The subject bill, the Equal Protection From Federal Employee Personal Attack Act, has been introduced in the CO legislature.
The bill would criminalize the BLM or Forest Service for managing grazing. It is a bizarre bill that should rather be called the Cliven Bundy Protection Act. It would essentially make federal employees attempting to manage grazing allotments vulnerable to a felony if the grazing permittee felt they were mistreated. So obviously this is a problem because 1) it would have a chilling effect on BLM and USFS staff trying to manage the federal range, and 2) it is unconstitutional because of the supremacy clause (if federal employees are doing their job and following the law, that overrides anything like this).
This bill is assigned to the House State, Military, and Veterens Affairs Committee for a hearing on Feb. 22. This is where bad bills go to die and I expect this to go nowhere, but please contact members of the committee to make sure.
The bill would criminalize the BLM or Forest Service for managing grazing. It is a bizarre bill that should rather be called the Cliven Bundy Protection Act. It would essentially make federal employees attempting to manage grazing allotments vulnerable to a felony if the grazing permittee felt they were mistreated. So obviously this is a problem because 1) it would have a chilling effect on BLM and USFS staff trying to manage the federal range, and 2) it is unconstitutional because of the supremacy clause (if federal employees are doing their job and following the law, that overrides anything like this).
This bill is assigned to the House State, Military, and Veterens Affairs Committee for a hearing on Feb. 22. This is where bad bills go to die and I expect this to go nowhere, but please contact members of the committee to make sure.
