HR 468

                                                  PRINTER'S NO.   3149
                THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
         HOUSE RESOLUTION
            No. 468
                                            Session of
                                              2026
INTRODUCED BY COOPER, KULIK, VENKAT, JAMES, NEILSON, PASHINSKI
   AND STEELE, APRIL 7, 2026
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON GAME AND FISHERIES, APRIL 8, 2026
                             A RESOLUTION
1 Urging municipal governments and encouraging farmers, landowners
2    and residents throughout Pennsylvania to open their lands to
3    public hunting and make greater use of existing deer
4    management programs and permits available through the
5    Pennsylvania Game Commission.
6WHEREAS, The Pennsylvania Game Commission has recently
7 established new hunting opportunities and increased the number
8 of antlerless deer licenses available in order to reduce the
9 deer population in much of this Commonwealth; and
10WHEREAS, Deer-vehicle collisions are a growing public safety
11 problem throughout this Commonwealth, and PennDOT reports that
12 crashes involving deer rose from 3,618 in 2015 to 5,111 in 2024;
13 and
14WHEREAS, White-tailed deer impose substantial agricultural,
15 residential and ecological damage across this Commonwealth, as
16 the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau has recognized crop damage by deer
17 as a significant problem for Pennsylvania farmers, and both the
18 Pennsylvania Game Commission and the Department of Conservation
19 and Natural Resources warn that excessive deer browsing
1 suppresses desirable tree regeneration; and
2    WHEREAS, Lyme disease and other tick-borne illnesses carried
3 on deer present an additional public health concern in this
4 Commonwealth, as the Department of Environmental Protection
5 documented blacklegged ticks infected with Borrelia burgdorferi
6 in all 67 counties; and
7    WHEREAS, The Pennsylvania Game Commission has made clear that
8 hunting is the most effective means by which deer populations
9 are adjusted to meet management goals; and
10    WHEREAS, Regulated harvest can occur only where hunters have
11 lawful access, thus expanding safe and appropriate access to
12 huntable land on public and private property is indispensable to
13 reducing localized deer populations and the harms associated
14 with deer overabundance; and
15    WHEREAS, The Pennsylvania Game Commission administers
16 multiple lawful tools to address localized deer problems,
17 including the Deer Management Assistance Program (DMAP), the
18 Agricultural Deer Control Program, the Certified Hunter Program,
19 the Hunter Access Program and more; and
20    WHEREAS, Pennsylvania's municipalities and counties
21 collectively manage a substantial inventory of public open space
22 and more than 6,000 local parks that, where safe and
23 appropriate, should be reviewed for lawful hunting access as
24 part of local deer management efforts; and
25    WHEREAS, Municipalities that open suitable public lands to
26 lawful hunting enable use of the Pennsylvania Game Commission's
27 political subdivision deer control permit, which is expressly
28 built around public hunting and allows a municipality to pursue
29 a structured, Pennsylvania Game Commission-approved plan to
30 address localized deer damage and overabundance; and
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1    WHEREAS, Municipalities such as Fox Chapel, Bradford Woods,
2 the Town of McCandless, Ross Township and others have
3 successfully utilized lawful public hunting and cooperation with
4 the Pennsylvania Game Commission to address problematic deer
5 populations; therefore be it
6    RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives urge municipal
7 governments in Pennsylvania, where safe and appropriate, to open
8 or maintain suitable municipal lands for lawful public hunting
9 so that political subdivision deer control permits, agricultural
10 deer control permits, Deer Management Assistance Program and
11 other available Pennsylvania Game Commission tools may be more
12 fully utilized; and be it further
13    RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives encourage
14 farmers, agricultural producers and other qualifying landowners
15 in Pennsylvania to make fuller use of existing Pennsylvania Game
16 Commission programs intended to address deer agricultural
17 predation and overabundance, including the Agricultural Deer
18 Control Program, destruction for agricultural protection, DMAP
19 and, where appropriate, the Certified Hunter Program; and be it
20 further
21    RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives urge residents
22 and private property owners in Pennsylvania to support lawful
23 deer management by permitting responsible hunting access where
24 appropriate and by cooperating with municipal and Pennsylvania
25 Game Commission programs aimed at reducing deer-related
26 nuisances; and be it further
27    RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be transmitted to
28 the Pennsylvania Game Commission, the Department of Agriculture,
29 county commissioners in all 67 counties, the County
30 Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania
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1 Municipal League.
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