Senate panel dumps ATV, road bills

Here’s a news item from the Associated Press:  BOISE, Idaho (AP) — An Idaho Senate panel dumped a bill aimed at gutting the Department of Fish and Game’s authority to regulate where hunters can steer their all-terrain vehicles. The Senate Resources and Environment Committee rejected the measure Monday, while also shooting down legislation that would have forbid the Department of Fish and Game from enforcing road closures on federal land. The proposals were sponsored by Republican Sens. Tim Corder, of Mountain Home, and Monty Pearce, a state lawmaker from New Plymouth who chairs the Senate committee. The state lawmakers introduced the proposals with backing from sportsmen who are furious about management of Idaho’s backcountry. But the bills failed to muster enough support on the committee to move forward in the 2011 Idaho Legislature.