AUGUSTA, Maine — A handful of lawmakers joined hunting and trapping organizations Monday in a push for Maine constitutional amendments to prevent further citizen initiatives on bear baiting and other hunting policies.
The proposals follow a contentious 2014 statewide vote on whether to ban bear baiting, and suggestions that signature gathering to send the question back to Maine voters could begin soon.
Supporters of two bills advocating the constitutional changes said during a legislative committee hearing Monday that they’re an effort to ensure that decisions about Maine’s wildlife management are kept in the realm of science and fact, rather than the whims of the electorate
Opponents — including the group responsible for the 2004 and 2014 efforts to ban bear baiting, hunting with dogs and trapping — say the move would disenfranchise voters.
“These bills suppress voters and are a shameful perversion of democracy,” said Katie Hansberry of Portland, Maine director for the Humane Society of the United States, which contributed nearly all of the roughly $2.7 million spent on the unsuccessful anti-bear baiting campaign last year.
Maine’s citizen’s initiative process has existed since 1908, when it was enshrined in the Maine Constitution. The state is one of 24 states that allow citizens and groups to put policy questions to voters at the ballot box through a petition process.
One bill, LD 754 by Rep. Stephen Wood, R-Greene, would exempt the state’s hunting and fishing laws from the citizen’s initiative law. A second, LD 1084 by Rep. Michelle Dunphy, D-Old Town, would exclude all wildlife issues.
Many of Monday’s arguments for the bills centered on fears that the Humane Society and its Maine subsidiary, Mainers for Fair Bear Hunting, would introduce another bear baiting ban referendum. David Trahan, executive director of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine, said the Humane Society aimed to “end all hunting” nationwide.
Dunphy told lawmakers on the Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee, which heard public testimony on the bills Monday, that a constitutional amendment would prevent bear baiting from ending up on the ballot again.
“I don’t see this so much as shutting off debate, but an affirmation that we have heard what Mainers have said, and that should be enough,” she said. “It’s time, as a state, to listen to the voters and put this matter aside.”
Trahan’s group, Maine Trappers Association and North Maine Woods landowners group all testified in favor of both bills.
While the Humane Society is an out-of-state group, it claims broad membership in the state, including Gina Stoll of Portland, who testified against the bills. Stoll said the constitutional amendments would silence the nearly 280,000 voters who supported the ban.
Stoll said the ballot initiative process remains crucial for when Mainers disagree with lawmakers about important issues, including hunting and wildlife management.
Constitutional amendments require two-thirds approval of the Legislature, and approval from voters, before they can be passed into law.
Follow Mario Moretto on Twitter at @riocarmine.
