| Bernard -- On June 1st of this year, the Governor signed Act 159 which put into law bill S.201 – An act relating to best management practices for trapping, and he also signed Act 165 which put into law S.281 – An act relating to hunting coyotes with dogs. To review: S.201 began its life as a bill that would prohibit trapping; S.281 likewise began its life as a bill that would ban coyote hunting with dogs. After a great deal of discussion and effort, these bills were amended as follows: - S.201 was changed to allow trapping to continue through the adoption of Best Management Practices (BMPs), and
- S.281 was changed to allow the hunting of coyote with the aid of dogs to continue after rules and regulations were adopted (no rules or regulations existed for this activity previously).
On October 5th, the Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules (LCAR) met with both S.201/Act 159 and S.281/Act 165 up for discussion. 15 people/organizations were scheduled to testify, all of which were known to oppose both bills. However, the Department of Fish & Wildlife gave a lengthy presentation first, which ended up taking up all the scheduled time, so none of the scheduled testimony was heard. LCAR therefore scheduled another meeting to continue discussion on both bills – and allow for other testimony – at 10AM on 10/19. You can see the current version of their agenda here.
Taking a step back for a moment, the role of LCAR is straightforward. LCAR is tasked with reviewing laws that have been passed by the Legislature to ensure that the Legislative Intent of the bill was met, or otherwise to point out areas which may need tweaking to meet Legislative Intent. At this time the VTFSC is aware of a list of concerns that outline a few issues where there is concern that Legislative Intent was not met in both S.201 and S.281. The Department of Fish & Wildlife is aware of these concerns and has been working on providing corrective language to address them. The Vermont Traditions Coalition, our ally in lobbying for bills relating to Fish & Wildlife, is asking interested parties to give testimony in support of both trapping (S.201/Act 159) and/or coyote hounding with dogs (S.281/Act 165), with the VTFSC encouraging this participation. Ideally, your testimony would be done in person on 10/19, but could also be done via zoom. If you are inclined to help support either or both of these bills by giving testimony, it is required that you notify the LCAR Administrative assistant, Charlene Dindo at charlene@leg.state.vt.us before noon on 10/16. We believe that testimony will be limited to 3 minutes or less, so please take that into account as you collect your thoughts. Your message does not have to be written, it can be completely verbal, but if it is in writing it must also be submitted before noon on Monday 10/16. Your message does not have to be technical; it could be as simple as "I support the new versions of these laws". It could be you telling an account of how trapping saved your property, or it could be as simple as stating that you wish continued unfettered support of a Vermonter's ability to engage in the long-standing traditions and heritage of hunting in it's various forms. Just so you know, both S.201 and S.281, when they were voted out of the Senate Natural Resources & Energy committee, passed unanimously 5-0-0. When these bills were taken up and passed by the House Environment & Energy committee, S.201 was passed with a vote of 8-0-3 in favor with S.281 passing with a vote of 10-0-1 in favor. Both bills were then approved by both the full Senate and House, with some minor amendments along the way. Based on the above – it should be crystal clear that the "Legislative Intent" was to NOT have bans on these activities. The Legislative intent was to preserve trapping through the adoption of BMPs; and Legislative Intent was to allow hunting coyotes with the aid of dogs once rules and regulations were promulgated. Thank you for your time; Thank you for your support of the VTFSC and our member clubs; and please be advised that we will be providing an update on our Lawsuit shortly. Best Regards Vermont Federation of Sportsmen's Clubs
https://www.vtfsc.com/ | 
