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SB471Introduced in the Senate

Hunting dogs; releasing on state or local roadway, hunting, fishing, and trapping special license.

Introduced

Introduced by Dave Marsden, District 35

What does this bill do?

Plain-English breakdown

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Official description

Releasing of hunting dogs; state or local roadway; hunting, fishing, and trapping special license; penalty. Creates a Class 3 misdemeanor for the release of hunting dogs on or within 15 feet of the edge of a roadway owned or maintained by the Department of Transportation or a locality and provides that a second or subsequent offense is a Class 1 misdemeanor. The bill allows a court to prohibit any person who released hunting dogs on or within 15 feet of the edge of a roadway owned or maintained by the Department or locality from hunting, trapping, or fishing in the Commonwealth for a period of up to five years. The bill permits the stopping of a vehicle on a highway for the retrieval of a companion animal from a highway or area adjacent to a highway. The bill allows certain people such as a landowner and other people associated with such landowner, stockholder, tenant, or guest of the landowner in certain circumstances, to apply for a special license to hunt, fish, and trap exclusively on a landowner's property in lieu of other hunting, fishing, and trapping licenses required by state law.

Where it stands

Passed by indefinitely in Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources (10-Y 4-N)

February 3, 2026

How did lawmakers vote?

SenateStage: Passed by indefinitely in Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources (10-Y 4-N) · February 3, 2026

10

Yes

4

No

1

Absent or Not Voting

15 senators recorded in this Senate vote. Colors show vote categories only, not whether a vote was good or bad.

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Bill history

  1. Prefiled and ordered printed; Offered 01-14-2026 26102612D

  2. Referred to Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources

  3. Assigned HACNR sub: Rural Affairs

  4. Passed by indefinitely in Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources (10-Y 4-N)

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