At its June meeting, the Joint Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules (JELCAR) approved several agency rule actions affecting professional licensing, a volunteer park adoption program and off-highway recreational vehicle (OHRV) and snowmobile registrations.

The committee voted to adopt the Office of Professional Licensure and Certification (OPLC) rule amendment 25-47 addressing application forms used in licensure and discipline proceedings. The agency said the form will mostly be used online and will use logic so that applicants who check a "prefer not to answer" box are routed past inapplicable questions. Dean, identified in the meeting as executive director at OPLC, told the committee the agency is integrating technological solutions "so anyone within a technical profession...if there's questions that absolutely do not apply, it will be there. It could expand, but it will...be kind of collapsed, if you will, in that application." The committee approved the item by voice vote (moved: Sen. Lang; second: Sen. Innes). The motion outcome: adopted.

The committee next adopted Department of Natural and Cultural Resources (DNCR) rule 25-51 to implement the statutory Adopt-a-Park program. DNCR said it had been operating the program and using forms since at least 2019 but only recently learned the statute requires formal rules. Andrea Olsen, administrative operations supervisor for DNCR, said the agency had been operating under RSA citations that allowed volunteer agreements and then identified the specific RSA provision that requires rulemaking; she described the current action as the agency’s effort to bring its forms into compliance with that statutory requirement. The committee approved DNCR 25-51 by voice vote (moved: senators, second: Becker; second: Rep. Lind). The motion outcome: adopted.

On Fish & Game item 25-70, which implements a statutory requirement to offer electronic applications for OHRV and snowmobile registrations, the committee considered public comments about processing time. The department initially proposed a 20-business-day processing timeframe for electronic applications, later reduced to 10 days in response to comments. Jessica Wheelhand, Fish & Game licensing and OHRV supervisor, explained the department’s concern that the overnight file transfer used by the vendor can add one to two business days before the department receives submissions for verification. Representative committee members argued for parity with mailed applications, which the rule limits to a five-business-day processing period. Fish & Game officials said they were "hesitant" to commit to five days but willing to adjust if operational experience supports it. The committee granted conditional approval and recorded an oral amendment shortening the electronic processing period (oral amendment: change to five business days); the motion outcome: conditional approval with oral amendment.

The committee also postponed a Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) matter at the agency's request; Representative Lay Leon asked to postpone and the item was deferred until the next week.

Votes at a glance
- Minutes from previous meeting — Moved: Sen. Ward; Second: Sen. Innes; Outcome: approved (voice).
- Consent calendar — Moved: Rep. Lynn; Second: Rep. Schmidt; Outcome: adopted (voice).
- OPLC 25-47 (licensure/discipline form amendments) — Moved: Sen. Lang; Second: Sen. Innes; Outcome: adopted (voice).
- DNCR 25-51 (Adopt-a-Park rules) — Moved: not specified (committee record references "moved by senators"); Second: Becker/Rep. Lind; Outcome: adopted (voice).
- Fish & Game 25-70 (OHRV/snowmobile electronic application processing) — Motion: conditional approval with oral amendment to shorten electronic processing to five business days; Mover/second not specified in transcript; Outcome: conditional approval with oral amendment.
- DHHS agenda item — Request to postpone by Representative Lay Leon; Outcome: postponed until next week.

Why it matters: The OPLC change affects how license applicants interact with forms and could reduce irrelevant questions via online logic; DNCR's rule adoption regularizes a volunteer program that agencies have been operating without formal rules; the Fish & Game amendment changes the processing expectation for electronic registrants, creating parity with mailed submissions if implemented.

Discussion and next steps: Agencies said they will continue work to make online forms dynamic and to monitor workloads for electronic submissions. Fish & Game agreed to revisit the electronic processing timeframe if operational data show five business days is not feasible. DNCR said it completed a statutory compliance step by presenting formal rules. The committee discussed and staff described a proposed agency portal to replace email submissions; that item was raised under "other business" and is the subject of a separate committee action discussed later in the meeting.

The meeting record shows committee members generally supported the package of approvals; where the record shows only "moved by senators" or similar, the transcript did not identify a single named mover. The committee used voice votes for the adopted items and recorded a conditional approval with an oral amendment for the Fish & Game item.