Wyoming waters down wolf litigation bill
Associated Press
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) – Some of the bite has been taken out of legislation meant to assert the state’s control over wildlife, especially wolves.
Amendments to Senate File 97 approved Friday by the House Travel Committee were so sweeping that the committee directed a substitute bill be printed and brought back to the panel for a vote on Monday.
The amendments were proposed by the bill’s lead sponsor, Sen. Delaine Roberts, R-Etna.
“It’s considerably weaker, but it’s something that I think will pass the scrutiny of the attorney general and hopefully the governor,” Roberts said.
The bill that passed the Senate would have banned the “introduction, reintroduction, propagation or management of any wildlife species within the boundaries of Wyoming excluding Yellowstone National Park” by anyone except the state Game and Fish Department.
It also directed the state attorney general to prepare a plan for a potential lawsuit by the state “to establish its sole management authority over all species” except those in Yellowstone.
The amendments approved Friday instead directed the attorney general to prepare a plan for potential litigation “to mitigate detrimental impacts to the state from the introduction, propagation or management of any wildlife species, including endangered species, by the federal government” within Wyoming.
SF 97 |
The attorney general’s plan will include “consideration” of the state’s authority to prohibit by rule the introduction, propagation or management of wildlife species; and of the federal government’s obligation to compensate the state and individuals for damages caused by reintroduced species.
Roberts said the amendments were necessary because of the “legal ramifications” of the language in the bill brought over from the Senate.
“We had to tone that down somewhat,” he said. “I didn’t want the bill to go before the attorney general and have him say ‘No it’s not constitutional’ and put the governor in the spot to veto it, which he’d probably had to have done with the existing language. So we were willing to compromise somewhat.”
Michael O’Donnell, legal counsel to Freudenthal, said the governor’s office supported the changes.
The amended bill would not put the state in conflict with federal law and would allow for delisting of the gray wolf to proceed, O’Donnell said.
However, the amended bill would retain wording from the Senate-passed bill that the state Game and Fish Commission “demand” that the federal government pay for any damages to Wyoming wildlife or wildlife habitat caused by species introduced by federal mandate.
“The federal government may get a little heart burn about this bill, but so what,” said Rep. Pat Childers, R-Cody.