2005 
            Legislative Bills

Bill Number

Bill Nickname

Pro / Anti

Status

Details

Nickname:

Natural Resources - Black Bear Hunt - Prohibition

Pro / Anti:

Anti-Sportsmen Bill

Details:

Classifying black bears as nongame mammals; prohibiting the Department of Natural Resources from reducing the black bear population in the State with specified exceptions; and prohibiting the Department from establishing an open season to hunt black bears.
 

Current Status:

1/28

1/31

3/7

Action to Take:

Bill has been killed in Committee. No action needed.

Bill Texts:

HB-371: First Reading

Nickname:

Natural Resources - Leghold Traps - Prohibition

Pro / Anti:

Anti-Sportsmen Bill

Details:

Expanding the prohibition against using, setting, placing, or maintaining a leghold trap to apply to all persons statewide; and providing exceptions to the prohibition against using, setting, placing, or maintaining a leghold trap.
  

Current Status:

1/28

1/31

2/28

Action to Take:

Bill has been killed in Committee. No action needed.

Bill Texts:

HB-372: First Reading

Nickname:

Howard County - Steel Jaw Leghold Trap Prohibition Ho. Co. 6-05

Pro / Anti:

Anti-Sportsmen Bill

Details:

Adding Howard County as a county in which the use, setting, placement, and maintenance of steel jaw leghold traps on land is prohibited.
 

Current Status:

Action to Take:

Sportsmen should contact the members of the House Environmental Matters Committee and ask that they vote against this anti-hunting bill.

Bill Texts:

HB-258: First Reading

Nickname:

Anne Arundel County - Deer Hunting on Private Lands - Sundays

Pro / Anti:

Pro-Sportsmen Bill

Details:

Removing Anne Arundel County from the list of counties in which deer hunting on private lands on Sundays is prohibited.
 

Current Status:

1/19

2/14

Action to Take:

Bill Texts:

HB-128: First Reading

Nickname:

Dorchester County - Bow Hunting on Private Lands - Sundays

Pro / Anti:

Pro-Sportsmen Bill

Details:

Authorizing a person in Dorchester County to hunt deer on Sundays on private land with a bow and arrow during October and November; and prohibiting a person, while hunting any bird or mammal, from shooting or discharging any firearm or other deadly weapon within 150 yards of a church; etc.
 

Current Status:

3/4

3/7

3/24

3/28

Action to Take:

Bill Texts:

SB-943:

Nickname:

Wild Waterfowl Hunting - Tidal Potomac River

Pro / Anti:

Pro-Sportsmen Bill

Details:

Decreasing from 800 to 400 yards the distance from shore that the Department of Natural Resources may authorize by regulation the hunting of wild waterfowl by specified methods in the tidal waters of the Potomac River; and creating for the tidal waters of the Potomac River an exception to the requirement that a person who hunts wild waterfowl by specified methods must hunt 800 yards from the shore.
 

Current Status:

1/31

1/31

3/4

Action to Take:

Bill Texts:

HB-380: First Reading, Third Reading, House Amendments

Nickname:

Montgomery County - Deer Management Permits - Hunting Devices

Pro / Anti:

Details:

Requiring, in Montgomery County, a deer management permit issued to a landowner, or the agricultural lessee of a landowner, for economic loss to commercial agricultural crops to authorize a specified individual to use a bow, firearm, or muzzle loader at any time regardless of which hunting device is authorized for the established hunting season.
 

Current Status:

2/1

2/14

Action to Take:

Bill Texts:

HB-438: First Reading

Nickname:

Black Bears - Establishment of Population in Each County

Pro / Anti:

Details:

Requiring the Secretary of Natural Resources to establish a program to ensure that, by October 1, 2012, a black bear population is introduced in each county in the State.
  

Current Status:

2/1

2/1

3/7

Action to Take:

Bill Texts:

HB-463: First Reading

Nickname:

Hunting Penalties Bill

Pro / Anti:

Pro-Sportsmen Bill

Details:

Tripling the fines imposed by the Department of Natural Resources on individuals who illegally take, purchase, offer, sell, barter, or exchange game birds or mammals in excess of the bag limit; and providing that the revenues generated by the increased fines go into the State Wildlife Management and Protection Fund.
 

Current Status:

1/19

First Reading Education Health and Environmental Affairs

1/20

1/20

1/21

1/24

1/25

2/10

2/21

Action to Take:

Bill Texts:

SB-93: First Reading

Nickname:

Property Tax Exemption -- MD State GFPA

Pro / Anti:

Pro-Sportsmen Bill

Details:

Providing a State property tax exemption for property owned by The Maryland State Game and Fish Protective Association, Inc., and used to educate the public on hunting safety; and providing for the Act to be applicable to all taxable years beginning after June 30, 2005.
 

Current Status:

1/19

Action to Take:

Bill Texts:

SB-112: First Reading, Third Reading

Nickname:

Natural Resources - Nonresident Junior Hunting License - Establishment

Pro / Anti:

Details:

Establishing a nonresident junior hunting license; and establishing a fee of $65 for the license.
 

Current Status:

2/4

House: First Reading Environmental Matters. Hearing 2/23 at 1:00 p.m.

Action to Take:

Bill Texts:

HB-608: First Reading

Nickname:

Natural Resources - Hunting - Closure of State Lands

Pro / Anti:

Pro-Sportsmen Bill

Details:

Requiring the Department of Natural Resources to keep land managed by the Department open for hunting unless the Department makes specified findings or except as required by law; requiring the Department to manage the land to support, promote, and enhance hunting opportunities to a specified extent; and requiring the Department to manage the land to prevent any net loss of acreage available for hunting opportunities on the land; etc.
 

Current Status:

2/11

House: First Reading Environmental Matters. Hearing 3/4 at 1:00 p.m.

Action to Take:

Bill Texts:

HB-1086: First Reading

Nickname:

Assault Weapons Criminal Penalty Enhancement Act of 2005

Pro / Anti:

Anti-Sportsmen Bill

Details:

Designating specified firearms as assault weapons; designating assault rifles and copycat weapons as types of assault weapons; making it a misdemeanor to use an assault rifle or a copycat weapon in the commission of a felony or a crime of violence; etc.
 

Current Status:

1/19

2/9

Action to Take:

Bill Texts:

SB-116: First Reading

Nickname:

Criminal Law - Use of Firearm in Commission of Crime

Pro / Anti:

Anti-Sportsmen Bill

Details:

Making it a misdemeanor to use any firearm capable of being concealed on the person in the commission of a crime of violence or a felony, whether or not the firearm is operable at the time of the crime.
 

Current Status:

7/6

1/12

2/17

Action to Take:

Bill Texts:

HB-38: First Reading

Nickname:

Liability Insurance - All-Terrain Vehicles

Pro / Anti:

Anti-Sportsmen Bill

Details:

Requiring specified all-terrain vehicles operated in the State to be covered by specified liability insurance policies; providing for the minimum coverage required; requiring insurers to notify the Maryland Insurance Commissioner of terminations or lapses; requiring the Commissioner to impose a penalty if the required insurance terminates or lapses; requiring that the penalties assessed be paid into the General Fund; etc.
 

Current Status:

1/14

1/24

2/14

Action to Take:

Bill Texts:

HB-95: First Reading