Why It Matters: The resounding success experienced by the Georgia Legislative Sportsmen’s Caucus since its inception into the National Assembly of Sportsmen’s Caucuses in 2004 is largely due to a history of strong leadership coupled with steadfast support from the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation (CSF). Georgia offers a wide variety of hunting and angling opportunities for its sportsmen and women regardless of their interest. The bipartisan, bicameral Caucus serves to protect and promote these outdoor traditions for the Peach State’s sportsmen and women.
Highlights:
- Recently, Representatives Chas Cannon and Matt Dubnik were selected as new House Co-Chairs for the Georgia Legislative Sportsmen’s Caucus (Caucus) joining current Co-Chair Senator Russ Goodman.
- Representatives Cannon and Dubnik step into these roles following former Caucus Co-Chair Representative David Knight announcing his retirement after having served a successful 19-year legislative career.
- The three Co-Chairs will provide leadership on sporting conservation policy and protect Georgia’s rich sporting heritage by ensuring that the interests of hunters, anglers, recreational shooters, and trappers are represented by pro-sportsmen legislators in the Georgia General Assembly.
Georgia’s sportsmen and women have a strong advocate when it comes to protecting their outdoor traditions. Among the most effective legislative sportsmen’s caucuses in the country, the Caucus has championed numerous policy victories for the Peach State’s 1.8 million hunters and anglers. In 2022, the Caucus was instrumental in updating Georgia’s No-Net-Loss baseline. The baseline was originally set in 2005, and the update protected an additional 200,000 acres of public hunting land. In 2023, the Caucus protected sportsmen and women’s access to Georgia’s navigable streams. This year, the Caucus successfully protected the financial privacy of Georgia’s hunters and recreational shooters by prohibiting payment card networks from requiring or incentivizing the use of a Merchant Category Code that distinguishes a firearm retailer from other retailers. These are just a few of the recent successes that the Caucus has experienced over the past several years.
The Caucus hosts a variety of events each year to educate policymakers about the economic impact and conservation funding benefits sportsmen and women provide for the Peach State. In 2023, 1,852,225 paid hunting and fishing license holders in Georgia generated $85 million in license sales and matching Pittman-Robertson/Dingell-Johnson federal funds through the “user pays – public benefits” structure of the American System of Conservation Funding. Moreover, hunters in Georgia support 26,000 jobs, $891,000,000 in salaries and wages, and $136,000,000 in state and local taxes, with a total economic impact of $1,688,000,000.
The Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation (CSF) thanks Representative Knight for his leadership and dedication to Georgia’s sportsmen and women during his successful legislative career. CSF is confident that the Caucus will continue to build on its successful track record of policy victories under Representative Cannon, Representative Dubnik, and Senator Goodman’s leadership to further support Georgia’s time-honored sporting traditions.
