Subcommittees consider lead shot

DES MOINES - The issue of whether to allow or ban the use of lead shot during Iowa's dove-hunting season returned to the political firing line Thursday.

Separate House and Senate subcommittees voted to support a joint resolution nullifying an administrative rule of the state Natural Resource Commission. The rule prohibits the use of lead ammunition in the hunting of mourning doves.

Iowa held its first dove hunting season since 1918 over a 70-day period last fall.

The Legislature's Administrative Rules Review Committee concluded by a 9-1 vote last August that the commission overstepped its authority and went beyond legislative intent by adopting a lead-shot ban.

“If we're going to have appointed, confirmed, nonelected people making law, do we need us? No we don't,” said Rep. Clel Baudler, R-Greenfield, the leader of the House subcommittee that approved the nullification language on a 3-2 vote. “The rule is very simple to understand. You just have to take the emotion out. I think the science dictates at this time that we nullify the rule.”

Sen. Joe Bolkcom, D-Iowa City, who was on the losing end of a 2-1 vote in a Senate subcommittee, said Iowa should follow the 31 other states that have some form of a lead shot prohibition. He suggested considering a “responsible phaseout” of lead shot, similar to the way the substance was taken out of gasoline, toys and paint.

Should no action be taken by the General Assembly, the lead shot ban would take effect upon the Legislature's adjournment.

But Sen. Dick Dearden, D-Des Moines, the Senate subcommittee chairman who last year led the fight to restore dove hunting in the state, said he is confident the House and Senate will nullify the rule.

“I feel relatively confident that it will pass both houses and it will go into effect,” he said. “A lot of the ‘antis' are anti hunting. I think it's more about doves than it is about lead.”

According to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, last year's dove hunting season attracted about 22,000 people.

Hunters in Iowa must use non-toxic ammunition when hunting waterfowl because of a 1991 nationwide federal ban on lead shot.