Commission maintains it made no errors, but that process is flawed
David Cobb, director of the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission’s Division of Wildlife Management, said on April 21 that a story in the May issue of North Carolina Sportsman ascribing errors in the way wildlife proposals were listed was partially incorrect.
The story indicated “clerical errors” and “oversights in transcribing” may have caused some deer proposals to be held up in the Rules Review Committee and legislative process. That problem will delay those deer-hunting proposals (and five others that were adopted by the WRC at its March 4 hearing) from becoming effective for the 2009-10 hunting season.
“But it is incorrect,” Cobb said, “that the (delay) was caused by Wildlife Commission clerical errors.”
The explanation is complex because the original story in the May issue of North Carolina Sportsman revealed that deer proposals H1-H9, presented to sportsmen at January’s public hearings, were lumped into one “rule” sent to the Rules Review Committee. That part of the story is correct, Cobb admitted. But he said that glitch in rule-making is part of the process.
“That’s the way the system works,” Cobb said. “When one of those (deer) proposals was protested, they all were protested because they fall under Rule 10B.0203. It’s not true, however, that the deer rules could have been numbered differently and we’d have had a different outcome. They’re all under 10B.0203 as deer rules. It’s the way rules are sent to the Office of Administrative Hearings.”
That rule, 10B.0203, contains provisions relating only to deer. While public hearings and discussion at Commission meetings refer to proposals by a number assigned by staff, the rules that contain those proposals have specific citations that must be used for official filings.
However, a source told N.C. Sportsman that it was suggested to Cobb that the numbering problem could be fixed by simply adding suffixes numbered differently to a proposal’s basic 10B.0203 number. If anyone protests a single proposal under new deer rules, because all are numbered identically, enactment of all new deer proposals would be delayed in the N.C. legislature. However, Cobb said different numbers would not have solved the problem.
In all, Cobb said 14 approved proposals inside six “rules” probably would be held up in this session of the legislature and not considered until the short session that begins May 1, 2010.
Gordon Myers, the Commission’s executive director, issued a news release April 21, listing the wildlife proposals forwarded to the legislature from the Rules Review Committee.
“When sufficient written opposition is received, the Rules Review Commission is required to refer proposed changes to the General Assembly for legislative review, in accordance with General Statute 150B-21.3,” Myers wrote. “This process will delay or prevent implementation of certain proposals adopted by the Wildlife Resources Commission last month and intended to become effective July 1, 2009. We will keep our constituents informed of the status of these proposals as the review process proceeds.”
The remaining proposals, adopted March 4 by the WRC, will take effect July 1, 2009.
The problem — if a game law is delayed by rules or legislative considerations — is it won’t be approved to be printed in the 2009-10 N.C. Trapping, Hunting and Fishing Digest — which would mean it couldn’t become law for the coming hunting season.
Cobb said that Rules Review Committee, which met April 16 to review proposed changes to game and fisheries regulations, referred six “rules” to the legislature that had met the standard for opposition — at least 10 letters from citizens — even though they were technically and correctly written.
They included:
“10B 201” which:
* Allows falconry on Sundays, except for migratory game birds;
* Allows bow hunting on Sundays on private lands only, except for migratory game birds;
* Allows bow hunting on Sundays on game lands, except for migratory game birds.
“10B 203” included deer proposals H1-H9:
* requiring DMAP tags for all harvested deer;
* notes bonus antlerless tags could be used at military reservations, wildlife refuges and public lands other than game lands;
* removes the daily bag limit for deer;
* allows archery equipment to be used at game lands during muzzleloader season;
* adds a week to muzzleloader season, taking it from bow season;
* extends the last day of Northwestern deer season to Jan. 1;
* adds the Jan. 1 season end to public and private lands in the Northwest Deer Section;
* adds private lands in the East, Central and Northwestern regions to the maximum either-sex deer seasons;
* assigns all of Moore County to the eastern deer season.
“10B 116” that Cobb said was the “permitted archery equipment rule” and would have allowed the use of crossbows, without permit, anytime bow and arrows are legal weapons.
“10B 106” referred to wildlife taken by depredation permits or accidentally and allows a landowner with a valid depredation permit to give away the edible portions of deer to anyone. It also requires the recipient to retain a copy of the depredation permit and eliminates the requirement a landholder must get a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service permit for the taking of migratory birds before getting a Commission permit to do so.
“10B 404” would prevent trappers from selling live foxes or coyotes taken under a depredation permit to controlled hunting preserves, and
“10B 409” would allow the sale of live foxes and coyotes to fox pen owners.
These proposals, adopted March 4 by the Commission, won’t become laws during 2009-10.
Joan Troy, the WRC Rules Coordinator, confirmed the way the system is set up that proposals, such as H1-H9, can’t be considered apart from the rule that contains them as far as 10-letter law is concerned.
Cobb said Troy “did see the rules” and was involved with rules crafting “from the beginning.”
Troy contradicted Cobb’s statement. She said as the employee charged with making sure rules are properly crafted and successfully shepherded through the process, she isn’t permitted to participate in their creation, development or drafting and isn’t permitted to attend Commission meetings.
Troy was a central figure in a July 2007 dispute in which former executive director Dick Hamilton was forced to retire. Troy, whom the 19 politically-appointed Commissioners attempted to fire through pressure on Hamilton – ultimately resulting in his resignation – had been a high-level employee and the agency’s legislative liaison.
When asked several weeks ago about Troy’s job situation, Myers said: “I don’t want to comment about that.”
Wes Seegars of Goldsboro, chairman of the 19-member WRC, told North Carolina Sportsman: “Joan can attend commission meetings when rules are being discussed.”
Troy said she was “ordered not to attend Commission meetings by Gordon Myers,” and she was told by Col. Kenneth Everhart, her supervisor in the Enforcement Division, that Myers directed him to forbid Troy to attend Commission meetings.
When asked if she had asked to be allowed to attend Commission meetings to better perform her job, Troy said: “I can’t comment.”
Cobb, Myers and Troy agreed that the legislature won’t look at correspondence from individuals or groups who oppose agency law-change proposals during the current session but instead will ask them to be reviewed at the next session (2010-11).
Troy said one way to have implemented the 2009-10 rules, despite the 10-letter law, would have been by adopting them as temporary rules. When asked whether the director or commissioners conferred with her about strategies for addressing the anticipated trigger of the 10-letter law, Troy said: “No, I wasn’t consulted.”
When asked whether the problem could have been avoided if she had been consulted, Troy said: “I can’t comment about that.”
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