The Senate Judiciary Committee has killed House Bill 1140, called a “poachers bill” by its detractors. The proposed legislation would have required Game Fish and Parks officers to have landowners’ permission to do compliance checks on private land. Opponents say current policies already encourage cooperation between the agency and landowners, and the bill protects hunters.
Mark Miller is general counsel for Governor Kristi Noem. He tells members of the Senate Judiciary that HB 1140 augments landowners’ privacy under the Bill of Rights.
“The legislature, of course, knows that the Constitution is the floor for our liberty and freedom. It isn’t the ceiling. States can add additional layers of protections to our rights beyond what the Constitution says.”
Miller expresses indignation that opponents have called HB 1140 a poachers bill:
“That statement, in the context of who our state leadership is today, is absolutely false and offensive.”
The governor’s office is backed up by acting Secretary of Game Fish & Parks Kevin Robling (ROE-bling), who says this bill codifies the agency’s current policies for compliance officers doing checks on private land.
But former GF&P Secretary John Cooper disagrees. He says former Attorney General Larry Long wrote an opinion saying compliance officers could enter open fields to enforce wildlife laws or do license checks without having reasonable suspicion, probable cause, consent, or a search warrant, as required by this bill.
“Those are issues that are associated with warrants and arrests, but not compliance checks.”
Cooper says there are currently several state laws that require compliance officers to determine if someone is legally hunting or has a tag for a deer or turkey.
“If you codified what is in the bill, it would not be the same as this policy is right now.”
Cooper apologizes to proponents for previously calling this a poachers bill. But Senate Judiciary chairman Art Rusch says he agrees with Cooper’s characterization.
Rusch notes that the bill includes an exclusionary rule, that an arrest or evidence is invalid if it was made in violation of this law.
“That doesn’t protect the landowner. That protects the poacher, who’s caught with illegally-taken game.”
Rusch agrees with other opponents that the current policy seems to be working.
The committee voted the bill down unanimously.