New NY Bill takes authority away from DEC

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New York Bill Takes Authority Away From Department Of Environmental Conservation

A bill scheduled for a hearing this week puts citizens at risk from a rabies outbreak by stripping the state of its authority to regulate trapping.

Assembly member Alexander Pete Grannis D- New York has introduced AB 1835 which permits county governments the authority to regulate trapping. This bill places politics over public health concerns and sound scientific management of the state’s wildlife resources.

County governments do not have the resources or the expertise to manage wildlife. The state Department of Environmental Conservation has biologists and professionally trained staff to deal with the state’s wildlife in a comprehensive, statewide approach including prevention of rabies. Allowing counties to manage wildlife will create a patchwork of regulations that will be detrimental to public health, sportsmen and wildlife.

Sportsmen take action now! This bill was scheduled for a hearing at the last minute and needs your opposition. Attend the Assembly Environmental Conservation Committee hearing tomorrow, Tuesday April 11 at 12 noon. The hearing will be in Room 623 of the Legislative Office Building, which is part of the Empire State Plaza complex in downtown Albany.

If you can not attend, contact your assembly member today and the members of the Environmental Conservation Committee listed below. Tell them this bill will be detrimental to public health and wildlife. If you don’t know your Assembly member’s contact information, call (518) 455-4218 or go to the Legislative Action Center at www.ussportsmen.org.