The Senate Environment and Agriculture Committee will vote on two bills on Wednesday that aim to protect large forest blocks and prevent the captivity of wild and domestic animals.
One of the measures, called the Act on Coasts, would require the creation of a statewide plan to protect coastal areas from erosion and flooding. The other, titled the Ban on Captive Hunting, would prohibit the hunting of domestic or wild animals in parks, forests, and other unfragmented forest blocks of 250 acres or greater.
“The core forest” is a legal definition that refers to unfragmented forest blocks or single or multiple parcels totaling 250 acres or greater and at least 25 yards from mapped roads. The committee also plans to vote on several other measures, including the creation of a new Department of Coastal Resources, replacing the current Department of Environmental Management, and requiring a supermajority of three-fifths of the duly appointed council of the Coastal Resources Management Council to override a recommendation by the council’s staff.
Written testimonies on the legislation are due to the committee clerk by 3 p.m. on Wednesday, April 3.
The Senate Environment and Agriculture Committee meets at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, April 3. The meeting is televised by Capitol Television.
Generative artificial intelligence (AI) assisted a What’sUpNewp journalist with the reporting included in this story.