlawful to refuse to answer questions from representatives of the Pennsylvania Game Commission, was reported out of the House Game and Fishery Committee after the committee chair said there were no negative votes.

The bill’s sponsor, Senator Rothman, told the committee the provision “conflict[s] with the Pennsylvania and the U.S. constitutions,” saying the game code’s requirement to answer questions violated the Fifth Amendment and Article I, Section 9, of the Pennsylvania Constitution. He said the bill removes the “offending language” and that the Pennsylvania Game Commission cooperated in crafting the change.

Paul, a committee staff member who read the bill summary for the committee, described the statutory change as a repeal of the language making refusal to answer unlawful. Chair Maloney said she was “in complete support of the bill” and the committee proceeded to report it.

A motion to suspend the rules to consider a late-filed amendment related to an open-field provision was offered earlier in the discussion but failed after a roll-call vote; the amendment was recorded as not timely filed in accordance with House Rule 3(c). The committee then proceeded to the question of reporting the bill; the chair asked whether there were any negative votes and, hearing none, stated the bill would be reported from committee.

The bill, as summarized to the committee, would not itself add new investigative powers; it would simply remove the statutory penalty that made refusal to answer Game Commission questions a standalone offense. The Pennsylvania Game Commission is listed by the sponsor as having worked with him on the language change.

Next steps: the committee reported SB 518 to the full House for further consideration; the transcript indicates the committee vote to report was taken by voice/consensus after the chair called for negative votes and none were raised.

","Senate Bill 518, which would remove language in Title 34 making it unlawful to refuse to answer questions from Pennsylvania Game Commission representatives, was reported out of the House Game and Fishery Committee after the chair said there were no negative votes.",{"_33":89,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":90,"_41":91,"_43":92,"_45":93,"_47":94,"_49":95,"_51":96,"_53":97,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":98,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":99,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":74},6215434,"Committee backs bill letting out-of-state college students buy Pennsylvania hunting licenses at resident rate",395,627000,1022000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=3659476-e66bfa4b9a9ae7af40dc312fb2000881&start=627&end=1022","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/3659476-e66bfa4b9a9ae7af40dc312fb2000881/thumbnail_627000.jpg","/articles/6215434/Pennsylvania/Committee-backs-bill-letting-out-of-state-college-students-buy-Pennsylvania-hunting-licenses-at-resident-rate","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6215434-be1dd20ecaa7e170a1e7a2d173ea0627/orig.mp4?Expires=1771161192&Signature=JL685YLmT1fv77Q79nAvGeq~1Z-rhmolkm2-JoRPhUxsnbCNxaRaKlPZgn0ic4ghVtWmr-3VZcD6fr8LrQ0VL8TN3Wxl5vKjtafAoCKN~CrqyyuxMLiEvbGfRa8TsRivUfJvQfD6r4l24uQUQ4ojxtaiGtSNAeXW~NQcK1oXyVrOWtJL5Ld-ac8IGtN2ABDw-gjmtvUUsUoduqTLJNsyAvlYcziGBiUTs2d6jUPXbm5hFgYFr40FRo1p9lqPEhwvPYPL26uPWyl2Cf8uSm2HON7xlGqHQi4AxFOjoiu3mNt12R~8s-LyOSIsKYgbA2NyHS-DhkpbuEGgvJZA4bjuxQ__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","House Bill 1507, which would allow out-of-state college students residing in Pennsylvania to purchase hunting licenses at the Pennsylvania resident rate, was reported out of the House Game and Fishery Committee after the chair called for negative votes and none were raised.

Representative Steele, the bill sponsor, told the committee the measure “aims to stop the decades long decline in hunting participation in Pennsylvania and across the nation.” Steele said many college students live on tight budgets and that permitting nonresident students to buy resident-priced licenses could “remove a financial barrier” and encourage participation in hunting.

Representative Maloney attempted to introduce an amendment to extend resident-rate treatment to property owners who’ve left the state, but the amendment was declared not timely filed under House Rule 3(c) and a subsequent motion to suspend the rules to consider it failed on a roll-call vote. After the rule-suspension motion failed, the committee proceeded to consider the bill itself; the chair asked whether there were any negative votes and, hearing none, announced the bill would be reported from committee.

The bill summary read to the committee states the legislation “would provide out of state college students residing in Pennsylvania with the ability to purchase hunting licenses at a resident rate.” The transcript contains no fiscal estimates or statutory cross-references beyond that summary and does not specify whether the student must be enrolled full time or provide documentation; those implementation details are not specified in the committee record.

","The House Game and Fishery Committee reported House Bill 1507, which would allow out-of-state college students residing in Pennsylvania to purchase hunting licenses at the resident rate; sponsor said the change would remove a financial barrier for students and help reverse declines in hunting participation.","actionData","errors"]

Article not found

Committee advances bill to allow Sunday hunting, change trespass rules and other Game Commission provisions after multiple failed amendments

House committee votes to report bill removing Game Commission questioning penalty cited as unconstitutional

Committee backs bill letting out-of-state college students buy Pennsylvania hunting licenses at resident rate