HOUSE BILL NO. 1352
Offered January 9, 2008
Prefiled January 9, 2008
A BILL to amend and reenact § 2.2-107 of the Code of Virginia; to amend the Code of Virginia by adding a section numbered 29.1-102.1; and to repeal § 29.1-102 of the Code of Virginia, relating to the composition of the Board of Game and Inland Fisheries.
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Patrons-- Ware, R.L., Abbitt, Cole, Crockett-Stark, Gilbert, Hargrove, Ingram, Landes, Marshall, D.W., Morgan, O'Bannon, Peace, Pogge, Poindexter, Saxman and Wright; Senator: Ruff

http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?ses=081&typ=bil&val=hb1352
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These are the General Assembly Members that are Patrons of house bill 1352 & RECIEVED Campaign Danations in 2007 from CSA PAC which VHDA is part of so their website says..

1) Delegate - R. Lee Ware Jr.
2) Delegate - Watkins M. Abbitt Jr.
3) Delegate - Daniel Marshall III
4) Delegate - Thomas C. Wright Jr.
5) Senator - Frank M. Ruff

These are the ones REPORTED on the State Board of Elections website www.sbe.virginia.gov each recieving $250 donations towards their 2007 campaign. It is not illegal for CSA PAC to give OR GA members toreceive donations, BUT This looks MIGHTYSUSPICIOUSsince VHDA website says HOW are our GA Members supposed to make Laws- What is best for the state? OR By who donates money?
DON'T YOU LOVE HOW OUR GOVERNMENT WORKS!!

Call & EmailYour General Assembly Members - IMMEDIATELY!
OPPOSE House bill # 1352 - VOTE NO

_____________________
huntwalkers

JUST because they have a hound dog, That DON'T make them a Houndsman!

This fight is not about the DGIF study, it is about a Governor that has stacked the Board of DGIF with folks that will do his will regardless of the consequences. The study is a distraction, a ruse. He has already said to "friends" that he will introduce legislation to make it a misdemeanor to leave a dog out for more than 3 days (maybe he will teach us to talk to them so they will come home more quickly)! He says he is going to end the chase seasons on all game during spring turkey, fall archery and muzzle-loading seasons. His divide and conquer tactics will only work if we Sportsmen don't reach out to non-dog hunting sportsmen. Remember this is the same Tim Kaine that, as Mayor of the City of Richmond, used taxpayer money to send six bus loads of demonstrators to the "Million Mom March Against Guns" in Washington D.C. When confronted with the facts by the Richmond Times Dispatch, he lied about it. After they stayed on him, Kaine said he did it, but that he had the authority to do so. A week later he finally agreed that he should repay the money! Six months later a group of prominent liberals re-paid the money (but no interest).

This time Tim Kaine is using Sportsmen's license money to fund a bogus study to distract you. The study is going to release its findings in 2008 or 2009 in time for the next Governor to deal with. But Tim Kaine already has the conclusions he wants and has told "friends" about them! He will introduce them after this year's elections on November 6. You probably won't hear about them in the newspaper because they will be covered up with budget stories. P.E.T.A. and the Humane Society of the US are the groups behind this effort. Animal rights activists have made this a major political issue and the Governor is going to listen to his allies.

The real issue before the Sportsmen of Virginia is the conduct of the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. Do we want an agency that defends hunters and promotes our Heritage instead of treating us as if we are all criminals? Do we want to support an agency that puts law enforcement ahead of resource stewardship? Millions have been spent for non-game programs, while quail populations have dwindled with little or no funding for research or habitat improvement. Wildlife biologists have complained that State Parks do a better job of managing wildlife resources than they are allowed to do on Wildlife Management areas! Do we want an agency that spends our license money for their personal use and is generally wasteful of its financial resources and then cries for more money and higher license fees?

For too long DGIF has promoted its arrest of game violators with press releases telling of more than a hundred criminal violations only to get convictions on four or five charges because the rest were trumped up! DGIF has many dedicated professional staff members that are our friends, but they are being driven out of the agency by poor treatment and even poorer management!

We need to return a Department of Game and Inland Fisheries devoted to promoting our sport, in the schools, colleges and universities of Virginia so that mothers raising their children will want to be involved in a wholesome family oriented activity that promotes individual responsibility, self reliance and stewardship of our God given resources.

Remember that the Governor proposes, but the General Assembly disposes. This battle will be fought and won or lost in the legislature. You all need to do this today! Excuses will not mean much if you have to tell your child or grandchildren that we used to be able to hunt in Virginia. The people of Great Britain have lost fox hunting, the Australians have lost the right to own guns and we have let them take God from our schools... How much more are you going to let them get away with??? More than Ten Thousand Virginians have joined the Virginia Hunting Dog Alliance and Commonwealth Sportsmen's Alliance standing shoulder to shoulder to stop this nonsense.

CALL & EMAIL your House of Delegate Members TODAY! Tell them to SUPPORT - VOTE YES on the HB1352![/align]

A raid on fishing funds
Bill Cochran's Field Reports


A move by Gov. Tim Kaine to divert $400,000 in saltwater fishing license funds to the General Fund to help offset a state budget shortfall is not boding well with anglers who say they will bring the matter up in the General Assembly.
While some of the diverted funds would be earmarked for things that benefit fishermen, such as marine patrols, the fact is accountability to recreational anglers would be lost. License money currently is assigned to programs and projects through a special board.

Anglers who are critical say the diversion likely would continue into future budgets, and there is little chance sportsmen ever would recoup the money.

When Douglas Wilder was governor, $1.2 million was taken from Department of Game and Inland Fisheries funds. It took four years before the money was retrieved for its intended purposes, and only then through the diligent work of the late A. Victor Thomas, the veteran legislator from Roanoke.

As the General Assembly begins, sportsmen certainly could use another Vic Thomas.

BILL

Its time for a change - Ask your Delegate to support House Bill 1352 - vote yes [/align]

HB 1352 wouldn't have helped prevent those finds from being diverted. It's still a bad bill.

That sounds like a excellent idea!

How about a comment on the VHDA representative's statement to the senate committee that no VHDA members were in favor of lifting the ban on SH? Is that true or did he give the committee incorrect info.

What a pathetic group of losers!! Hokieman and the VHDA are quoting Bill Cochran as if he supports the bill 1352. I read Bill's column regularly and he is a voice for compassion and compromise. To suggest he would consider stacking the VDGIF in some shameless fashion is ridiculous. I am going to forward this to Bill Cochran and I hope he will clear his good name with all of his readers and expose the VHDA for what they are. How low can you go?? Just watch the VHDA and you will see!!

I hate to say it, but whoever wrote the e-mail that huntwalker posted on page 4has no business being a spokesman for the dog hunters. His statement of basically saying that the 10% or so of the land owningprimitive weapon still hunters (his numbers) during the precious dog training season as having no rights to complain about hounds being on their land is downright stupid. There are other points of his in that e-mail that either aren't true or are just guesses to fit his agenda. Ya'll might as well pick out a few favorite trees and start climbing, you will be lucky to survive for another two years with your hounds unless you have massive acerage. A hound can cross 1000 acres in just a few minutes.

Cline seeks to rein in illegal workers, DGIF spending[/align]By Ray Reed[/align][email protected][/align]Monday, January 21, 2008[/align]

RICHMOND - Del. Ben Cline wants to tighten restrictions on hiring illegal workers, and he also wants the state to put a microscope on money handled by the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.
The illegal-workers bill results from perceptions of unfair business competition, Cline said, and the Game and Inland Fisheries bills grew out of spending habits that have resulted in indictments of three top officials in DGIF.
Two bills that Cline, R-Rockbridge, is proposing in the General Assembly this year were inspired by an attorney general’s investigation of reports by the state auditor that Game and Fisheries officials bought expensive shotguns, went on an African safari with $11,000 in hunting gear purchased on a state credit card, and otherwise used department funds in ways that led to criminal indictments. The money was later repaid.
Still, Cline said, he and the attorney general agree that kind of thing shouldn’t happen again.
“There are a lot of sportsmen in my district who are concerned about mismanagement of DGIF resources that were funded by their license fees,” Cline said.
“We need to not only shed some sunlight on DGIF operations, we also need to improve our embezzlement statutes to prevent that kind of activity,” Cline said.
One of his bills would require the DGIF’s director to submit a quarterly accounting of the expenses he controls to the governor’s Secretary of Natural Resources, and also execute a security bond based on performance of his duties.
Another of Cline’s DGIF-related bills would classify as embezzlement any misuse or misappropriation of public assets, such as the gear purchased on the state credit card, he said.
The illegal-workers bill has bipartisan support, Cline said, with Sen. Charles Colgan, D-Manassas, backing the measure in the Senate.
“It’s one of the few
immigration bills that might get out” of the legislature and into the governor’s office for a signature that would make it law, Cline said.
The bill would require public contractors and subcontractors to use a federal electronic work verification program to certify their employees are legally eligible for employment in the United States.
In his district, Cline said, “I’ve seen lawn mowing companies who are consistently underbid for state contracts by companies that they believe are hiring a significant number of illegal workers.”
Cline said he’s “working with the business community to make sure it’s not imposing an unacceptable burden” by requiring employers to make costly and time-consuming background checks on
workers.

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Isn't this spam?

Come on Derick your on the VHDA board, don't you have something to say? Just make something up, it's OK, the VHDA does it all the time.