2015 -- S 0504

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LC001601

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2015

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A N   A C T

AN ACT RELATING TO FISH AND WILDLIFE -- HUNTING--LEAD SHOT PROHIBITION

     Introduced By: Senator Joshua Miller

     Date Introduced: February 26, 2015

     Referred To: Senate Judiciary

     It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:

     SECTION 1. Chapter 20-13 of the General Laws entitled "Hunting and Hunting Safety"

is hereby amended by adding thereto the following section:

     20-13-18. Lead shot prohibition. – (a) The general assembly hereby finds and declares

as follows:

     (1) Rhode Island's wildlife species represent the state's rich natural resources and

environmental health and beauty.

     (2) Rhode Island's wildlife species play an important role in the state's environmental

health.

     (3) Fifty (50) years of research have shown that the presence of lead in the environment

poses an ongoing threat to the health of the general public and the viability of the state's wildlife

species.

     (4) The United States Environmental Protection Agency defines lead as toxic to both

humans and animals, and lead can affect almost every organ and system in the human body,

including the heart, bones, intestines, kidneys, and reproductive and nervous systems. It interferes

with the development of the nervous system and is therefore particularly toxic to children,

causing potentially permanent learning and behavior disorders.

     (5) Lead is a potent neurotoxin, for which no safe exposure level exists for humans. The

use of lead has been outlawed in and removed from the majority of paint, gasoline, children's

toys, and many other items where consumers are exposed to protect human health and wildlife.

     (6) Routes of human and wildlife exposure to lead include contaminated air, water, soil,

and food. Lead ammunition in felled wildlife is often consumed by other animal and passed along

the food chain. Dairy and beef cattle have developed lead poisoning after feeding in areas where

spent lead ammunition has accumulated. Spent lead ammunition can also be mingled into crops,

vegetation, and waterways.

      (7) Efforts to limit wildlife exposure to lead ammunition have been successful. The

United States Fish and Wildlife Service banned the use of lead shot for waterfowl hunting

decades ago, and both hunting and waterfowl have thrived since. However, because those

restrictions only apply in certain areas or to the hunting of particular species, many species of

wildlife remain threatened by the use of lead ammunition and more protections are needed. These

successes have shown us how to extend protection from lead poisoning to other wildlife.

     (8) A variety of nontoxic ammunition is readily available. Studies have shown that

nontoxic ammunition performs as well as, or better than, lead-based ammunition.

     (9) Given the deleterious impacts of lead ammunition, a requirement for use of nontoxic

ammunition should be implemented as soon as practicable in Rhode Island. If the requirement for

use of nontoxic ammunition can be incrementally implemented sooner than a nonlead

requirement can be fully implemented, such incremental protections should be implemented by

the department of environmental management on a rolling basis as practicable.

     (b) Except as provided in subsections (d) and (f) of this section, and as soon as can be

practicably implemented by the director of the department of environmental management

pursuant to subsection (c) of this section, nontoxic ammunition, as certified by the department,

shall be required when taking all wildlife, including game mammals, game birds, nongame birds,

and nongame mammals, with any firearm.

     (1) The director shall maintain, by regulation, a public process to certify ammunition as

nontoxic ammunition, and shall define, by regulation, nontoxic ammunition as including only

ammunition in which there is no lead content, excluding the presence of trace elements of lead.

The director shall establish and annually update a list of certified ammunition.

     (2) The list of certified ammunition shall include, but not be limited to, any federally

approved nontoxic shotgun ammunition.

     (3) The director shall promulgate regulations phasing in the requirements of this section

by July 1, 2016. The requirements of this section shall be fully implemented statewide by no later

than July 1, 2020. If any of the requirements of this section can be implemented practicably, in

whole or in part, in advance of July 1, 2020, the director shall implement those requirements. The

director shall not reduce or eliminate any existing regulatory restrictions on the use of lead

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ammunition until the additional requirements for use of nontoxic ammunition as required by this

section are implemented.

     (4) In the event that no nontoxic ammunition is commercially available for a specific and

lawful hunting purpose due to the operation of the federal prohibitions relating to armor piercing

ammunition in Chapter 44 of Title 18 of the United States Code, the requirement for use of

nontoxic ammunition shall be suspended for that specific hunting purpose until such time as any

nontoxic ammunition becomes commercially available, at which point the suspension of the

nontoxic requirement shall automatically expire. For the purposes of this section "commercially

available" means offered for sale in a given location, including, but not limited to, online or over-

the-counter in a retail store.

     (5) A person who is convicted of a violation of any provision of this section shall be

guilty of a misdemeanor and fined five hundred dollars ($500). A second or subsequent offense

shall be punishable by a fine of not less than one thousand dollars ($1,000) nor more than five

thousand dollars ($5,000).

     (6) This section does not apply to government officials or their agents when carrying out

a statutory duty required by law.

     SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage.

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EXPLANATION

BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

OF

A N   A C T

AN ACT RELATING TO FISH AND WILDLIFE -- HUNTING--LEAD SHOT PROHIBITION

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     This act would create a general prohibition on the use of lead shot for hunting.

     This act would take effect upon passage.

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