Statement regarding House Bill 441 and 442
To clarify some of the misinformation circulating on social media, my two bills, House Bill 441, known as the turtle bill, and House Bill 442, known as the flounder bill, passed the House and were sent to the Senate with the intention of passing as is. However, the Senate hijacked both bills with absolutely no notice to me as the original primary bill sponsor. I was blindsided by my own Senator in committee as I arrived to present HB 442 in Senate Agriculture, Energy and Environment last week on June 17th. The flounder bill was introduced as an effort to permit a flounder season this year, since there was not one in 2024, and the citizens in the Brunswick County recreational fishing business were upset with the fisheries bureaucrats sending their business to South Carolina. I did not attend the Senate Finance meeting on June 19th to present HB 441 as the bill did not contain any money when it passed the House 113-0 on May 7, 2025. It was evident the bill had been gutted, again, without my knowledge or consent.
Let me be clear, the suggestion that I had any knowledge of what the Senate was planning is an absolute lie. This is fake news, and I was more upset than anyone that a Senator I trusted to be straight with me would hijack my bills and ambush me in this way and try to hurt our people. I have not received any contributions from CCA NC, which is another rumor that has been circulating.
I am profoundly disappointed in the actions of the NC Wildlife Commission for their part in the mass distribution of an email that contained outdated and misconstrued information to justify the hijacking of my two bills under the guise of “conservation”. This is a state agency that is funded with your tax dollars and should have remained neutral on the issue. Upon reaching out to the NC Wildlife Resources Commission, I received confirmation that Michael Briggs, Executive Director of NC Wildlife Resources Commission crafted and sent out the email in support of the shrimp trawling ban at the direction of the Chairman Monty Crump and Vice Chairman Mark Craig. Again, these are your tax dollars including license and vessel fees, federal grants and legislative appropriations that fund this agency.
On Monday afternoon, I removed my name as the first primary sponsor from both HB 441 and HB 442 and all other primary sponsors followed suit. With no primary sponsors, both bills became “orphans”. A handful of co-sponsors chose to remain on the bills which leads me to believe they are in support of the final language and the tactics used to transform both pieces of legislation into their current form. This battle has been going on for several years and I don’t expect this to be the end of the fish wars in our state. Both bills were discussed in caucus yesterday and returned to the House Rules committee where I have been assured, they will die.
I want to thank Senator Bobby Hanig for his leadership on the Senate side and standing up for these bills, the shrimping industry in NC and the lack of due process. Senator Hanig was a champion for all shrimpers in the state, and this was truly a David vs. Goliath story for all ages. I would like to thank my co-sponsors in the House, Representatives Ed Goodwin and Ted Davis who were on both bills and Representative Keith Kidwell for his support on HB 441. I would like to thank Representative Pricy Harrison, a well know Democrat and champion for the environment, for her support and leadership in exposing the flaws in the data that was quoted to justify the shrimp trawl ban. Thank you to the well-organized shrimping community that descended on Raleigh this week with just a few days’ notice to stand up for their livelihood. I sincerely apologize that my bills were ultimately used as a vehicle in an effort to decimate the shrimping industry in NC without my consent or knowledge.
I take pride in following the process that is in place to insure fair and just committee vetting for all proposed legislation to become law in NC. Transparency is crucial and the manner this was handled does not reflect the ethical and moral values expected from our constituents as elected members of the NC General Assembly. No matter where you stand on recreational fishing or shrimping, no matter what your political affiliation, the actions taken by certain members of the NC Senate over the past several days regarding House Bills 441 and 442 should be, at the very least, concerning. This unfortunate experience has been a stark reminder of how well-intentioned, non-partisan legislation can be transformed at the last minute into very harmful and controversial legislation. I remain committed to honorably serving my constituents in House District 17 and the hard-working citizens of North Carolina that came together this week to uphold and protect democracy in NC.
Best Regards,
Representative Frank Iler
District 17, Brunswick County