Illinois 100th General Assembly Spring Session Wrap-up // Hunting and Fishing Legislation

Both the House and Senate have concluded their Spring Session.  Below you will find a breakdown of all bills that have passed both chambers and now move onto the Governor.  Once the Governor receives each piece of legislation, he will have 60 days to take action; either sign or veto each respected piece of legislation.  We will keep you updated as this happens.

Both the House and Senate will return for Veto Session on November 13th.

BUDGET Update

The FY19 budget (HB 109) and budget implementation bill were passed by both the House and Senate.  In the past years of the Rauner Administration, you may have heard a lot of conversation surrounding the budget on news broadcast and other avenues, however this year was different, as legislators and staff kept much of the proceedings behind closed doors. The process went seemingly smooth as the election draws near.

The following are some of the highlights of the budget related to the DNR:

• This budget fully funds the Capital Budget which includes but is not limited to infrastructure rehabilitation and other grant programs. 

• The Department of Natural Resources operating budget stays the same. 
• Does not appear to be any new funding for Conservation Police

• According to the bill, unexpended appropriation from FY18 will be reappropriated to the Office of Resource Conservation. 
• 'The sum of $294,774, or so much thereof as may be necessary and remains unexpended at the close of business on June 30, 2017, from appropriations heretofore made in Article 86, Section 5 of Public Act 99-0524, is reappropriated from the Wildlife and Fish Fund to the  Department of Natural Resources for ordinary and contingent expenses of Resource Conservation.


• Many have been wondering how the Supplemental Deer Feeding Study will be funded.  Since the Prairie Research Institute is conducting the study, the appropriation will most like come from their budget.  
• The sum of $14,803,100, or so much thereof as may be necessary, is appropriated from the General Revenue Fund to the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois for costs and expenses related to or in support of the Prairie Research Institute, in accordance with Public Act 95-0728. 

If any of this is confusing please don't worry, the IDNR budget is broken down into dozen of funds and broken down again into other appropriations.  As Capitol Outdoors learns more we will continue to update you.
 
The following bills are now headed to the Governor:

HB 4231 - Blaze Pink Clothing

• Authorizes certain hunters to wear solid blaze pink colored clothing (in addition to blaze orange colored clothing).

HB 4783 - Youth Hunt/Trap

• Amends the Wildlife Code to provide a universal definition of youth to be "under 18" for consistency when it comes to youth hunting programs.

HB 5317 - Poached Deer Restitution Value 

• Increases the restitution that the DNR will receive when someone illegally takes wildlife.  
• For example: 
• Whitetail Deer- increase from $250 to $1000
• Trumpeter Swan - increase from $250 to $1000
• Eagle - increase from $500 to $1000
• Wild Turkey - increase from $250 to $500

HB 5440 - Youth Hunting

• Provides the the fee for resident and non-resident youth archery deer permit shall be the same. 
• For example, out of state family under the age of 18 would be able to hunt for the same cost as a resident youth of the State of Illinois. 

HB 5692 - River Otter Limit

• By deleting the provision that states that the River Otter limit should not exceed five per season, the DNR is able to better manage the population and change the River Otter limit according to the biologists data. 

HB 5693 - Trapping Tags 

• Currently trappers are required to put their name and address on their traps.  This bill would allow trappers to use their DNR Customer # instead for privacy reasons. 

SB 2295 - Electronic Fishing Licenses

• Defines "fishing license" and "combination license" as an electronic or physical copy. 

SB 2493 - Deer Feed

• This bill provides that the University of Illinois Prairie Research Institute shall, subject to appropriation and in consultation with the Department of Natural Resources and the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine, conduct a study for a period of at least five years on the health and social effects of supplemental deer feeding on the wild deer population outside of any Illinois deer hunting season and whether supplemental deer feeding affects the risk of disease transmission in the deer population.

As always please feel free to reach out to us with any questions.