Wyoming SF45

[BuzzH]

This bill passed the Senate and is now making its way to the House side next week.

The bill asks for general funds to cover Game and Fish employee's health benefits and also the costs associated with grizzly bear management.

The legislature is all over the map on this one, but we (Wyoming Sportsmens Alliance) held a reception Monday in Cheyenne and got to talk to a lot of the Legislators about this important bill. We had pretty good support the bill, and answered a lot of concerns that the Legislators had.

http://www.ourpubliclands.org/wy-sp...overnor-wildlife-habitat-and-sportsmen-values

It would be great if we can contact the House side for support of this bill:

SF0045 can be viewed at:

http://legisweb.state.wy.us/2014/Introduced/SF0045.pdf

House TRWCR members include the following folks. You can email each of them by putting their first name, period, last [email protected] (e.g. [email protected]):
• Kathy Davison
• Dave Blevins
• John Freeman
• Gerald Gay
• Marti Halverson
• Lynn Hutchings
• Allen Jaggi
• Samuel Krone
• Garry Piiparinen
- See more at: http://www.ourpubliclands.org/wy-sp...tat-and-sportsmen-values#sthash.yuGy7wBy.dpuf

 

[BuzzH]

For those interested...

I attended the House committee hearing on this bill today. The room was packed with all but two people in support of the bill.

There was an amendment made by Rep. Halverson to remove the grizzly bear funding from the bill after a lot of great testimony by not only sportsmen, but also GF Director Talbott, and several members of the Legislature that are not on the TRW committee.

The vote on the amendment to remove grizzly bear funding was as follows:

In favor of amending were Rep. Jaggi, Gay, Halverson, Piiparinen, and Hutchings.

The vote on the bill after amendment would basically just cover the GF employee health benefits passed by a 8-1 vote with Rep. Gay being the lone vote against the bill.

In no shock, Bob Wharff with WYSFW, spoke out against the grizzly bear portion of the bill. The only other person to speak against it was someone from the "liberty group"...

This bill has a long, uphill battle but support is there.

I believe that Representatives Krone, Blevins, Davison, and Freeman deserve thanks for not voting to amend the bill. Representative Freeman gave some great testimony on the importance of hunting and what hunting mean and has meant to his family. The WSA also gave great testimony as did many others.

Often times we only comment on what is NOT done, perhaps giving those that need a pat on the back a positive email would be a nice touch. We need to let our Representative know when they've done a good job.

I'll also say that there could be at least one Representative that needs a swift kick in the arse...I'll let you decide who that may be.

 

[Ben Lamb]

Great work Buzz. You guys have done a tremendous amount to not only lift up the issue, but make substantial gains with a lot of folks pushing back.

 

[idnative1948]

Very good point Buzz made regarding letting them know when they have done a good job. Next time we need to rail on them, hopefully they will rememeber that we gave them a pat on the back also. Doesn't matter which state you are from either.

 

[Ben Lamb]

Oh my.

http://wypols.com/2014/02/24/bad-news-for-bears-panel-rips-grizzly-bear-funding-out-of-sf-45/

 

[Topgun 30-06]

Oh my.

http://wypols.com/2014/02/24/bad-news-for-bears-panel-rips-grizzly-bear-funding-out-of-sf-45/

***At least the article ripped Bob and WYSFW a new one like it should!!!

 

[BuzzH]

It did, but not nearly as much as it should have.

That guy (Bob Wharff) is the first to take credit for anything that passes, and first to take credit for any bills that dont pass.

He's a true champion of cheering for whatever team happens to be leading at the time. He can change his stance on a bill at the drop of a hat if he thinks he'll lose.

He did it last year on the preference point bill. Myself and a several others worked liked crazy to kill that bill. In the first committee hearing Wharff was in favor of it. After he saw the work we had done to kill it, he "switched" his stance.

Finally, in an unprecedented, and full on display of arrogance, he told me one day, "I killed that preference point bill". Apparently he must have forgotten who he was talking to???

All I could do was laugh...

He's pulling the same thing with this bill. He will try to take credit if it passes with the amendment, doesnt pass, or passes with the amendment removed.

True jellyfish...no spine.

 

[ShootsManyBullets]

Ohhhh Bobby Waffles always playin' for the winning team

 

[Ben Lamb]

SF 45 passed the Legislature today.

both the Health Care provision and Grizzly Bear provision were kept in.

That's $7 million per year for wildlife and access.

Buzz - you guys simply knocked this out of the park. Well done.

 

[BuzzH]

Ben,

It took a lot of effort from a lot of people to get that passed.

Congrats to the Wyoming Sportsmens Alliance in order, as well as all those that took the time to comment.

 

[Big Fin]

Great job guys. A victory for wildlife and access and a good old fashion beat down to SFW and the ignorant policies they promote. Hopefully a step toward ridding the good folks of Wyoming from the SFW parasite.

 

[Straight Arrow]

Well done, Buzz et al! 'Just goes to show the growing political clout and effectiveness of a sportsmen coalition.

 

[ShootsManyBullets]

Hats off to Buzz and everyone working behind the scenes on this one. I'm sure there are quite a few of you out there. THANK YOU to all of you!

 

[Oak]

Good news! Well done.

 

[WapitiBob]

Congrats Buzz.

 

[jryoung]

Cheers to this news.

 

[Topgun 30-06]

Thanks for another job well done BuzzH, and for anyone else who helped get er done!