Why It Matters: Efforts to promote and conserve our sporting heritage today stand to benefit sportsmen and women for generations to come. Whether that is revolutionizing fisheries management or recruiting the next generation of hunters, proactive efforts today will last for well into the future for all Georgians.
Highlights:
- On February 13, Georgia Legislative Sportsmen’s Caucus (Caucus) Co-Chair Representatives Chas Cannon and Matt Dubnik, among other Caucus members, introduced House Bill 451, which would allow public schools to offer hunter safety education courses in grades six through twelve.
- Also on February 13, Representative Jesse Petrea and several other Caucus members introduced House Bill 443 which would create minor fees for reef and migratory fish endorsements to help advance saltwater fisheries management in the South Atlantic region.
- The Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation (CSF) worked very closely alongside Caucus members, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources and other partners to advance both pieces of legislation, including submitting written testimony on House Bill 451 and House Bill 443 as well as an action alert for House Bill 443.
- On the very last day of the 2025 legislative session, language from House Bill 451 was included in Senate Bill 148 which subsequently cleared the House on a 165-0 vote but was not able to make it back to the Senate to approve the House amendments. House Bill 443 cleared the Senate on a 48-5 vote, but the House was not able to vote on approving the Senate changes before adjournment of the General Assembly.
In today’s increasingly digitized world, there is always a fight for kids’ attention. In many cases, this attention usually comes in the form of something digital and something indoors. However, efforts like those laid out in House Bill 451 seek an alternative route to get kids engaged. House Bill 451 would have required that the State Board of Education develop content standards for instruction in hunting safety by April 1, 2026 which would give local school boards the option to establish a hunting safety curriculum for the 2026-2027 school year.
In addition to providing expanded hunting safety education options, Georgia was also seeking to be a leader in saltwater fisheries management in the South Atlantic region. House Bill 443 would have been a huge step in the right direction to transform recreational saltwater fishing in Georgia. By developing a recreational catch data program, more timely and accurate data can be collected compared to the known unreliable data estimated by the Marine Recreational Information Program (MRIP). MRIP is a tool used to make rough harvest estimates over two-month windows along with a rough estimate of dead discards. Recreational anglers in the South Atlantic region have had their recreational fishing opportunities diminished under MRIP, including a measly one-day red snapper season in federal waters in 2024. On the other hand, recreational saltwater anglers in the Gulf are enjoying months long seasons for red snapper thanks to state managed data collection programs.
CSF commends Representative Cannon and members of the Caucus for their initiative and work on these critical issues. Both House Bill 443 and House Bill 451 will be eligible again next year as part of the two-year legislative session in Georgia. Georgia’s sportsmen and women should be reassured that their interests are top of mind at the statehouse each and every legislative session. CSF looks forward to working with the Caucus and our many partners to advance both initiatives during the 2026 legislative session.
