Texas BHA Seeks Members to Influence 2019 Texas Legislation

On Jan. 8th, 2019, the Texas Legislature convenes for its 140-day regular Session. In preparation for this, TX BHA is assembling an Austin-area boots-on-the-capitol-grounds task force to provide face-to-face feedback and testimony from TX BHA to legislators in an effort to influence bills prior to a vote. 

Please consider being a part of this important team. Members of this task force will not be expected to draft their own comments (although input is welcome), or even be experts on the topics, but only to attend the hearings as a representative of TX BHA and provide verbal comments that the TX BHA policy team provides. Comments will primarily be given during open committee hearings at the capitol.

What's At Stake?

Many bills will be introduced this session with significant implications for Texas sportsmen. Unfortunately, preliminary assessments make us certain that some of these bills were not written with the interests of sportsmen, or our Texas deer population, in mind. In other cases, legislation is sure to be introduced where a bill's wording can be strengthened or otherwise modified to better reflect our stance on certain issues and our passion for outdoor recreation. We expect to follow 200-300 bills this session due to potential impacts on fish and wildlife. We would like to influence as many of these bills as necessary, and we'll need boots on the ground in Austin to do that!

Austin Meeting

If interested, please send an email to (texas@backcountryhunters.org). We will hold an informal informational meeting on the evening of Dec. 5 in Austin (time and location TBD) with David Yeates (CEO of Texas Wildlife Association), John Sheppard (with Texas Foundation for Conservation), and TX BHA leadership to discuss the legislative process, the public comment process, why it's important (and effective) for conservation groups to be part of the legislative process, and to answer any other questions you may have about being a part of this task force.

We hope to hear from you!