Advocacy Action Alerts

This bipartisan legislation delivers a critical fix to both the archery and fishing industry’s Federal Excise Tax (FET) slippage problem. It requires internet marketplace facilitators, like Amazon and others, to collect and remit the required FETs on imported archery and sportfishing products sold through their platforms to U.S. customers. This is a commonsense, targeted reform that levels the playing field for American businesses.

As you know, FET slippage is one of BU’s top legislative priorities. It describes the loss of federal excise tax revenue that occurs when foreign manufacturers sell directly to U.S. consumers through online marketplaces, bypassing the tax obligations that domestic manufacturers and retailers must meet. The result: foreign sellers gain an unfair competitive advantage, and vital conservation programs lose critical funding.

The stakes are significant. FET slippage may account for the loss of more than $17 million annually in federal excise tax revenues, dollars that would otherwise be distributed through the Wildlife and Sportfish Restoration Programs, to fish and wildlife conservation in all 50 states.

BU and the American Sportfishing Association have worked hard to build the foundation for this legislation. In its August 2024 report, the Government Accountability Office validated the FET slippage problem and recommended a legislative remedy in “Excise Taxes – Action Needed to Improve Compliance for Sport Fishing and Archery Imports.” Those findings remain highly relevant and critical to building support for H.R. 1494, which responds directly to the report.

We are urging you to take two minutes right now to contact your U.S. Representative and ask them to support H.R. 1494.

Time matters. Congress has a limited number of working days remaining in this session, and we need to build as much momentum as possible. Every message from a constituent makes a real difference. Please click the link below to send a personalized message to your representative today.

As you are clearly aware, pursuing a fix to the FET slippage Issue in Washington, DC is one of the Archery Trade Association’s priority issues for 2025. FET slippage describes the loss of federal excise tax dollars because of internet marketplace facilitators like Amazon, eBay and others brokering purchase deals from foreign manufacturers selling directly to US consumers. FETs go unreported in these transactions due to outdated laws and regulations not holding the foreign manufacturer or facilitator responsible.

Please join BU by adding your business or organization to the growing list of supporters.

Thank you in advance for sending a personal message to your United States Representative asking them to support passage of H.R.1494, the Sporting Goods Excise Tax Modernization Act.

After the federal delisting by the Trump Administration, management authority was returned to the states. Under new state management, impacted communities were given flexibility and protection to determine how to best protect livestock and native species while preserving gray wolf populations. Giving management control back to the states empowered local-led, science-based conservation efforts, instead of politics, and provided aid to farmers, ranchers, and families. It is proving to be one of the greatest success stories to date for the Endangered Species Act. Ecosystem balance returned when states were equipped to conserve deer, elk and livestock herds to best fit their needs.

Gray wolves have their own unique impact on their environments across the Northern Rockies. Please join Bowhunters United, farmers, and hunters across the Rockies and urge federal legislation to keep state jurisdiction for the management of gray wolf populations across the communities of Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, and New Mexico.

The bills deceiving motive is to prevent wildlife from “starving” and increase recreational viewing pleasures. If passed, the bill would concentrate wildlife in small spaces, create a food dependency on human food sources, disrupt natural migratory patterns, and “tame” wildlife which could potentially put lives at risk. Landowners would ultimately become the primary caretakers of deer, elk and additional wildlife native to Michigan.

So, what happens when a recreational viewer leaves home for a few days and isn’t around to refill their feeders? The wildlife they programmed to come to their yards will go hungry because they learned to rely on an unreliable food source.

This bill would enable unnatural behaviors in wildlife and take decision-making power away from the wildlife professionals who know their state’s wildlife best, the NRC.

The strategic science-based management of the black bear population of Connecticut is slim to none. This past year, the state missed the opportunity to implement SB 1148, which would’ve authorized the Commission of the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection to approve regulations that would establish an annual bear hunt lottery season in Litchfield County. Instead on May 18, 2023, the Joint Committee on Environment removed language that would have established a lottery for the harvest of 50 black bears. The state fails to take responsibility for its overpopulation of bears and will continue seeing a rise in property damage and attacks on humans and their pets.

The Hard Facts:

• Attacks:
  • August 19, 2023: A 74-year-old woman encountered a bear while walking her dog and was attacked just outside of Hartford. She suffered multiple bite wounds.
  • October 16, 2022: A 10-year-old boy playing in his grandparent’s backyard was attacked by a 250-pound bear that tried to drag him out of the yard by his leg.
• Population Management:
  • Compared to hunting, population control alternatives like contraception and sterilization are expensive, are funded by state resources, require significant manpower, and have not proven to be an effective method of managing free-range populations.
  • Outside of humans, bears don’t have any known predators. An overpopulation of bears can lead to food scarcity, cannibalism and increased competition, resulting in more injuries and health declines.

Adopting a bear hunting season would reduce the likeliness of human-to-wildlife conflicts, boost funds to the American System of Conservation Funding, and re-establish a powerful bear management tool for DEEP.

Bowhunters United will continue to monitor and support bills in the upcoming legislation year that aid in the reformation of Connecticut’s bear management strategies.