Bill links OUI, hunting licenses Privilege to hunt to be suspended after drunken driving conviction

AUGUSTA – In hopes of reducing death and injury from drunken driving in Maine, legislators are considering confiscating the hunting and fishing licenses of those convicted of operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

The proposed bill, LD 82, would suspend hunting and fishing licenses concurrent with a driver’s license revocation as a result of OUI. Repeat offenders with three drunken driving convictions would face a lifetime ban on hunting and fishing in Maine.

“The privilege [to hunt and fish] is precisely that, a privilege,” sponsor Sen. Chandler Woodcock, R-Farmington, said during a public hearing before the Joint Standing Committee on Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Tuesday afternoon.

“Many of the people who have fishing and hunting licenses value them significantly,” Woodcock said. “If it’s a deterrent [to drunken driving] for even some people, it’s a successful bill.”

The Maine Department of Public Safety has not yet taken a position on the bill or its potential as a deterrent, spokesman Stephen McCausland said in a Tuesday interview.

However, a similar law through the Department of Health and Human Services has successfully encouraged “deadbeat dads” to make overdue child support payments by revoking their right to hunt and fish. Last year, more than 1,000 men received notification that their licenses were in jeopardy. More than half made their back payments – frequently in time to apply for state hunting lotteries on moose, turkey and antlerless deer – so that only 474 licenses were actually revoked, Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Deputy Commissioner Paul Jacques said Tuesday.

The department did not oppose the bill, but Jacques raised concerns about the cost of giving DIF&W new responsibility for tracking OUIs, citing the bill’s fiscal note, which predicts annual costs ranging from $62,000 to $68,000 in coming years.

With more than 5,000 Mainers convicted of OUI each year, Jacques estimated that DIF&W could be responsible for revoking the licenses of 1,500 to 1,800 people annually, creating substantial work for the department, as well as the loss of license revenue from banned hunters and fishermen.

Presently, those convicted of a first OUI offense in Maine lose their license and their vehicle registration for 60 days, 18 months on a second conviction, four years on a third violation and six years for any additional offenses. Drivers convicted of OUI can also face fines ranging from $400 to $2,000 and jail sentences of between 48 hours and six months.

The committee also heard testimony on a proposal to give National Guard and military reserve troops one-time free hunting and fishing licenses upon their return from active duty overseas. Rep. Joan Bryant-Deschenes, R-Turner, sponsored the bill, LD 20, based on a request e-mailed by her nephew during his recent service in Iraq. A similar bill drafted by Sen. Bruce Bryant, D-Dixfield, will be considered later in the session.

Maine now offers discounts on hunting and fishing licenses for full-time military officers and enlisted men and women, but no benefits for guard or reserve military personnel.

More than 1,200 Mainers have been deployed overseas since 2003, primarily in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the participation of guard and reserve troops in combat operations is expected to continue, said Tim Corbett, Deputy Commissioner for Defense, Veterans’ Affairs and Emergency Management.

The cost of such a policy would be “negligible,” in light of the state’s duty to thank its solders for their service, DIF&W Commissioner Roland “Danny” Martin said.

The two departments plan to collaborate on the details of the proposal, but will likely seek to extend one-year licenses to all those who have served a six-month or longer tour on active duty “in harm’s way.”

Legislators Tuesday heard witness after witness pledge support for a bill to pre-emptively ban remote-control hunting in Maine.

No one offers remote hunting in Maine, nor has any such business been proposed. In fact, LD 50 was written in response to a Texas business, which allows hunters to shoot game using a remote-controlled rifle and a camera, via a Web site. The legality of that business is being challenged in Texas courts. Still Rep. Roderick Carr, R-Lincoln, believes that Maine needs to protect itself from similar operations.

The Maine Warden Service agreed Tuesday. While several aspects of such a business would violate any number of existing laws that speak to hunter safety, a specific ban would eliminate any gray area, Col. Tom Santaguida said.

Whether the practice could also be banned at Maine’s dozen or so hunting ranches, which market hunting of exotic species in enclosed areas and are not required to follow all state fish and game laws, remains to be determined, he said.

DIF&W, Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine, Maine Bowhunters Association and Maine Professional Guides Association all went on the record Tuesday, saying that this sort of Internet wildlife killing should not be considered hunting.

“This has got to be somebody’s idea of [a] get-rich-quick [scheme] … It doesn’t include any of the elements of hunting. What it does is give hunters and hunting a bad reputation,” MPGA spokesman Skip Trask said.