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
id="_x0000_i1026"

Staback praises Senate passage of landowner liability legislation

HARRISBURG, June 26 – State Rep. Ed Staback, D-Lackawanna/Wayne, praised members of the state Senate for passing a bill (H.B. 13) today that would exempt landowners from liability for accidents or injuries that are caused by someone hunting on their land whether the injury happens on or off their property. The measure passed unanimously.

Current Pennsylvania law, entitled the Recreational Use of Land and Water Act and passed in 1965, 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 hunter, but sustained her injury nearly a half-mile from where the bullet was fired. Staback said the measure clearly states that landowners would not be liable for accidents caused by someone using their land for hunting, no matter where the actual injury takes place. In the Lehigh County case, the shooter was found guilty of the crime of negligent shooting.

“Pennsylvania landowners need to know that if they allow hunters on their land, they are fully protected,” Staback said. “Without this legislation, there was a serious threat to the hunting traditions of our state. If private landowners had shut down their land out of fear of being sued, hundreds of thousands of hunters would have found themselves turned out from property they have hunted on for years.”

The bill was amended in the House Game and Fisheries Committee, on which Staback serves as chairman. That amendment changed the original bill, which was a broad rewriting of the original 1965 act, so that the bill specifically addressed the serious problems caused by the Lehigh County case to the outdoor community.

“Quick and decisive action was needed,” Staback said. “I am glad that my colleagues in the House and now the Senate all agreed on how important it was to keep this bill moving to the governor’s desk. Landowners who let hunters on their land can now all breathe a lot easier.”  

##SmcM/2006/mjh
l:\print\releases\liability2.115