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HB 5029: Technically Flawed & Divisive
HB 5029, the "dove bill," is TECHNICALLY FLAWED AND DIVISIVE (the two main reasons that Granholm has said she vetoes legislation):
1) Due to ballot deadlines, concerned citizens cannot get this on the November ballot as a referendum and there is deliberately no language in the bill that would allow for an automatic vote by the people - as Granholm had originally requested to the legislature.
The Republican controlled House of Representatives deliberately held up moving this bill so that citizens would not have time to gather petition signatures to get it on the ballot this Fall, dove shooting proponents fear a public vote on this issue as they know the majority - including the majority of hunters - oppose it.
2) The bill does NOT include any purported "compromise" in its language. Instead, it authorizes the Natural Resources Commission - which has a history of illegally establishing a dove hunt in Michigan - to open a shooting season on doves anywhere in the state.
The DNR/NRC has proven it cannot be trusted with the mourning dove. In the mid-1980s, the NRC bypassed the Michigan Legislature, ignored significant opposition by the majority of citizens, and illegally established a mourning dove hunting season in Michigan. The Michigan Humane Society, a non-profit organization, was forced to file suit to right this illegal action. Subsequently, the courts [1985] issued a permanent injunction that the DNR/NRC cannot promote the hunting of doves in Michigan. The DNR and NRC have since - and continue to - violate this injunction.
3) No restrictions or conditions were included in the bill. In an effort to avoid any amendments being attached, no discussion was allowed on the Senate or House floor regarding a sunset on the bill (which causes a pause and examination on questionable or controversial issues), or a ban on the use of toxic lead shot. This was also why the bill was suddenly pulled last minute from Senator Johnson's Approps Committee last February.
NOTE: Despite the fact that lead is a known environmental contaminant, with deadly long-term consequences, lead shot is only banned for waterfowl hunting. It is the preferred and most commonly used shot used in the hunting of mourning doves - deposited in especially large quantities over crop growing soils and watering holes. See the most recent scientific research here. Despite the indisputable reality of lead poisoning, special interest lobby groups who claim "conservation" and "environmental" missions, openly oppose the ban of toxic lead shot on doves -- that would set precedent in accountability. In Florida, Governor Jeb Bush recently (5/2004) signed a law giving those who knowingly pollute the environment with large amounts of lead shot almost total immunity from lead cleanup lawsuits.
4) If Governor Granholm signs HB 5029 into law, she will break several solid promises to voters that she would veto the legislation.
Since the language is not included in the bill, the so-called "compromise" being discussed is only a smokescreen for an otherwise self-serving measure to establish a statewide dove hunt. In reality it is merely a "suggestion" as to how the NRC "might" administer the first three hunts (in an ever expanding number of counties no less: at first three, then six, the latest talk of ten or twelve counties, or the lower half of lower peninsula...). Nothing more. And no other groups are involved in these "talks" other than the MUCC and NRC.
The proposal also does nothing to address the environmental hazards that go along with dove hunting, as MUCC President Sam Washington has made it clear (to an another organization) that they were not willing to concede on the use of toxic lead shot, which would have made it more environmentally or ecologically responsible.
Additionally, see the stats Wisconsin
didn't want revealed here.
See 10 additional reasons for Granholm to VETO HB 5029 here.
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Page Updated: 06/19/04