General Assembly>Division of Legislative Services>Publications>Session Summaries>2004>Game, Inland Fisheries and Boating

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Game, Inland Fisheries and Boating

Passed

P HB25

Spotlighting of deer or elk. Repeals the 1958 Act of Assembly that makes it unlawful to take or attempt to take deer or elk between sunset and sunrise by the use of a spotlight or flashlight. This act is obsolete since § 29.1-523 currently prohibits such activity. This bill is a recommendation of the Code Commission.
Patron - Landes

P HB26

Hunting antlerless deer. Repeals a 1956 Act of Assembly that permits the killing of antlerless deer if a person has purchased a special permit. The cost of the permit is $2.20. This act is obsolete as a result of the enactment of § 29.1-305, which establishes a bear, deer, and turkey license. Tags are attached to this license that allow a hunter to take antlerless deer. The conditions under which these deer can be taken are prescribed by a specific Game Department regulation. This bill is a recommendation of the Code Commission.
Patron - Landes

P HB27

Hunting of wild turkeys. Repeals the 1954 Act of Assembly that establishes a season for hunting wild male turkeys in Pittsylvania County. The 1954 act also prohibited the hunting, capturing or killing of wild turkey hens. This Act of Assembly is obsolete since the Code of Virginia empowers the Board of Game and Inland Fisheries to promulgate regulations pertaining to the hunting of any wild animals or freshwater fish. The turkey season and bag limits are currently set by regulation. This bill is a recommendation of the Code Commission.
Patron - Landes

P HB28

Squirrel-hunting season. Repeals a 1952 Act of Assembly mandating that squirrel-hunting season in Floyd County could not begin before September 15 of each year. This act is obsolete because §§ 29.1-501 and 29.1-502 empower the Board of Game and Inland Fisheries to adopt regulations pertaining to the hunting and taking of wild animals and freshwater fish. The Board has adopted a specific regulation that makes it unlawful to hunt squirrel from the first Saturday in September through January 31 of each year.
Patron - Landes

P HB54

Killing of beaver. Allows landowners whose crops or property has been damaged by beavers to kill, or employ someone to kill, beavers out of season without having to obtain a permit from the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.
Patron - Morgan

P HB75

Damage stamp program. Repeals the 1948 Act of Assembly that required a person to obtain a $1 damage stamp to hunt bear or deer in Craig County. This bill is a recommendation of the Virginia Code Commission.
Patron - Landes

P HB76

Bird sanctuary. Repeals a 1954 Act of Assembly that allows Roanoke County to designate an area, upon the request of all landowners in that area, as a bird sanctuary. This bill is a recommendation of the Virginia Code Commission.
Patron - Landes

P HB77

Hunting in Halifax and Cumberland Counties. Repeals the 1958 Act of Assembly that made it illegal in Halifax and Cumberland Counties to hunt deer with a rifle and to hunt any wild bird or other wild animal with a rifle larger than .22-caliber rifle. This bill is a recommendation of the Virginia Code Commission.
Patron - Landes

P HB132

Stationary duck blinds. Clarifies the definition of a stationary duck blind. Such a blind has to be erected at a fixed location for the purpose of hunting or shooting waterfowl. This will eliminate the practice of erecting what are known as "dummy blinds," which are placed on the shore or in the water in order to prevent the construction of an actual blind in the immediate vicinity.
Patron - Cox

P HB133

Nonresident youth hunting licenses. Establishes license fees for nonresident youth who wish to hunt in Virginia. Currently, there is no distinction by age for the various nonresident-hunting licenses. Under this bill the basic nonresident hunting license would be $12 for nonresident youth under 12, $15 for nonresidents between the ages of 12 to 15, and would remain at $80 for nonresidents 16 or older. The cost of the youth resident combination license, which allows residents under the age of 16 to hunt (i) bear, deer and turkey, (ii) with a bow and arrow during special archery season, and (iii) with a muzzleloader during muzzleloading season, is $15. For a nonresident under 16, the cost of this license would be $30. Finally, the fee for the big game license for a nonresident, which is $12 for a resident older than 16 and $7.50 for a resident under 16, would be $60 for a nonresident 16 or older, $15 for a nonresident 12 to 15, and $12 for a nonresident under 12.
Patron - Cox

P HB301

License fees revised. Authorizes the Board of Game and Inland Fisheries, through the adoption of regulations, to revise the fees for hunting, trapping, fishing, and motorboat registration. The fees cannot be changed more than once every three years. Any increase or decrease in the fee cannot be for more than $5.
Patron - Cox

P HB536

Annual hunting stamp. Authorizes the Board of Game and Inland Fisheries to establish an annual hunting stamp. The stamp would be required of anyone who hunts on lands leased by the Department. The cost of the stamp would be the same as the cost of an annual resident hunting license, which is currently $12.
Patron - Stump

P HB758

Hunting, trapping and fishing license exemption. Exempts the children and grandchildren of a landowner and the spouses of the landowner's children and grandchildren from having to obtain a license to hunt, trap or fish on landowner's property. Currently, the exemption extends to the landowner, his or her spouse, their children and only minor grandchildren, and the landowner's parents.
Patron - Hurt

P HB809

Baiting of deer. Allows the baiting of deer if it is done pursuant to a permit issued by the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries under its urban deer management program.
Patron - Ware, O.

P HB1044

Baiting of wild animals. Provides a rebuttable presumption for any person charged with hunting over baited areas that he knew he was occupying a baited blind or other baited place for the purpose of taking wild birds or wild animals.
Patron - Saxman

P HB1069

Damage stamp program. Extends coverage under the damage stamp program to beekeepers to collect for damages to their bee colonies and beekeeping equipment caused by bear, deer, elk or big game hunters. This bill is identical to SB 199.
Patron - Armstrong

P SB54

Feeding of waterfowl. Allows localities to prohibit the feeding of migratory and nonmigratory waterfowl in a heavily populated area where the feeding of waterfowl, in the opinion of the governing body, would be a threat to public health or the environment. The locality is required to give notice to the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries of its intent to adopt such an ordinance and the Department is to make available to the locality a suggested model ordinance. The penalty for violation of such an ordinance is a civil fine not to exceed $50.
Patron - Puller

P SB199

P SB261

Use of drugs on wildlife. Prohibits persons from administering drugs to any vertebrate wildlife except as allowed under a Department of Game and Inland Fisheries permit or regulation. The penalty for violation of this prohibition is a Class 2 misdemeanor.
Patron - Hawkins

Failed

F HB78

Bird sanctuary. Repeals a 1962 Act of Assembly that authorized the Town Council of Culpeper to establish a bird sanctuary with the town's corporate limits. This bill is a recommendation of the Virginia Code Commission.
Patron - Landes

F HB169

Waterfowl blinds. Repeals a 1928 and a 1942 Act of Assembly that prohibited hunting from floating blinds in the Counties of Caroline, King George, Essex, Westmoreland and Richmond, and in several segments of the Rappahannock and Potomac Rivers.
Patron - Shuler

F HB338

Youth waterfowl hunting. Exempts youth who hunt waterfowl on the Saturday and Sunday designated by the Board of Game and Inland Fisheries as Youth Waterfowl Hunting Days from the prohibition on hunting on Sunday.
Patron - Pollard

F HB401

Feeding of waterfowl. Allows localities to prohibit the feeding of migratory and nonmigratory waterfowl. The penalty for violation of such an ordinance is a Class 4 misdemeanor.
Patron - Amundson

F HB442

Hunting on Sunday. Allows a person to hunt or kill any wild bird or wild animal on Sundays.
Patron - Suit

F SB554

Personal flotation devices required for children; civil penalty. Requires all children 12 years of age or younger to wear a Type I, II, III, or Type V U.S. Coast Guard-approved personal flotation device on recreational vehicles under 21 feet in length. The Director of Game and Inland Fisheries shall assess any recreational vessel operator who violates or permits the violation of this provision a civil penalty of up to $250. However, this penalty may be waived if the person subsequently completes an approved boating safety education course. All penalties collected are to be paid to the Motorboat and Water Safety Fund of the Game Protection Fund. The bill does not apply to a recreational vessel that is moored or anchored, or to children below deck or in an enclosed cabin. The bill defines "recreational vessel" as a vessel manufactured or operated for leisure or recreational purposes, or a vessel leased, rented or chartered for noncommercial use. "Recreational vessel" includes motorboats, sailboats, canoes, kayaks, rowboats, and any other vessel capable of being used for transportation on water, when the vessel is being used for other than commercial purposes. This bill contains a delayed enactment clause until January 1, 2005.
Patron - Lucas

F SB586

Powers of the Board of Game and Inland Fisheries. Allows the Board of Game and Inland Fisheries to grant easements and rights of way over lands and waters acquired for game and fish refuges and preserves. To become effective, the provisions of this bill must be reenacted by the 2005 Session of the General Assembly.
Patron - Puckett

F SB657

Firearms. Amends the definitions of "muzzleloading rifle" and "shotgun," and deletes the definition of "muzzleloading shotgun" to resolve an inconsistency. This bill adds a definition of "shooting," and requires localities that prohibit hunting with a shotgun loaded with slugs, or with a rifle of a caliber larger than .22 rimfire, to permit the use of muzzleloading rifles during the prescribed open seasons for the hunting of game species. The bill also deletes the enabling language that allows localities to specify what type of ammunition is permissible for hunting. This bill is incorporated into SJR 38.
Patron - Quayle

Carried Over

C HB331

Floating blinds in certain waters. Amends an Act of Assembly to allow floating blinds in the waters of Caroline, Essex, King George, Richmond and Westmoreland Counties and in portions of the Rappahannock and Potomac Rivers, so long as they are staked and meet certain siting requirements. The hunter may purchase four stake licenses at a cost of $17.50 for the first and $5 each for the other three licenses.
Patron - Pollard

C HB695

Personal watercraft. Allows any locality, by ordinance, to regulate the operation of personal watercraft on any body of water within its territorial limits and requires the locality to set penalties and have the principal responsibility for providing enforcement of the ordinance.
Patron - Morgan

C SB175

Sunday hunting. Allows persons to hunt on Sunday between noon and one-half hour after sunset.
Patron - Stolle

C SB198

Bear damage stamp. Requires any person licensed to hunt bear to also obtain a $4 bear damage stamp. The moneys collected from the stamp will be deposited into the newly created Bear Damage Stamp Fund. The Fund will be used to compensate landowners for damages to their property caused by bears. Under a newly established Bear Damage Stamp program, a property owner will file a claim for damages with the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. The report will include three estimates of the damages. The Department's game wardens or wildlife biologists will investigate the claim and the Board of Game and Inland Fisheries will make the decision regarding whether the claim is valid and the amount of compensation that will be awarded to the property owner.
Patron - Reynolds

C SB249

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General Assembly>Division of Legislative Services>Publications>Session Summaries>2004>Game, Inland Fisheries and Boating

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