Sportsmen's Heritage and Recreational Enhancement Act of 2015
Floor Speech
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Mr. LATTA. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in support of H.R. 2406, the SHARE Act. Passage of this bill will increase opportunities and reduce regulatory burdens for all sportsmen and sportswomen.
I want to highlight two specific provisions in the SHARE Act that I sponsored. This legislation will authorize the Wildlife and Hunting Heritage Conservation Council, which will serve as an official advisory board to the Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture on policies that benefit recreational hunting and wildlife resources. Authorization of the council is vital to ensuring that hunters maintain an advisory role in future administrations. This legislation will provide levels of certainty and stability necessary to ensure the council's ability to engage in assisting the Federal Government in devising and implementing long-term solutions that are necessary to address policy issues important to sportsmen and sportswomen.
The legislation also directs the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture to create a new permit that authorizes a crew of five or fewer people to film for commercial or similar purposes on Federal lands and waterways at an annual cost of $200. Aside from this set fee, no additional fees may be added during their time filming and photographing.
We want to rectify disparity in application and approval regulations between smaller crews and their larger, well-funded counterparts while filming on public lands. The financial burden is often too great and unfairly limits their ability to access our national parks and waterways.
As the former co-chairman of the Congressional Sportsmen's Caucus and a cosponsor of the SHARE Act, I believe this legislation will serve to the betterment of current and future generations of hunters and outdoorsmen and -women.
I thank the gentleman from Virginia for his work on this legislation, and I urge the passage of the SHARE Act.
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