Reported by SCI. Yesterday, President Donald Trump signed into law House Joint Resolution 69 (H.J. Res. 69), nullifying a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) rule that prohibited forms of hunting on all National Wildlife Refuges in Alaska and interfered with Alaska’s ability to manage its wildlife. The Senate and House previously passed the resolution with votes of 52 to 47 and 225 to 193.
SCI has led the hunting community in challenging the FWS rule and in fighting for state authority over the management of fish and wildlife and the regulation of hunting. Congress’s and the President’s rejection of the FWS rule will help ensure that federal agencies do not enact similar rules elsewhere in the country. Separately, SCI has filed a lawsuit to challenge similar regulations adopted by the National Park Service for National Preserves in Alaska and another FWS rule that denies access for hunting on the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge.
SCI celebrates the passage of H.J. Res. 69, together with the Alaska Chapter of SCI, the Alaska Kenai Peninsula Chapter of SCI, Alaska’s legislative leaders, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, the Alaska Board of Game, and the numerous sportsmen’s organizations who aggressively pursued this Congressional nullification of the FWS rule. SCI thanks its members who used the SCI Hunter Advocacy Action Center to contact their Congressional representatives and the President to support passage of this important legislation.