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Hunting and fishing constitutional amendment passes, heads to NC voters

There is widespread support for the proposed amendment, but vague language gives some pause.

Posted Updated

By
Travis Fain
, WRAL statehouse reporter
RALEIGH, N.C. — Voters will be asked this November to protect hunting and fishing rights in the state constitution.

The House and Senate gave final passage Monday to legislation setting up the statewide referendum required to change the state constitution. The votes were lopsided and bipartisan, though some Democrats questioned the need for the change and just what language protecting "traditional methods" of hunting, fishing and harvesting wildlife means.

The phrase "traditional methods" is not in state code. The state Wildlife Resources Commission supports the bill and has said it will continue to allow the General Assembly to pass laws and empower the executive branch to set hunting and fishing rules.

Critics weren't so sure, but concerns that the amendment's language would allow people to challenge existing hunting laws, including Sunday hunting prohibitions, rang hollow for supporters. Sen. Ralph Hise, R-Mitchell, said critics made "mountains out of mole hills."

"People are just looking for something," Hise said.

Sen. Dan Bishop, R-Mecklenburg, noted that even the First and Second Amendments of the U.S. Constitution allow regulation. The law doesn't allow people to yell "fire" in a crowded theater, he said, and some weapons are forbidden.

The final vote in the state Senate was 41-6. In the House it was 92-23.

Rep. Pricey Harrison, R-Guilford, complained in the House that the vague language could endanger a number of regulations and asked what it will mean for controversial methods, including gillnetting, which can entangle sea turtles and other wildlife, hunting over bait and various forms of trapping.

"It might undo what we have in our books," Harrison said Friday. "It could even get in the way of environmental regulations."

She twice tried to amend the bill on the House floor Monday to ensure that inhumane hunting methods, such as steel-jaw traps and poison, couldn't be used and that regulations on Sunday hunting would remain intact. Both efforts failed on party-line votes.

Other Democrats questioned the need for a constitutional amendment on the issue at all.

"No one in this country is ever going to succeed trying to take away the right to hunt and fish. We all know that," said Rep. Verla Insko, D-Orange.

This is the language that would be added to the state constitution if the amendment is approved by voters, including an amendment approved Monday:

"The right of the people to hunt, fish and harvest wildlife is a valued part of the state's heritage and shall be forever preserved for the public good. The people have a right, including the right to use traditional methods, to hunt, fish and harvest wildlife, subject only to laws enacted by the General Assembly and rules adopted pursuant to authority granted by the General Assembly to (i) promote wildlife conservation and management and (ii) preserve the future of hunting and fishing. Public hunting and fishing shall be a preferred means of managing and controlling wildlife. Nothing herein shall be construed to modify any provision of law relating to trespass, property rights, or eminent domain."

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