IMPORTANT - Minority Report from the House Calendar

Rep. Will Darby for the Minority of Resources, Recreation and Development. The bill as drafted would have prevented the state of New Hampshire from enforcing the federal endangered species act by invalidating the state’s database of endangered and protected species. As described in the fiscal note, this would have resulted in costs of millions of dollars per year, and increased delays to perform endangered species reviews. Potentially worse would be federal enforcement of the endangered species act if New Hampshire was found unable to perform these reviews as required by federal law. Many organizations, including the Forest Society, The Nature Conservancy, the Loon Preservation Committee, and New Hampshire Audubon opposed the bill due to the restrictions it would place on protecting the state’s most threatened wildlife species. While the majority of the committee’s amendment removes the most concerning aspects of the original bill, it introduces new ambiguity and defers critical questions to future rule making. HB 2 transferred the environmental review responsibility from Fish and Game to the Department of Environmental Services; this transition is still underway, and both departments raised concerns about the timing of this bill and likely disruption such as increased environmental review delays. Additionally, the Fish and Game Commission opposes the amendment on numerous grounds and offered alternative amendment language that was not discussed. As this amendment did not receive a public hearing, there is no updated fiscal note, and because until very recently Fish and Game has performed this role, the minority of the committee recommends the bill be referred for interim study to consult with all stakeholders.