A handful of new laws passed by the Kansas Legislature will affect outdoor recreation in the state.

Senate Bill 192 permits a person who is age 16 or older to obtain a one-time deferral of hunter education completion. Individuals will be able to purchase an apprentice hunting license to obtain the deferral and must be accompanied by a licensed adult 18 or older while hunting.

The same bill removes the requirement that bowhunters under 14 complete a bowhunter education course prior to obtaining a big game permit.

House Bill 2046 officially applied the name Kaw River State Park to the newest addition to the state park system. The park is on the Kansas River in Shawnee County.

Senate Bill 188 allows holders of game breeder permits to recapture any game bird that has escaped from confinement if the escaped bird is one the breeder is permitted to raise and sell.

The bill also increases the minimum values of certain wildlife used in determining whether illegal commercial acts were committed and whether the illegal acts constitute felony crimes.

House Bill 2437 enacts a broad range of changes regarding issuance of deer permits and will take effect in 2008.

The new legislation allows issuance of resident whitetail either-sex permits that are valid statewide during any season with equipment legal for that season, and makes resident either species, either sex archery permits valid statewide.

Also, it establishes a half-price fee for big game or turkey permits for residents younger than 16 as well as authorizing issuance of special Hunt-Own-Land deer permits to a landowner’s or tenant’s siblings and lineal ascendants or descendants and their spouses, regardless of residence.