Senate passes big game auction tags bill on 19-16 vote

The Senate has voted 19-16 in favor of SB 1256a, a controversial big-game auction tags bill that was amended in the House. Sen. Michelle Stennett, D-Ketchum, told the Senate, “Utah’s auction tags once began the same way that 1256 proposes. … Within last two decades, just a few auction tags developed into a program that is now used primarily for trophy hunting. This year, in 2012, Utah will auction off a total of 848 wildlife tags, a far cry from the first one that initiated the program back in 1981.” Benefit goes to the nonprofit organizations and the bidders who get a tax deduction, she said, but the state’s wildlife department gets only 30 percent of the revenue. “Idaho is one of the last bastions for equal opportunity to all of our hunters,” Stennett said. “Our sportsmen don’t care for elite hunting or trophy hunting conventions. … I’ll be voting no.”

Sen. Steve Bair, R-Blackfoot, said the program is limited and in line with other existing programs at Idaho Fish & Game; the bill now moves to the governor’s desk. It creates new special big game auction tags to be designated as “Governor’s wildlife partnership tags.”