Why It Matters: Since its inception in 2004, the Georgia Legislative Sportsmen’s Caucus (Caucus) has been among the strongest state legislative sportsmen’s caucuses in the National Assembly of Sportsmen’s Caucuses (NASC) network. The Caucus’ track record of victories and successes has been built on the back of strong Caucus leaders coupled with the support of the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation (CSF). The bipartisan, bicameral Caucus serves to protect Georgia’s sportsmen and women and Georgia’s unparalleled hunting and angling opportunities.
Highlights:
- Recently, Senators Lee Anderson and Sheikh Rahman were selected as new Senate Co-Chairs for the Caucus joining current House Co-Chairs Representatives Chas Cannon and Matt Dubnik.
- Senators Anderson and Rahman step into these roles following Senator Russ Goodman and his years of dedicated leadership to the Caucus.
- The bipartisan leadership bench will work to advance Georgia’s storied outdoor traditions, ensuring that the voices of hunters, anglers, trappers, and recreational shooters are well represented at the Georgia General Assembly.
In recent years, the Caucus has held up their end of the bargain for the Peach State’s sportsmen and women, championing numerous sporting-conservation policy victories. In 2022, the Caucus was instrumental in updating Georgia’s No Net Loss baseline, which protected an additional 200,000 acres of public land hunting in Georgia. The following year, the Caucus protected access to navigable streams for Georgia’s sportsmen and women. Finally, just last 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 merchant category codes that distinguish a firearms retailer from other retailers.
With the spirit of uniting sporting-conservation partners with like-minded legislators, the Caucus also hosts a variety of events throughout the year to educate policy makers on issues impacting sportsmen and women as well as educate Caucus members on the importance of the American System of Conservation Funding. In 2023 alone, Georgia’s 1,852,225 paid license holders generated a total of $85 million, ranking them 17th nationally in funding received from sporting licenses and matching excise tax revenue from both the Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration programs.
The Caucus is hard at work with the regular session well underway in the Peach State. CSF looks forward to working closely with the Caucus, our new Caucus Co-Chairs, and our partners to advance Georgia’s storied outdoor traditions.
