Suspends rules relative to chronic wasting disease

House Concurrent Resolution 4 suspends for a period of eighteen months the administrative regulations codified at LAC 76:V.137(B), which establish restrictions on supplemental feeding and baiting within chronic wasting disease control areas designated by the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. The resolution removes regulatory prohibitions on supplemental feeding, baiting, and hunting over bait in the Enhanced Mitigation Zone and suspends the restrictions limiting such activities in the Buffer Zone to non-stationary, mechanical, or electronic broadcast methods only. The suspension becomes effective upon adoption of the concurrent resolution and automatically expires eighteen months thereafter unless further legislative action extends or modifies it. The resolution also directs the office of the state register to publish a summary in the Louisiana Register as notice of the regulatory suspension.

The practical effect of this resolution is to permit hunters within chronic wasting disease control areas to resume traditional baiting and supplemental feeding practices without regulatory interference during the eighteen-month suspension period. Hunters who previously were prohibited from using bait or supplemental feeding in these areas, particularly in the Enhanced Mitigation Zone, may now engage in these practices. Local businesses that sell hunting supplies and baiting materials will be able to serve this market demand again. Agricultural landowners and rural businesses affected by the feeding restrictions will experience renewed economic opportunity from hunting activity and land management practices that rely on baiting. However, the suspension also removes disease mitigation measures that were intended to limit transmission of chronic wasting disease among deer populations.

This resolution operates within Louisiana's administrative law framework established by the Administrative Code and the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries' rulemaking authority to manage wildlife populations and hunting activities. Chronic wasting disease is an infectious neurodegenerative disease fatal to deer, and the original regulations in LAC 76:V.137(B) were adopted by the department in response to detection of the disease in certain parishes. The department's authority to regulate hunting and wildlife management derives from state statutes governing the department's functions. A concurrent resolution, which requires passage by both chambers of the legislature but does not require the governor's signature, is the appropriate mechanism for suspending administrative rules. The eighteen-month suspension period allows for continued stakeholder engagement and study of the disease's progression and the effectiveness of mitigation strategies, after which the legislature would need to take further action regarding the permanent status of these feeding and baiting regulations.