LB400 LB400
2023 2023
LEGISLATURE OF NEBRASKA
ONE HUNDRED EIGHTH LEGISLATURE
FIRST SESSION
LEGISLATIVE BILL 400
Introduced by Brewer, 43; Erdman, 47.
Read first time January 12, 2023
Committee: Natural Resources
1 A BILL FOR AN ACT relating to the Game Law; to amend section 37-201,
2 Revised Statutes Cumulative Supplement, 2022; to adopt the Nebraska
3 Pheasant Restoration Act; to harmonize provisions; and to repeal the
4 original section.
5 Be it enacted by the people of the State of Nebraska,
-1-
LB400 LB400
2023 2023
1 Section 1. Section 37-201, Revised Statutes Cumulative Supplement,
2 2022, is amended to read:
3 37-201 Sections 37-201 to 37-811 and 37-1501 to 37-1510 and sections
4 2 to 6 of this act and the State Park System Construction Alternatives
5 Act shall be known and may be cited as the Game Law.
6 Sec. 2. Sections 2 to 6 of this act shall be known and may be cited
7 as the Nebraska Pheasant Restoration Act.
8 Sec. 3. The Legislature finds that:
9 (1) Pheasants are important to the ecology and economy of Nebraska;
10 (2) Nest predators are decreasing the pheasant population in
11 Nebraska; and
12 (3) A nest predator bounty program is one method of helping to
13 increase the pheasant population in Nebraska.
14 Sec. 4. For purposes of the Nebraska Pheasant Restoration Act:
15 (1) Harvest means to hunt or trap a nest predator;
16 (2) Nest predator means any badger, coyote, opossum, raccoon, red
17 fox, and striped skunk; and
18 (3) Program means the Nest Predator Bounty Program.
19 Sec. 5. (1) The Nest Predator Bounty Program is created. The
20 commission shall manage the program for the purpose of reducing the nest
21 predator population and increasing the pheasant population in the state.
22 (2)(a) Except as provided in subdivision (b) of this subsection, the
23 commission shall pay a bounty of ten dollars for each nest predator
24 harvested during the bounty season and claimed by July 7 of the year of
25 harvest. The nest predator bounty season runs between March 1 and July 1
26 each year.
27 (b) The commission shall pay a maximum of fifty thousand nest
28 predator bounties each year.
29 (3) The commission shall establish locations and times for bounty
30 collection and publish such information on the commission's website.
31 (4) Any person who is sixteen years of age or older may participate
-2-
LB400 LB400
2023 2023
1 in the program and shall possess an unexpired (a) fur-harvesting permit
2 and (b) habitat stamp.
3 Sec. 6. The commission may adopt and promulgate rules and
4 regulations to carry out the Nebraska Pheasant Restoration Act.
5 Sec. 7. Original section 37-201, Revised Statutes Cumulative
6 Supplement, 2022, is repealed.
-3-


Statutes affected:
Introduced: 37-201