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West Virginia Right to Hunt, Fish and Harvest Amendment (2016)
| West Virginia Right to Hunt, Fish and Harvest Amendment | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Election date November 8, 2016 | |
| Topic Hunting and fishing | |
| Status Not on the ballot | |
| Type Constitutional amendment | Origin State legislature |
| Voting on Hunting & Fishing |
|---|
|
| Ballot Measures |
| By state |
| By year |
| Not on ballot |
The West Virginia Right to Hunt, Fish and Harvest Amendment was not put on the November 8, 2016 ballot in West Virginia as a legislatively referred constitutional amendment. The measure, upon voter approval, would have provided for "the right to hunt, fish and harvest wildlife, including the use of traditional methods, subject only to the statutes enacted by the Legislature and the regulations adopted by the Division of Natural Resources to promote wildlife conservation and management and to preserve the future of hunting and fishing." The measure was also designed to provide that "public hunting and fishing shall be a preferred means of managing and controlling wildlife."[1]
Text of measure
Ballot title
The proposed ballot title was:[1]
| “ | Right to Hunt, Fish and Harvest Wildlife Amendment[2] | ” |
Ballot summary
The proposed ballot summary was:[1]
| “ | To add a new section to article III of the State Constitution, to recognize the right of citizens to hunt, fish and harvest wildlife and to declare that public hunting and fishing are preferred means to manage wildlife.[2] | ” |
Constitutional changes
- See also: Article III, West Virginia Constitution
The proposed amendment was designed to add a Section 23 to Article III of the West Virginia Constitution. The following text would have been added by the proposed measure's approval:[1]
Background
As of February 2015, 18 states had constitutional amendments providing for the right to hunt and fish. Vermont was the first state to constitutionalize such a right in 1777. The other sixteen states had all adopted right to hunt and fish amendments since 1996. The following is a list of states that had constitutional amendments establishing the right to hunt and fish as of February 2015:[3]
In 2015, California and Rhode Island had constitutional amendments guaranteeing the right to fish, but not to hunt.
Path to the ballot
- See also: Amending the West Virginia Constitution
The amendment needed to be approved by a two-thirds (66.67%) vote in both chambers of the West Virginia Legislature in order to appear on a ballot.
The West Virginia Legislature's 2015 session ended on March 15, 2015, without the bill passing both chambers. Legislators had the opportunity to reintroduce the bill during the 2016 legislative session, which was projected to begin on January 13, 2016, and run through March 12, 2016.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 West Virginia Legislature, "House Joint Resolution 22," accessed February 19, 2015
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source. Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "quotedisclaimer" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ The Mississippi Press, "Mississippi voters to decide on right to hunt and fish amendment," February 16, 2014
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State of West Virginia Charleston (capital) |
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