Juneau -- Meeting in joint session this afternoon, the Legislature voted 40 to 20 to override Governor Knowles' veto of SB 74, that maintains the ban on same day aerial hunting of wolves and other predators, but clears up some technical problems in a 1996 voters' initiative.

Senator Pete Kelly, sponsor of the bill said, "I agree with the ban on same day airborne hunting, but I also understand that Fish and Game biologists need to use aerial means to effectively manage predators. The technical problems in the '96 initiative kept that from happening - that's why we needed this veto override."

"There has been a lot of misinformation about this bill and that's unfortunate. I think when legislators were finally told the truth - that this bill did not reverse the ban on same day aerial hunting of wolves - they were more comfortable overturning the Governor's veto," Kelly said.

Senator Kelly went on to say, "I think the Legislature deserves a lot of credit for this vote today. Both Republicans and Democrats came together to do the right thing on this in the face of a nationally orchestrated onslaught by outside environmental lobbies."