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Home/Bills/A 3703New York · 2025–2026 Legislative Session
Assembly BillIntroduced

A 3703: Provides free hunting, fishing, and trapping licenses for qualified volunteer instructors.

New York · Assembly · 2025–2026 Legislative Session · last verified January 8, 2026

What A 3703 does, verified January 8, 2026

The bill aims to provide free or reduced-fee licenses for various outdoor activities in the state. A member of a specific Native American tribe or a resident who is a member of the US armed forces in active service can receive free licenses. Residents who are part of the organized militia or reserve components of the US armed forces can also receive free licenses. Blind residents are eligible for free fishing licenses, and residents who are 70 years old or older can receive reduced-fee licenses. Additionally, qualified hunting instructors who provide free instruction can receive free licenses. The bill takes effect immediately.

Bill journey
1IntroducedCurrent
2In CommitteePending
3First Chamber FloorPending
4Second ChamberPending
5GovernorPending
6ChapteredPending
Last action: referred to environmental conservation (2026-01-07)Alert me
Recent actions2 total · showing 2
Jan. 07, 2026referred to environmental conservation
Jan. 30, 2025referred to environmental conservation
Latest bill textIntroduced version, January 30, 2025 · 621 words
  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 3703 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN ASSEMBLY January 30, 2025 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. DiPIETRO -- read once and referred to the Commit- tee on Environmental Conservation AN ACT to amend the environmental conservation law, in relation to authorizing free fishing, hunting, and trapping licenses for qualified hunting instructors The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Subdivision 2 of section 11-0715 of the environmental 2 conservation law, as amended by section 4 of part R of chapter 58 of the 3 laws of 2013, is amended to read as follows: 4 2. (a) A member of the Shinnecock tribe or the Poospatuck tribe or a 5 member of the six nations, residing on any reservation wholly or partly 6 within the state, is entitled to receive free of charge a fishing 7 license, a hunting license, a muzzle-loading privilege, a trapping 8 license, and a bowhunting privilege[;]. 9 [a] (b) A resident of the state who is a member of the United States 10 armed forces in active service who is not stationed within the state and 11 has not been herein longer than thirty days on leave or furlough, is 12 entitled to receive free of charge a fishing license, a hunting license, 13 and a trapping license[;]. 14 [a] (c) A resident of the state who is an active member of the organ- 15 ized militia of the state of New York as defined by section one of the 16 military law, or the reserve components of the armed forces of the 17 United States, and excluding members of the inactive national guard and 18 individual ready reserve, is entitled to receive free of charge a fish- 19 ing license, a hunting license, and a trapping license[; and]. 20 [a] (d) A resident who is blind is entitled to receive a fishing 21 license free of charge. For the purposes of this subdivision a person is 22 blind only if either: [(a) his or her] (i) such person's central visual 23 acuity does not exceed 20/200 in the better eye with correcting lenses, 24 or [(b) his or her] (ii) such person's visual acuity is greater than EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD07410-01-5 

 A. 3703 2 1 20/200 but is accompanied by a limitation of the field of vision such 2 that the widest diameter of the visual field subtends an angle no great- 3 er than 20 degrees. 4 (e) A resident in the state for a period of thirty days immediately 5 prior to the date of application who has attained the age of seventy is 6 entitled to receive a fishing license, a trapping license, and a hunting 7 license, at a cost of five dollars for each license. 8 (f) A resident in the state for a period of thirty days immediately 9 prior to the date of application who has attained the age of seventy is 10 entitled to receive free of charge a bowhunting privilege and a muzzle- 11 loading privilege. 12 (g) A resident of the state who is duly qualified and designated by 13 the department to give instruction and issue certification in responsi- 14 ble hunting, responsible bowhunting or responsible trapping practices 15 required for licensure under section 11-0713 of this article, and who 16 provides such instruction without compensation, is entitled to receive 17 free of charge a fishing license, a hunting license, and a trapping 18 license. 19 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately. 

Text of A 3703 as introduced, from the official record. Connect Plus keeps every version and highlights what changed.Compare versions
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