Rep. Brett Miller, R-Columbia, second from right, recently joined other elected officials for a tour of the Lancaster Conservancy to learn more about their work in protecting public and forested lands along the Susquehanna River in both Lancaster and York counties.

House Rep. Brett Miller isn’t sure why courts aren’t involved when a hunter’s license is denied revoked or suspended.

That isn’t stopping the Columbia Republican from proposing legislation to transfer that authority to commonwealth courts in the future. Miller has begun circulating a co-sponsorship memorandum looking for fellow legislators’ support to transfer authority to deny, revoke or suspend a hunting license from the Pennsylvania Game Commission to the courts while also requiring a hunter’s license is immediately restored if game commission charges are dropped or if the hunter is found not guilty of charges.

Current law provides the state Game Commission with the authority to revoke or suspend hunting or furtaking licenses when a license holder is convicted of an offense under the Game Code. Under current law, when a Game Commission officer brings charges against a person for violating the Game Code, the accused person appears before a Magistrate District Judge or another court having jurisdiction to answer the charges. The accused can either plead guilty to the charges or make a case for why he/she is not guilty. If the accused is found guilty, then the court will apply the appropriate penalty. Upon the finding of guilt and subsequent to the penalties levied by the courts, the Game Commission has the authority to impose an additional penalty of suspending a hunter’s license for the duration of their choosing.

This creates a problem, Miller said, because some hunters don’t know how their license will be affected while they’re in court. Most states appear to operate as Pennsylvania, with the state game commissioners or Department of Environmental Conservation making final decisions on hunting license revocations or suspensions.

“In some cases, hunters have pled guilty to charges believing their cooperation would resolve their case, only to have an additional penalty of a license suspension imposed upon them several months after their court hearing without them ever knowing the suspension was forthcoming,” Miller wrote in his co-sponsorship memorandum. “One of the checks and balances of our constitutional structure is the separation of powers. This separation is designed to diffuse authority across separate branches in order to protect the rights and liberties of the people. While the Game Code that the legislature passed does authorize the revocation of licenses as a penalty for various violations, this penalty is best applied by the judicial branch.”

Miller’s bill has yet to be drafted and introduced in the state House of Representatives.