Natural resources: hunting; pheasant hunting licensing; eliminate sunset, the official text

Act
No. 47

Public
Acts of 2025

Approved
by the Governor

December
23, 2025

Filed
with the Secretary of State

December
23, 2025

EFFECTIVE
DATE:  December 23, 2025

state of michigan

103rd Legislature

Regular session of 2025

Introduced by Reps. Greene, Johnsen, Woolford, Frisbie,
DeSana, Alexander, Witwer, Steele and Wortz

ENROLLED HOUSE BILL No. 4401

AN ACT to amend 1994 PA 451,
entitled “An act to protect the environment and natural resources of the state;
to codify, revise, consolidate, and classify laws relating to the environment
and natural resources of the state; to regulate the discharge of certain
substances into the environment; to regulate the use of certain lands, waters,
and other natural resources of the state; to protect the people’s right to hunt
and fish; to prescribe the powers and duties of certain state and local
agencies and officials; to provide for certain charges, fees, assessments, and
donations; to provide certain appropriations; to prescribe penalties and
provide remedies; and to repeal acts and parts of acts,” by amending section
43525c (MCL 324.43525c), as amended by 2021 PA 6.

The People of the State of
Michigan enact:

Sec. 43525c. (1) Except as otherwise provided in this section, an
individual 18 years of age or older shall not hunt pheasants without a current
annual pheasant hunting license issued by this state. The annual pheasant
hunting license requirement is in addition to the requirements for a base
license. The fee for the pheasant hunting license is $25.00. The following
individuals are not required to obtain an annual pheasant hunting license under
this section:

(a) An individual only hunting pheasants at a game bird
hunting preserve licensed under part 417.

(b) An individual hunting pheasants on private land, except
for individuals hunting on land enrolled in the hunting access program.

(c) An individual hunting pheasants on public land in the
Upper Peninsula.

(d) An individual who holds a lifetime small game license,
lifetime sportsperson’s license, or a comprehensive lifetime hunting and
fishing license issued under section 44102.

(2) If issued as a stamp, a pheasant hunting license must be
affixed to the base license of the individual and signed across the face of the
stamp by the individual to whom it is issued.

(3) A collector may purchase a pheasant hunting license, if
it is issued as a stamp, without being required to place it on a base license,
sign across its face, or provide proof of competency under section 43520(2).
However, a license described in this subsection is not valid for hunting
pheasants.

(4) Except as provided in sections 43541 and 43555, the
department shall deposit the fee collected for each pheasant hunting license in
the pheasant subaccount of the game and fish protection account for the
purposes stated in subsection (5).

(5) The pheasant subaccount is created in the game and fish
protection account. The state treasurer may receive money or other assets from
any source for deposit into the subaccount. The state treasurer shall direct
the investment of the subaccount. The state treasurer shall credit to the
subaccount interest and earnings from subaccount investments. Money in the
subaccount at the close of the fiscal year remains in the subaccount and does
not lapse to the game and fish protection account or the general fund. The
department is the administrator of the subaccount for auditing purposes. The
department shall expend money from the subaccount, on appropriation, only for
costs associated with the purchase and release of live pheasants on state-owned
land suitable for pheasants.

This
act is ordered to take immediate effect.

Clerk of the House of
Representatives

Secretary of the Senate

Approved___________________________________________

____________________________________________________

Governor