Committee tightens tenant rule for landowner deer permits, then tables Senate Bill 80

The Senate Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources on Feb. 12 amended Senate Bill 80 to narrow the definition of a tenant eligible for landowner deer permits and then tabled the bill for future consideration.

The amendment added a residency and activity requirement to the tenant definition in statute, specifying that a tenant must be a resident of Kansas and be “actively involved in agriculture,” and it created an exception for people who live in counties that border Kansas so long as they lease significant acreage in the state. The committee adopted that amendment on a voice vote before later rejecting separate language offered from the Nature Conservancy and ultimately voting to table the bill.

Why it matters: The bill and the amendment affect how the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks allocates landowner deer permits, a practice that has drawn…