State: PA

Contact: Brent Miller, Senior Director, Northeastern States & States Program Administrator On June 24, House Bill 808 (HB 808), legislation that would grant the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC) the regulatory authority to set license, permit, and tag fees, received an affirmative concurrence vote (157-44-1) in the House of Representatives. HB 808 is co-sponsored…

Contact: Brent Miller, Senior Director, Northeastern States & States Program Administrator On June 23, the Pennsylvania Senate voted 48-1 in favor of House Bill 1188 (HB 1188) – legislation that would allow for the use of night vision, thermal optics, and similar devices for nighttime hunting of predators. The bill is cosponsored by numerous members…

Contact: Brent Miller, Senior Director, Northeastern States & States Program Team Administrator On May 28, Pennsylvania Legislative Sportsmen’s Caucus Co-Chair Senator Dan Laughlin was named the “2019 State Legislator of the Year” by Safari Club International (SCI) – a partner conservation organization to the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation (CSF). Senator Laughlin has been an integral element…

Contact: Brent Miller, Senior Director, Northeastern States & States Program Administrator Over the past several months, the Pennsylvania Game Commission (PGC) has been accepting public comments on a comprehensive Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) Response Plan. Those comments have helped inform a revised plan that has now been released for final comments, which will be accepted through May 7.  As noted…

Contact: Brent Miller, Senior Director, Northeastern States & States Program Administrator On April 6 and April 7, the Pennsylvania Board of Game Commissioners held a virtual meeting to discuss and finalize regulations for the 2020-2021 hunting seasons. The result of the meeting lead to numerous changes that will expand access and opportunity for the Keystone State’s…

Contact: Brent Miller, Northeastern States Senior Director and States Program Administrator On March 19, a report distributed by the Pennsylvania Game Commission highlighted the State’s annual deer harvest results, but what was announced was astounding. The Keystone State’s deer yield for the 2019-2020 season came in at 389,431 – a 4% increase since the previous year and…

Contact: Senior Director, Northeastern States and States Program Administrator Brent Miller The Pennsylvania Board of Game Commissioners will hold its first quarterly meeting of 2020 on Friday, January 24 and Saturday, January 25 at the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s Harrisburg headquarters, and Sunday hunting is on the agenda.  As authorized through recently enacted legislation (S. 147), the Board…

Contact: Brent Miller, Senior Director, Northeastern States and States Program Director On December 17, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf, Co-Chair of the bipartisan Governors Sportsmen’s Caucus, held a ceremonial bill signing for S. 147 in Harrisburg, PA.  As previously reported by the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation (CSF), S. 147 is landmark legislation in the Keystone State, which…

On Wednesday, November 27, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf, the Democratic Co-Chair of the Governor’s Sportsmen’s Caucus, signed into law S. 147, marking the most significant progress ever realized in the effort to overturn the state’s more than three-centuries old prohibition on Sunday hunting for game species. In recognition of today’s significant victory for the Pennsylvania hunting community, Governor…

Contact: Joe Mullin, New England States Coordinator On October 30, Pennsylvania Senate Bill 147 (S 147) passed the House with a strong, bipartisan vote of 144-54.  This marks the most significant progress that any effort to repeal the more than three-century-old prohibition on Sunday hunting has ever achieved. S. 147 would authorize Sunday hunting in…

Contact: Brent Miller, Senior Director, Northeastern States On Monday, October 21, Senate Bill 147 (S 147) was reported out of the House Game and Fisheries Committee with a strong bipartisan vote of 21-4. S 147 would authorize Sunday hunting in the Commonwealth on three Sundays – one during the archery deer season, one during the firearms…

Contact: Brent Miller, Senior Director, Northeastern States On September 12, the Pennsylvania Game Commission (PGC) released a draft of a document aimed to direct the Commission’s management of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD). CWD is a progressive, fatal, degenerative neurological disease occurring in cervids such as deer, elk, and moose. The disease was first recognized in…