Did New Jersey Democrats learn anything from Donald Trump’s historically close finish in New Jersey earlier this month?
An early indicator could be whether S765 – the anti-bird feeder law – gets a floor vote.
The bill passed out of an Assembly committee in September and a Senate committee back in October. There are plenty of nuances to this one, but the bottom line is that New Jerseyans could face stiff penalties – between $300 and $1,000 – for utilizing bird feeders outside of December 1st and March 31st. That’s right: your kids feeding tweety bird in the backyard with a store-bought or homemade bird feeder this upcoming April could land you in legal trouble and a world of financial hurt.
And it gets worse. The purported goal is to cut down on unwanted black bear interactions but, in typical Trentonian fashion, goes way off the deep end by criminalizing “unintentional” feeding: “[u]nder current law, the prohibition on the feeding of black bears does not apply in the case of an unintentional feeding of a black bear. The bill replaces current definitions of ‘unintentional feeding’ and replaces it with a specific list of activities or actions that are not considered feeding bears. This bill also clarifies that this law prohibits certain actions taken in a manner that may potentially make certain bear attractants accessible to bears. The bill renders this prohibition applicable to any food and includes the placement of food, pet food, garbage, or other bear attractants.”
That’s very, very broad language as one critical legislator pointed out.
“NJ folks are upset about the bird feeder component….but get a load of this: you also are getting fined if a bear hits your garbage can or breaks into your car to get the Cheerios your kid dropped under the seat,” Assemblywoman Dawn Fantasia (R-24) explained in an X post. “Since I posted this video, Democrats in the Senate have now removed the restriction on deer baiting, and lowered the fine from a thousand dollars to mere hundreds of dollars for this unintentional feeding ‘violation.'”
But the fine could be a lot higher. The new range is $100 to $500 for a first violation but anywhere from $300 to $1,000 for second and subsequent violations.
Keep in mind, Save Jerseyans: part of the reason why the black bear problem reached a critical stage is because the Murphy Administration cancelled the statewide black bear hunt designed to keep the population under control (before ultimately reversing itself in 2022). Trenton Democrats excel at offering up insane “solutions” to the problems it creates.
Again, there’s no floor vote scheduled at this point. Stay tuned.
