New house bill for Idaho

[sneaky]

HB 658 is Sent to Senate Amending Order – Idaho Wildlife Federation

HB658 is a travesty for Idaho's outdoorsmen and women | Columns | idahostatejournal.com

Idaho trespass law: Changes to be revised again in Senate | Idaho Statesman

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If I read that first article correctly, they expect the funding for this travesty to come from Fish&Game? Talking about having your cake and eating it too

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[Mtnboy]

If I read that first article correctly, they expect the funding for this travesty to come from Fish&Game? Talking about having your cake and eating it too

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Yep. F&G would be on the hook for about $11k the first year and $5k every year after that.

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[OG DramaLlama]

Called my Senator just now.


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[OG DramaLlama]

who says a billion dollars doesn't buy you some political clout

In Idaho a cup of coffee and a 1k donation does the trick for clout, apparently. Cheaper than posting your property.


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[OG DramaLlama]

Heard back from my Senator today. Looks like the amended vote will be on the senate floor today or tomorrow...

See comment from weekly newsletter (Senator Janie Ward-Engelking)below:

HB 658
HB 658 is on the amending order in the Senate. Representative Christy Perry testified a lobbyist for the Wilks brothers (Texas billionaire brothers who bought 172,000 acres from Potlatch Timber) wanted her support to change trespass law and crack down on hunters. This bill makes the fine for a first offense $500, second offense is $1000, and the third offense is a felony plus the loss of your hunting and fishing licenses. It also reduces the need to mark property in a highly visible way. Going Fishing and inadvertently crossing over private land to get to your favorite fishing hole, stepping onto private land to retrieve a downed bird or deer, or just crossing over a corner of private land while thinking you were on public land could result in a felony offense.

Idaho Attorney General's Office stated, "The overlap between this proposed bill and SB 1313, Stand Your Ground, would likely increase the risk of serious injury or death to otherwise innocent trespassers." The AG's office wrote that the two bills will "make it likely trespassers will be deemed to have nefarious intent." The assumption "would permit unreasonable uses of force against such trespasser by landowners while limiting the landowners' civil and criminal liability." Attorneys, law enforcement, hunters, fishermen and recreationists opposed the bill. While I understand the need to protect private property rights, HB 658 has not been properly vetted and goes too far. Hopefully we can create an interim committee to work on it.



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[bigdesert10]

Passed the Senate. Give ol' Butch a call and let him know where you stand.

 

[mtwarden]

ouch! sorry to hear that

 

[Gobbler36]

Not sure if it's been brought up in the thread, but here in Idaho (I think they own a lot of land in other states too) we have these brothers named the Wilks Brothers out of Texas who purchased old Timber land, a lot of it. It used to be accessible for public but they came in and have "locked it all up". Now there are forest roads that go all through their lands and people hired by them have been known to be hostile to folks just on the road on their lands.

A law like this clearly helps an absentee owner like this use ambiguity to their advantage when it comes to harassing people and placing unsubstantiated blame.

You may think there's a lot of outlets out there now to delineate property lines and have them on an app etc. But what you don't realize is that it will still come down to a he said/she said between the land owner or their agent/worker and you. The apps all release themselves from liability and have disclaimers about their data not being "official".

So in the real world, I'm riding my quad on a forest road and find a place I'd like to camp. I pull into a pull out and start setting up. A guy comes along and says, hey you're on private land. I say no my onx map shows this being public. The guy says, no thats wrong. Since the landowner doesn't have to mark their lines, they don't have to declare where their line ends. So now they can claim you're on private land and the app is wrong. You will then have to deal with it a lot more than that single conversation with them if they want to try to get authorities involved.
To all who think this bill is ok, How is this better??

Boom mic drop

 

[OG DramaLlama]

Just called and put a tally mark for the “veto” side.

208-334-2100

No interest in hearing my input. Purely a numbers game.


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[TheTone]

Its purley small town/state politics at its worst. Legislators paid off by people that don't live in the state, illegal lobbying...ugh! I'll be giving the governors office a call as well. I've sent at least 6 emails to my rep and senator with no response at all and they have both voted for it.

 

[Gobbler36]

Called ol butch otters office to put my tally in the veto column

 

[Tohopko]

Thanks for posting the phone number, just made the call for the veto tally

 

[silverbullet555]

Called and emailed.

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[kestump]

Placed my call in support of a veto.

 

[TheTone]

Keep the calls to the governor going. The legislature wanted to adjourn but its staying in session out of fear he may veto this bill. Just sad how the political process is working here. Clearly shows how cheaply you can buy politicians and what happens when one party has so much control. Be sure to remember these things during November when they want your vote. The response I finally got back from my rep (after she voted for it) was full of condescension, really loved the part where she apologized for not responding sooner because she is just too busy to read emails...

 

[kicker338]

Guess this thread can be closed as the bill is now law, gov. wouldn't veto it.

 

[mtwarden]

Sorry to hear that; another round for the billionaires

 

[silverbullet555]

Did he sign or just let it go?

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[ndbuck09]

Let it go like a pansy

 

[idahohikker]

I called one of the managers of the Salmon-Challis National Forest to see which trails have easements running through the private land in the district. He didn't think that the new law would be an issue because most landowners in the backcountry aren't onery and would allow people to pass through on trails. For example, one trail of the very most popular trails, the Middle Fork trail, passes through private land owned by the Pistol Creek Ranch. The concern I expressed is that now prosecution for trespass is completely at the whim of those landowners and the FS officials have no way to give people assurance. He said he'd deal with it if the issue came up. Not the best approach IMO. Feel free to call all the Forest Service offices if you'd like them to take any action. Easements along popular trails are very needed I think, though the manager said there wouldn't be much budget for purchasing them. Some easements might have already been created from decades of public use and the FS could check.