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A bill that would clarify what agency has jurisdiction over hunting laws is headed to Gov. Bill Lee to be signed.

HB2017 is a bill being sponsored State Rep. Mark Cochran (R-Englewood) and its sister bill, SB2028, is being sponsored by State Sen. Adam Lowe (R-Calhoun). The bills are intended to address which law enforcement agency is the responsible party governing the act of hunting.

According to Cochran in a previous interview with The Advocate & Democrat, the purpose of the bill was to eliminate confusion that has arisen in the past and to re-establish that the Tennessee Fish and Wildlife Commission is the primary law enforcement agency to enforce hunting regulations and to ensure that no city or county government could make laws that would prevent a person from hunting within their respective area.

The Senate version of the bill passed on March 12 and the House version came up for a vote on the floor of the House on March 19. At that time, Cochran, who represents a portion of Monroe County, discussed an amendment that added the provision that states that it would not prohibit a county or municipality from regulating the discharge of a firearm by a person lawfully hunting within 500 feet of a school property, which would keep it consistent with other portions of code.

With a majority of the votes being in favor of the amendment, the amendment passed with 82 voting yes and five voting no.

“Members, House Bill 2017 simply clarifies what numbers (attorneys general) have understood for many years, what this general assembly has asserted numerous times, that it is the Fish and Wildlife Commission that ultimately governs the discharge of a firearm while lawfully hunting,” Cochran stated during the House floor discussion.

Cochran was asked if this would remove a municipality’s ability to enforce reckless endangerment.

“No it does not,” Cochran expressed. “This is not any kind of blanket permission to go shoot in a neighborhood. If it is unsafe to hunt there today, after this passage if this body sees fit, that doesn’t change. So if you are in an unsafe place hunting now and you did that tomorrow then the city can still charge you with reckless endangerment and they have the full power and authority to do so.”

Cochran was then asked if this bill would change any hunter regulations in the state.

“I would argue that it does not,” he said. “I would argue that TWRA (Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency) already has supremacy in the governing of hunting throughout the state. This is just clarifying what has been stated in the past.”

State Rep. Justin Jones (D-Nashville) expressed that he feels the legislation was not being presented the way they understood it to be and asked if Cochran could respond to local governments that he represents and address their concerns. Law enforcement officials in Sweetwater have recently expressed concerns over the bill enabling people to fire guns too close to schools.

“We aren’t taking away any local authority because that authority has never been there,” Cochran expressed. “The wildlife commission has always had supremacy in this issue, which is backed up by numerous attorney general opinions, both Democrat and Republican opinions.”

Jones stated that he feels the bill is there to remove authority for local law enforcement. He argued that he feels that if the bill was only reiterating what already exists then the bill’s existence would be pointless.

Cochran stated that any local government has complete authority over their property, such as parks.

“This is not permission to go hunt on public lands that belong to a city or county,” he said. “It is still up to that city or county to decide if they want to allow hunting on their own property.”

The bill moved to a vote, which passed with 69 yes, 17 no and the rest not voting. Now that it has passed both houses, the bill heads to the governor’s desk to be signed or vetoed.

shane.duncan@advocateanddemocrat.com