SAW Act
Summary
What This Bill Does
The Snowmobiles Are Not Weapons Act prohibits using any motor vehicle on federal land to target mammalian predator species through harassment, pursuit, hunting, shooting, wounding, killing, trapping, capturing, or collection. Violators face up to a 10,000 dollar fine, up to five years in prison, or both, while actions taken to avoid injury or death to a person are exempt. The Interior Secretary investigates violations and may seek help from the FBI, Treasury, other federal agencies, and state or local law enforcement.
Who Benefits and How
Mammalian predator species, federal land visitors, and wildlife-conservation interests benefit from a federal deterrent against vehicle-based pursuit or killing on public lands.
Who Bears the Burden and How
Motor vehicle hunters on federal land must comply with a new federal prohibition and penalty risk, while Interior enforcement staff, FBI investigators, Treasury investigators, and state law enforcement agencies must investigate and coordinate enforcement.
Key Provisions
- Prohibits intentionally using motor vehicles to harass, hunt, wound, kill, trap, capture, or collect mammalian predators on federal land.
- Creates penalties of up to 10,000 dollars, five years imprisonment, or both.
- Authorizes Interior investigations with assistance from federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Creates federal criminal penalties for intentionally using motor vehicles on federal land to harass, pursue, hunt, wound, kill, trap, capture, or collect mammalian predator species.
Key Policy Areas
Environment, Law Enforcement, Government
Primary Purpose
Creates federal criminal penalties for intentionally using motor vehicles on federal land to harass, pursue, hunt, wound, kill, trap, capture, or collect mammalian predator species.
Policy Domains
Substantive provisions
Identified Gains
- Mammalian predator species on federal land
- Federal land visitors
- Wildlife conservation interests
Identified Costs
- Motor vehicle hunters on federal land
- Interior enforcement staff
- FBI investigators
- State law enforcement agencies
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeIntroduced in House
Ms. Hoyle of Oregon (for herself, Mr. Lawler, Mrs. Dingell, …
Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Federal land visitors, Motor vehicle hunters on federal land
Positive-direction: Federal land visitors
Negative-direction: Motor vehicle hunters on federal land
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology