Hello Trappers,
Well, the 2025 legislative session has started with a bunch of interesting twists. As of this writing (January 31), the House of Representatives still has not officially been in session, but by the time you read this, it’s likely the House session has begun. The Senate has been going about its business normally. Because the House has the same amount of both Republican and Democrat members this year, the committees will have co-chairs. Nobody knows yet how that will all work out, it will be interesting for sure. The committee we trappers are the most interested in is the House Environmental Committee. Republican Representative Josh Heintzeman is the co-chair of that committee along with Democrat Peter Fischer. Representative Heintzeman has been very favorable to trappers for as long as he’s been in office. Representative Heintzeman even took the time to come and speak at our winter MTA meeting this year, along with Representative Dawn Gillman and Senator Nathan Wesenberg. The opposite has been true for Representative Fischer. He’s been the one behind all the anti-trapping bills we’ve been fighting nearly every year he’s been in office. So, we have one that’s very anti-trapping and one that’s very pro-trapping as co-chairs of the Environmental committee. Time will tell how that works out for us. Nothing has changed in the Senate from last year because the Senate as a whole was not up for election this year.
So far, there’s one bill in the Senate that is of interest to trappers. SF277 (author Lang, co-author Hauschild) would allow a three-day check on snares, allow dog-proof traps near water during the open land season, allow trapping to begin at sunrise on opening day and take away the 10:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. timeframe when traps cannot be checked. Be sure to contact your state Senator and urge them to support this bill! The House version will likely be out by the time you read this, so please watch the MTA website or Facebook page for the House version and contact your House of Representatives member urging them to support it. Everybody has one state Senator and one House member, you need to contact both.
Trapper’s Day at the Capitol will be on Wednesday, March 5th, from 11:00 – 2:00, at the State Capitol, room 323. Notice it’s at the Capitol this year. The state office building is under renovation for the next two years, so we’ve had to move our meeting room to the Capitol. Please come if you can. Some districts have carpools that come, contact your district director to see if any are available, or call another trapper and come together. If you are coming, make a 15-minute appointment with both your Senator and House member that day. If you know someone else from your area is coming, you can all go together to the same meeting. I can help you set one up and even go into the meeting with you if you’re nervous. Just make the appointment quickly, their schedules fill up. Tell them you are a constituent and are going to be at the capitol on March 5th for the Trappers Day at the Capitol rally. They will get you in, they want to meet with their constituents. Again, I can help you set it all up, if you have questions on anything just call or email me. 612-598-3886 or randygoldenman@izoom.net.
Please stay informed by watching the MTA website or Facebook page, there will likely be both good bills and bad bills coming that we will all need to contact our legislators about, and when called upon, please respond!
Stay safe out there,
Randy Goldenman
