Committee Supports State Constitutional Amendment to Provide Right to Hunt and Fish

The Maine Legislature’s Committee on Inland Fisheries and Wildlife voted on Wednesday in favor of a bipartisan proposed constitutional amendment from Rep. Elizabeth Caruso (R-Caratunk) that would secure Mainers’ right to hunt and fish.

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“If your house is like mine, hunting and fishing is our way of life. It’s the meat that fills our freezer and feeds our family all yearlong. For many Maine communities, it’s also a pillar of our local hospitality and tourism economies,” said Rep. Caruso during her testimony at the bill’s public hearing.

“On behalf of all the local communities, small business owners, and families who depend on hunting and fishing for their food and their livelihoods, and if you want to protect your childhood memories, family heritage, and the Maine hunting and fishing legacy that we leave our children, I ask you to vote ought to pass and let Maine voters cast their ballots,” she added.

Caruso’s proposed LD 820 drew bipartisan support from six Republican co-sponsors and two Democrats, including Sen. Craig Hickman (D-Kennebec).

The constitutional amendment Caruso seeks would secure the right to fish, hunt, and harvest game and fish, including through traditional methods, with the right subject to laws and regulations intended to promote wildlife conservation and ensure future hunting.

“Public hunting and fishing are the preferred means of managing and controlling wildlife,” the text of the proposed amendment reads.

The amendment only permits laws and regulations restricting hunting that are aimed at conservation, not gun control, potentially providing an additional defense against any gun control regulations that would infringe on hunters’ rights.

The initial text of the bill specified that any regulations must be “reasonable,” though the amended version voted on by the committee removed the word “reasonable.” The only other change in the amendment specified that “agencies,” rather than just a single “agency,” have the authority to make regulations for the sake of conservation.

The committee voted in favor of the amended version of the bill, with 10 members, including committee chair Sen. Joe Baldacci (D-Penobscot), voting “ought to pass,” and just three members, Rep. Bill Bridgeo (D-Augusta), Sen. Anne Carney (D-Cumberland), and Rep. Tiffany Roberts (D-South Berwick), opposing the bill.

Although the proposed constitutional amendment drew strong bipartisan support, its success is far from guaranteed. Constitutional amendments must clear a higher bar than other bills. In order to pass through the legislature, the amendment must draw a two-thirds majority.

If that threshold is met, the amendment will be considered in a statewide referendum vote.

Voters would be asked “Do you favor amending the Constitution of Maine to provide that the right of the people to hunt, fish and harvest game and fish may not be infringed, subject to laws and rules, and to provide that public hunting and fishing are the preferred means of managing and controlling wildlife?”

If a majority of voters answer “yes” to that question, the amendment will be added to the state constitution.