WEST virginia legislature

2021 regular session

Introduced

House Joint Resolution 26

By Delegate Higginbotham

[Introduced March 5, 2021; Referred
to the Committee on Agriculture and Natural resources then Judiciary]

Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the State of West Virginia declaring the right to hunt and fish; and providing a summarized statement of the purpose of such proposed amendment.

Resolved by the Legislature of West Virginia, two-thirds of the members elected to each house agreeing thereto:

That the question of ratification or rejection of an amendment to the Constitution of the State of West Virginia be submitted to the voters of the state at the next general election to be held in the year 2022, which proposed amendment is that article III thereof be amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section twenty three, to read as follows:

Article III. Bill of rights.

§23. Right to hunt and fish.

(a) The individual right of the people to hunt and to fish is a valued part of the State’s heritage and shall be forever preserved for the public good.

(b) The right under subsection (a) includes the right to use traditional methods to hunt and to fish, subject only to statute, and rules adopted as provided by statute, to:

(1) Promote wildlife conservation and management;

(2) Provide reasonable regulation of hunting and fishing activities; and

(3) Preserve the future of hunting and fishing.

(c) Public hunting and fishing shall be the preferred means of managing and controlling wildlife.

(d) This section does not affect:

(1) The law relating to trespass or property rights;

(2) The State’s sovereign authority over the State’s natural resources; or

(3) The State’s obligation to manage lands granted to the State.

Resolved further, That in accordance with the provisions of article eleven, chapter three of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, such amendment is hereby numbered “Amendment No. 1” and designated as the “Right to Hunt and Fish            ” Amendment, and the purpose of the proposed amendment is summarized as follows: “Preserve the individual right of the people to hunt and to fish”.

NOTE: The purpose of this resolution is to declare the right to of the people hunt and fish and to preserve that individual right.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from a heading or the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.