Legislation fails to muster enough votes
By:Jane Karlicek
Facing an unexpected defeat in the state Senate on Thursday, a bill that would have allowed individual municipalities to implement deer-management plans was pulled from the floor by its sponsor.
By being “laid over,” the bill is essentially put on hold until a later Senate session.
The bill did not receive 21 votes, which is required for it to pass, so its sponsor, Sen. Robert Singer (R-Lakewood), asked that it be laid over until another Senate session. The bill will be up for a vote again at the June 8 Senate session, said Sen. Singer, who expressed shock at Thursday’s vote.
“We had 15 votes for the bill,” he said. “I’m flabbergasted at what happened. It’s very upsetting. It’s not that we want to do this. We have to do it. The alternative is doing nothing and having more people dying on the roads, more farmers going out of business and homeowners’ properties destroyed.”
The bill appeared late on the Senate’s agenda. It was preceded by votes on several gun-control bills. And Thursday’s Senate session was held less than a week after the Million Mom March was held in Washington, a coincidence noted by an animal-rights group opposed to the bill.
Sen. Singer said the possible perception that the bill is in conflict with gun-control efforts had nothing to do with the setback.
“I really think people didn’t really understand what the legislation is all about,” he said. “It’s absolutely ludicrous that people do not want to go forward with the intelligent, right-way-to-do-it legislation. It’s not going to let people shoot deer indiscriminately. It’s not going to be done haphazardly. The governor supported the bill and said she would sign it. This is good legislation.”
Under the bill, municipalities would be allowed to seek waivers to state hunting regulations in order to develop deer-management plans to suit their needs. The legislation would allow Princeton Township to proceed with its plan to hire a team of sharpshooters to thin the burgeoning deer herd. Such plans would have to be approved by the state Fish and Game Council.
The bill, sponsored in the Assembly by Assemblywoman Connie Myers (R-Holland Township), was approved by the Assembly in March.
The bill is a revision of a similar bill that was pocket-vetoed by the governor in January.
The pocket veto by the governor in January shocked local and state officials, who immediately began meeting with members of the governor’s counsel’s office to determine what the governor’s concerns were.
After working with the governor’s counsel, the language of the bill was tightened to reflect her concerns. For example, the old bill read, “The Board of Agriculture determines whether a farm has incurred significant deer damage to crops.” The new bill adds that the determination is to be “based on evidence submitted by the board or the Center for Wildlife Damage Control at Rutgers.”
The new bill also requires applicants to “describe (the) nature and extent of damage or hazards and delineate the area to be designated a special deer management area.”
It also requires that the deer-management plan identify the organization to implement the plan and describe its qualifications and “methods used to notify the public, including residents in and adjacent to the area, of the methods and times and places when they will be used,” and describe precautions to be taken to ensure public safety.
The new bill also requires the county prosecutor to give permission for the use of silencers.
Sen. Singer said everyone is in support of the new bill — including the governor’s counsel, the Fish and Game Council, the New Jersey State League of Municipalities, the New Jersey Farm Bureau and the state Department of Agriculture — except for animal-rights groups.
The League of Animal Protection Voters issued a press release Wednesday citing its opposition to the bill.
“It is ironic that less than a week after the ‘Million Mom March’ the New Jersey Senate will vote on a bill that will bring high powered rifles into suburban neighborhoods,” said Sue Russell, co-founder of the League. “There will be hell to pay when people find out what’s going to happen in their backyards.”
The League of Animal Protection Voters was recently created from the “legislative push” to have a bill in place allowing for community-based deer-management programs. The league is a coalition of 15 state and national organizations that have a combined New Jersey membership of more than 15,000 people, according to the press release.
The league is pushing for an “effective, non-lethal means of reproductive control.”