HOUSE FILE 446

BY  ARNOLD

A BILL FOR

An Act requiring issuance of hunter safety and ethics education certificates to residents who are peace officers, active duty military personnel, or honorably discharged veterans.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:

   Section 1.  Section 483A.27, subsection 5, Code 2011, is amended to read as follows:
   5.  An officer of the department or a certified instructor may issue a certificate to a person who has not completed the hunter safety and ethics education course but meets the criteria established by the commission.  However, the department shall issue a certificate to a resident who is a peace officer, a person who is on active duty with the armed forces of the United States, or a United States military veteran discharged under honorable conditions who requests the certificate within one year after the date of discharge. For purposes of this subsection,“peace officer” means those officers designated under section 801.4, subsection 11, paragraphs “a”, “b”, “c”, “f”, “g”, and “h”.
   Sec. 2.  ADDITIONAL ELIGIBILITY.  Notwithstanding the requirements contained in section 1 of this Act, a resident who was discharged from United States military service under honorable conditions before July 1, 2011, shall be issued a hunter safety and ethics certificate as provided in section 1 of this Act if the certificate is requested before July 1, 2012.
EXPLANATION
   This bill provides that the department of natural resources shall issue a hunter safety and ethics certificate to residents who are peace officers, on active duty with the armed forces of the United States, or are honorably discharged United States military veterans who request the certificate within one year after the date of discharge. Military veterans who were discharged prior to the effective date of the bill on July 1, 2011, also have a year to request the certificate.
   For purposes of the bill, peace officers include sheriffs and their deputies, marshals and police officers of cities, peace officer members of the department of public safety, special security officers employed by the board of regents, certain conservation officers, and certain employees of the department of transportation.