Statement of purpose: This bill proposes to declare that the fish and wildlife of Vermont are held in trust by the state for the benefit of the citizens of Vermont and shall not be reduced to private ownership. The bill would also declare that the fish and wildlife of Vermont are owned and controlled by the state in its sovereign capacity as the trustee for the citizens of the state. In addition, the bill would repeal the regulatory authority of the agency of agriculture, food and markets over the wild cervidae at a captive cervidae farm in Irasburg. Regulatory authority over the wild cerivade at the Irasburg facility would be transferred to the department of fish and wildlife.
The finalized bill should be ready in early December. Then the work will begin to get it passed in a timely manner.
Reps David Deen and Kate Webb have edited their draft bill after meeting with our coordinating committee and have presented it to the Democratic caucus and the Republican caucus. It garnered 30 sponsors among the Democrats.
ReplyDeleteI'm very encouraged that the public trust of wildlife will be restored in Vermont in the near future.
Eric, even though the vast majority of Vermonters do not know of or understand what is going on with this issue, they and their future generations are very fortunate to have a handful of folks like you looking out for their interests. Kudos.
ReplyDeleteAnnon 12/13 - thanks, but we have to get this legislation passed for it to do any good. We are up against a guy with money and obvious political strength - it will be a fight. But there are way more of us than there is of them, if we stay united and focused then we and the future generations win.
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