By Chad Livengood and Gary Heinlein
Detroit News Lansing Bureau
Lansing — The Michigan House of Representatives approved legislation Thursday that aims to ensure wolf hunting in Michigan will start this fall — the latest shot in a battle between hunting advocates and opponents.
In a 72-38 vote, the Republican-controlled House approved a bill that would give power to Michigan’s Natural Resources Commission, which oversees the Department of Natural Resources and has the exclusive power to regulate hunting, to designate which species of wildlife can be hunted as game.
It would enable the commission to authorize hunting of gray wolves even as an opposition group is pushing an effort to have voters repeal a wolf hunting law through a referendum.
The Republican-controlled Legislature has fast-tracked the bill through the legislative process less than a month after it was introduced. It is trying to short-circuit a petition drive that seeks to ban wolf hunting.
The Michigan Bureau of Elections is determining whether an anti-wolf hunting group has submitted enough valid voter signatures to hold a 2014 referendum on a law passed in 2012 that permits hunting of the gray wolf.
Under the 2012 law, the state Department of Natural Resources has proposed allowing hunters to kill up to 47 wolves this fall in parts of Baraga, Gogebic, Houghton, Luce, Mackinac and Ontonagon counties in the Upper Peninsula.
The hunt would be held in areas where wolves have become a problem for livestock and domestic pets. The DNR this winter counted 658 gray wolves roaming the Upper Peninsula — up from three in 1989.
Race against time
If the Board of State Canvassers decides there are enough signatures on opponents’ petitions, the 2012 law would be suspended and wolf hunting would be prohibited until a 2014 state vote.
Gov. Rick Snyder intends to sign the hunting legislation, assuming it passes his final review, his press secretary Sara Wurfel said Thursday.
Snyder “believes that scientific, deliberative wildlife and game management is a positive thing and also fits the intent of voters with passage of Proposal G,” Wurfel said.
Proposal G, approved by voters in 1996, gives the Natural Resources Commission the power to create policies for the taking of game in Michigan. It directs the commission to hold public hearings before setting hunting policies and to follow principles of sound scientific management in its decisions.
Jill Fritz, state director for the Humane Society of the United States, called on Snyder to veto the legislation.
“We’re very disappointed that the House would go against the will of the people of Michigan in allowing an unelected body like the NRC to make these critical decisions on wildlife,” she said.
The legislative and ballot maneuvering has pitted hunting supporters and anti-hunting advocates in a race against time. Hunting backers want the new legislation to take effect as soon as possible, so the House voted Thursday to give the proposal immediate effect if it is signed into law.
The bill now returns to the Senate, which approved the bill 25-11, for a vote on immediate effect. Then it goes to Snyder for his consideration.
The legislation exempts domestic pets, livestock and mourning doves from being hunted. In 2006, voters outlawed the hunting of mourning doves in a statewide vote.
The House also passed companion legislation, 89-21, declaring the Legislature’s support for the right of Michiganians to hunt, fish and take game as allowed by law.
Panel would have power
The opposition group, Keep Michigan Wolves Protected, said it turned in 253,705 signatures for a statewide vote on wolf hunting. It needs 161,305 valid voter signatures to get the measure on the 2014 ballot.
But even if the measure gets on the ballot and voters reject wolf hunting, the new legislation would enable the Natural Resources Commission to allow it in the U.P. anyway, Fritz said.
The commission is made up of governor appointees whose duties include setting rules for hunting animals the Legislature designates as game.
The new legislation would expand the commission’s authority so it also could decide which animals could be hunted. Since its decisions aren’t subject to referenda, a commission ruling in favor of wolf hunting couldn’t be repealed by a statewide vote.