Public Act 095-0118
 		





SB0498 Enrolled
LRB095 09869 CMK 30080 b






    AN ACT concerning hunting.

 
    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
 
represented in the General Assembly:


 
    Section 5. The Illinois Hunting
Heritage Protection Act is 
amended  by changing Section 15 as follows:
 
    (520 ILCS 30/15)

    Sec. 15. Recreational hunting.
    (a) Subject to valid existing rights, Department-managed 
lands shall be open
to
access and use for recreational hunting 
except as limited by the Department for
reasons of public 
safety, fish or wildlife management, or homeland security or
as 
otherwise limited by law.


    (b) The Department shall exercise its authority, 
consistent with subsection
(a), in a manner to support, 
promote, and enhance recreational hunting
opportunities, to 
the extent authorized by State law.
The Department is not 
required to give preference to hunting over other uses
of 
Department-managed lands or over land or water management 
priorities
established by Department regulations or State law.


    (c) Department land management decisions and actions may 
not, to the
greatest practical extent, result in any net loss 
of habitat
land acreage available for
hunting opportunities on 
Department-managed lands that exists on the effective
date of 
this Act.


    (d) By October 1 of each year, the Director shall submit to 
the General
Assembly
a written report describing:


        (1) the acreage administered by the Department that has 
    been closed during
the
previous year to recreational 
    hunting and the reasons for the closures; and


        (2) the acreage administered by the Department that, in 
    order to comply
with subsection (c), was opened to

    recreational
hunting to compensate for those acreage 
    closed under paragraph (1).


(Source: P.A. 93-837, eff. 1-1-05.)

 
    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon 
becoming law.