Bill would allow Fish & Game to use Pittman‑Robertson‑derived funds as match for threatened and endangered species work; department and conservation groups back

Senate Bill 235, introduced by Senator David Waters, would allow the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department to use funds derived from Pittman‑Robertson apportionments (federal excise taxes on firearms, ammunition and archery equipment) as matching funds for projects benefiting threatened and endangered species.

Waters said the change responded to a recommendation from a recent study committee on Fish and Game funding: "This is one of the recommendations…to give the department some flexibility to use funds derived from the taxes of the sale of equipment to hunters, fishermen and trappers, to be matching funds for the acquisition of land to protect land for threatened and endangered species." He said the change would reduce the risk that the state would have to return unused federal funds because it could not provide the required non‑federal match.

Dan Bergeron, chief of the wildlife division at New Hampshire Fish and Game, testified in support. He described how federal apportionments have grown substantially in recent years and how the department sometimes struggles to provide the required 25 percent match. Bergeron cited past projects Fish and Game could not fund with PR dollars because of the state restriction and said the change would allow the department to leverage federal funds for species conservation and prevention of federal listings.

Carol Foss of New Hampshire Audubon and Meredith Hatfield of The Nature Conservancy also testified in support, describing a long history of nonprofits providing match and noting the practical mismatch between increasing PR dollars and declining license revenues. Foss said the original statutory restriction was adopted when PR funds were much smaller, and the bill would provide flexibility without changing the license‑revenue prohibition that remains in law.

Committee members heard clarifying testimony that federal PR rules require non‑federal match for PR grants; PR funds cannot be used to match other federal funds. Witnesses said the change would not obligate the department to spend differently on game management but would allow Fish and Game to use additional internally available match sources to fund nongame recovery and habitat projects in partnership with federal programs.

The committee closed the hearing; no final vote was recorded in the transcript portion provided to the committee.