CHAPTER 703
(House Bill 1187)

AN ACT concerning

Natural Resources - Wild Waterfowl - Issuance of Fishing and Hunting

Licenses

FOR the purpose of authorizing the Secretary of Natural Resources to delegate the
authority to issue certain fishing or hunting licenses; prohibiting the Secretary
from designating the authority to issue certain fishing or hunting licenses to a
clerk of a circuit court; repealing provisions allowing certain clerks to issue
certain fishing or hunting licenses; repealing certain provisions requiring
certain clerks to transmit to the Department of Natural Resources certain
money collected from the issuance of certain fishing or hunting licenses;
repealing certain provisions regarding the hunting of wild waterfowl;
authorizing a person to hunt wild waterfowl under certain conditions and with
certain weapons; restricting a person from shooting wild waterfowl under
certain conditions; establishing the areas and the circumstances from where
and under which a person may hunt wild waterfowl in waters on the natural
bottom, in a boat that is drifting or being sculled, and from a boat that is
anchored; prohibiting nonresidents from hunting wild waterfowl except under
certain circumstances; authorizing certain riparian landowners to license their
riparian shoreline to establish certain stationary blinds or blind sites to prevent
other persons from hunting wild waterfowl for certain purposes; establishing
the conditions under which a riparian landowner may erect a stationary blind or
blind site; requiring certain riparian landowners to license their shorelines for
certain purposes under certain circumstances; prohibiting a certain State or
federal unit or a certain assignee from licensing certain riparian shoreline;
authorizing a certain federal or State unit that owns certain riparian land to
apply to the Department to establish a certain wild waterfowl safety zone;
establishing certain licensing procedures; providing for the resolution of
conflicts between certain applicants; establishing certain requirements for the
placement and marking of certain offshore stationary blinds and offshore blind
sites; requiring the Department to construct blinds in certain locations under
certain circumstances; authorizing the Department to allow hunting of wild
waterfowl from a boat that is drifting or anchored in certain waters; requiring
the Department to encourage in a certain manner local and federal government
to make opportunities to hunt waterfowl from blinds; prohibiting the
Department from allowing waterfowl hunting on certain lands unless the land is
open to public hunting; providing that a licensee whose stationary blind, blind
site, or stake is destroyed in a certain manner may not lose the location and may
reestablish the stationary blind, blind site, or stake; prohibiting offshore
stationary blinds or blind sites in certain locations; prohibiting a person from
entering, using, or occupying certain stationary blinds, blind sites, or stakes
except under certain circumstances; requiring the Department to inspect certain
blind sites to determine the validity of certain certification under certain
circumstances; defining certain terms; providing for a delayed effective date;