Protect Wild Bison

American Indian Affairs Interim Study Committee. The bill classifies bison as big game wildlife unless the bison are livestock. Classifying bison as wildlife means that hunting or taking one is illegal unless authorized by rule of the parks and wildlife commission. The bill also clarifies that wildlife" does not include privately owned cattle, bison legally reduced to captivity, or bison that have escaped lawful captivity, or bison owned by or lawfully reduced to captivity by an Indian tribe. The fee for issuing a bison hunting license is set at $374.22 for a resident and $2,756.74 for a nonresident. The penalty for illegal possession of wild bison is set to a fine of not less than $1,000 and not more than $100,000, imprisonment for not more than one year in the county jail, or an assessment of 20 license-suspension points. The penalty for illegally killing or capturing a bison is set at $10,000. The value of a bison is set at $1,000 for the purposes of recovering the value of a bison that is illegally killed or captured.

(Note: Italicized words indicate new material added to the original summary; dashes through words indicate deletions from the original summary.)

(Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)