MUCC August Policy Insider

Justin Tomei • August 16, 2022

MUCC

Our traditional email campaigns have proven to be a valuable and effective tool for reaching legislators, but our tracking shows that text messages to our members prove to be an even more effective method of communication.

If you click this link , fill out the form with your cell phone number, make sure both boxes are checked at the bottom, click submit. After that you will get an automated text, respond with YES, and you are all set. 

State Issues

The Coalition to Protect Michigan’s Resources (CPMR), of which MUCC is a member, filed a motion in federal court in July to intervene in the ongoing Great Lakes Consent Decree Negotiations. CPMR believes “the Great Lakes fishery resources are threatened through the abandonment of sound biological principles that we believe should guide decisions related to the fishery, abandonment of a roughly 50-50 shared allocation of the fishery set forth in the 2000 Decree and and abandonment of terms from the 2000 Decree that have allowed tribal commercial and state recreational fisheries to coexist for decades.” A hearing on the motion is scheduled for August 25th.  

Public comment on the proposed expansion of Camp Grayling is still open, and members of the public should get their comments submitted by the end of August. MUCC opposes the expansion of Camp Grayling except in a national emergency, per a 1989 policy resolution.

Legislature

The legislature has limited calendar days until lame duck begins after the November election.

Natural Resources Commission

At MUCC’s June convention its members unanimously passed a resolution reaffirming the organization’s belief in an independent, transparent, Natural Resource Commission. MUCC authored a blog on the issues driving that resolution which can be found here . 

The August NRC meeting in Detroit saw MUCC ask the NRC for Michigan turkey hunters to have the ability to purchase a second turkey tag during the 234 hunt period. A number of fisheries orders are also up for consideration this fall. The September meeting will be back in Lansing on September 8, 2022.

Federal

The Chronic Wasting Disease Research and Management passed the House in December , and a Senate version of the bill was introduced in late April. The bill has been languishing in the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry chaired by Michigan Senator Debbie Stabenow. MUCC has begun an action alert urging Senator Stabenow to hold a hearing on the bill as soon as possible. That action alert can be found here . 

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