requiring the executive director of the department of fish and game to adopt rules relative to procedures for verifying accuracy of records collected relative to threatened and endangered wildlife and ensuring landowner permission is granted for the gathering of such record.

The document header and page titles changed from 'AS AMENDED BY THE SENATE' to 'VERSION ADOPTED BY BOTH BODIES', indicating the bill passed both chambers without further amendment. No policy language was altered.

New requirement that all data added to the threatened and endangered wildlife database must be reviewed and approved by the Fish and Game Department before inclusion.

New requirement that landowners be notified when a new record is added to the database, separate from the existing permission-for-entry requirement.

The verification rule now applies only to records added to the database after the effective date of the paragraph, rather than potentially covering all existing records as in the House version.

The landowner permission provision now specifically limits it to 'entry onto private property' and clarifies it applies to gathering 'by the fish and game department' of site-specific species location data, narrowing who must obtain permission and what activity it covers.

Added a hard outer deadline: rules must be adopted not later than one year after the effective date AND not to exceed one year after passage of the act.

Fiscal note changed from 'no fiscal impact' to an estimated indeterminable increase of less than $100,000 annually (FY 2027-2029), funded from the Fish and Game Fund, with no new appropriations or positions authorized.

The bill changed from amending RSA 212-A:9, III to repealing and reenacting it, which is a structural change that allows the Senate to reorganize subsections (a through d) without being constrained by the original numbering.

The bill changed from creating a new standalone section (RSA 212-A:14-a) with direct statutory requirements to amending an existing section (RSA 212-A:9, III) and delegating authority to the Fish and Game executive director to adopt rules under RSA 541-A within one year.

The introduced version's prohibition on requiring new biodiversity searches as a precondition of land use application or as a condition of subsequent approval was entirely removed from the amended bill.

The introduced version's specific evidence requirements were removed: written landowner permission or administrative search warrant, name and credentials of the observing biologist, GPS coordinates of the sighting, and date/time-stamped photographs. These are replaced by a general requirement that rules be adopted to 'verify accuracy' of records.

A new exemption was added: state departments and agencies are not subject to this chapter's provisions when federal law or regulation requires them to address environmental impact on wildlife or wildlife habitat in connection with an action they are undertaking.

The term 'appreciably jeopardize the continued existence of such species' is now defined by rules adopted by the executive director rather than being left undefined in statute.

The fiscal note changed from projecting potential state expenditures of over $1,000,000 per year (FY 2027-2029) funded from the Fish and Game Fund to stating the bill has no fiscal impact on state, county, or local expenditures or revenue.