FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Steve McMullen Office of State Rep. Ed Staback House Game and Fisheries Committee Phone: 717-783-5043 Email: smcmulle@pahouse.net	State Rep. Ed Staback D-Lackawanna/Wayne www.pahouse.com/Staback
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Staback praises House passage of landowner liability bill

HARRISBURG, May 24 – State Rep. Ed Staback today praised House members for passing a bill (H.B. 13) that would exempt landowners from liability for accidents or injuries that occur while someone is hunting on their land.

Current Pennsylvania law, entitled the Recreational Use of Land and Water Act, protects landowners who allow others to use their land for a wide variety of recreational purposes, such as hunting, fishing, swimming and hiking. Landowners are free from liability so long as they allow recreational users access to their land without requiring a fee.

House Bill 13 closes a loophole in RULWA that was brought to light recently in a court case in Lehigh County in which a landowner was found partially liable for a shooting accident. In that case, the injured victim was not on the same property as the negligent shooter, but sustained her injury nearly a half-mile from where the bullet was fired. Staback said the measure passed today in the House clearly states that landowners are not liable for accidents caused by someone using their land for hunting, no matter where the actual injury takes place. 

“That decision by the court could have posed a serious threat to the state’s hunting tradition,” Staback continued. “Hunters rely on private property owners opening their lands. More than 80 percent of land in rural Pennsylvania is privately owned, and without this legislation those landowners who have opened their lands to hunters in the past could very well shut down their properties.”

The measure, which passed the House unanimously, now goes to the Senate for consideration.

“It is my hope that this bill receives quick attention in the Senate,” Staback commented. “Landowners need to know that it is safe for them to open their lands to hunters and hunters need to know that they can continue to rely on the access to private property they have had in the past.”

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