State Sen. Kim Ward, R-Hempfield, wants to know what Westmoreland County residents think about Sunday hunting and the legalization of recreational marijuana.
She is starting a new feature on her website that poses survey questions about issues being considered by legislators.
“I’m going to start doing this on a regular basis,” she said.
The inaugural questions are:
• Gov. (Tom) Wolf has recently expressed an interest in considering the legalization of recreational marijuana in Pennsylvania. Do you support or oppose the legalization of recreational marijuana?
• Legislation is being considered in the Senate to allow Sunday hunting in Pennsylvania. Historically, this issue has been controversial with hunters and farmers at odds with each other on the issue. Sportsmen support Sunday hunting as it gives them more opportunity to hunt particularly during shorter seasons, while farmers oppose it because trespassing is already an issue for them and they want one day of the week to enjoy recreation on their land without the concern of hunters on it. Do you support Sunday hunting (at) all?
Both issues have been brought up locally in the last several weeks. Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, D-Braddock, visited Greensburg this month to gather input on the legalization of recreational marijuana and proponents of lifting the Sunday hunting ban spoke in February at Penn State New Kensington.
The online questionnaire is a way to get input outside of the Capitol’s walls and reach more people locally, Ward said. Anyone can answer the questions, but respondents are asked to provide residency information so Ward can examine the answers of constituents.
“It’s good to get input and see what they’re thinking about there,” she said.
The survey can be found at senatorward.com/legislative-survey.
The Pew Research Center in late 2018 reported that 62 percent of Americans polled said the use of marijuana should be legalized, up from 30 percent in 1980. Along party lines, 69 percent of Democrats supported marijuana legalization while 45 percent of Republicans were in favor, according to the Pew survey.
