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H0399........................................................by MR. SPEAKER
Requested by: Department of Water Resources
WATER RIGHTS - Amends existing law to provide references to the enactment
date of the section; to provide a reference to a later in time water right;
and to reduce the time in which certain persons may file a petition with
the Department of Water Resources asserting an injury from an enlargement
of a water right.
01/17 House intro - 1st rdg - to printing
Rpt prt - to Res/Con
H0399|||| LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF IDAHO |||| Fifty-fifth Legislature Second Regular Session - 2000IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES HOUSE BILL NO. 399 BY MR. SPEAKER Requested by: Department of Water Resources 1 AN ACT 2 RELATING TO WATER RIGHTS; AMENDING SECTION 42-1426, IDAHO CODE, TO PROVIDE 3 REFERENCES TO THE ENACTMENT DATE OF THE SECTION, TO PROVIDE A REFERENCE TO 4 A LATER IN TIME WATER RIGHT, TO REDUCE THE TIME IN WHICH CERTAIN PERSONS 5 MAY FILE A PETITION WITH THE DEPARTMENT OF WATER RESOURCES ASSERTING AN 6 INJURY FROM AN ENLARGEMENT OF A WATER RIGHT; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE 7 DATE. 8 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Idaho: 9 SECTION 1. That Section 42-1426, Idaho Code, be, and the same is hereby 10 amended to read as follows: 11 42-1426. ENLARGEMENTS -- WAIVER OF MANDATORY PERMIT REQUIREMENTS. (1) 12 Legislative findings regarding enlargements: 13 (a) The legislature finds that prior to the commencement of the Snake 14 River basin adjudication and subsequent to the mandatory permit system 15 provided in sections 42-201 and 42-229, Idaho Code, persons entitled to 16 the use of water or owning any land to which water has been made appurte- 17 nant by decree, license or constitutional appropriation have, through 18 water conservation and other means, enlarged the use of said water without 19 increasing the rate of diversion and without complying with the mandatory 20 permit system adopted by the legislature. Enlargements have been done with 21 the knowledge of other water users, and water has been distributed based 22 upon the right as enlarged. Junior water users made appropriations based 23 upon a water system that reflected these enlarged uses. Thus, the legisla- 24 ture further finds and declares that it is in the public interest to waive 25 the mandatory permit requirements for these enlargements in use prior to 26 the commencement of a general adjudication, so long as such enlargements 27 in use did not increase the rate of diversion of the original water right 28 or exceed the rate of diversion for irrigation provided in section 42-202, 29 Idaho Code, after the enlargement of use, and the enlargement of use did 30 not reduce the quantity of water available to other water rights existing 31 on the date of the enlargement in use. 32 (b) The legislature further finds that it is in the public interest to 33 waive certain statutory provisions for the appropriation of water that has 34 been diverted and applied to beneficial use to insure the economic and 35 agricultural base in the state of Idaho as it existed on the date of the 36 commencement of the Snake River basin adjudication and to maintain his- 37 toric water use patterns existing on that date. 38 (2) The mandatory permit requirements of sections 42-201 and/or 42-229, 39 Idaho Code, are waived, and a new water right may be decreed for the enlarged 40 use of the original water right based upon the diversion and application to 41 beneficial use, with a priority date as of the date of completion of the 42 enlargement of use for any enlargement occurring on or before November 19, 43 1987; provided however, that the rate of diversion of the original water right 2 1 and the separate water right for the enlarged use, combined, shall not exceed 2 the rate of diversion authorized for the original water right; and further 3 provided, that the enlargement in use did not injure water rights existing on 4 the date of the enlargement of use. An enlargement may be decreed if condi- 5 tions directly related to the injury can be imposed on the original water 6 right and the new water right that mitigate any injury to a water right exist- 7 ing on April 12, 1994, the date of enactment of thisactsection. If injury to 8 a water right later in time cannot be mitigated, then the new right for the 9 enlarged use shall be advanced to a date one (1) day later than the priority 10 date for thejuniorlater in time water right injured by the enlargement. It 11 is further provided that any such enlargement of use allowed in a general 12 adjudication shall not constitute an abandonment or forfeiture of the original 13 water right to the extent of current use. 14 (3) The director shall publish a notice of enlargement of water right for 15 all water rights recommended under this section. The notice shall contain a 16 summary of the notice of claim and shall be published in the same manner as 17 notices for applications to appropriate water in section 42-203A, Idaho Code. 18 Any person who has filed an application for a water right prior tothe enact-19ment of this actApril 12, 1994, or who has been issued a permit for a water 20 right prior toenactment of this actApril 12, 1994, but who has not filed a 21 claim in an adjudication shall haveone hundred twenty (120)thirty (30) days 22 from the date of last publication of the notice of enlargement of a water 23 right under this section to file a petition with the department of water 24 resources to assert any claimed injury from the enlargement. No appeal of the 25 determination of the department shall be allowed. If the applicant or permit- 26 tee is dissatisfied with the determination of the department on any claim of 27 injury, the sole remedy is to intervene in the general adjudication and assert 28 their claim of injury in an objection to the water right. 29 SECTION 2. This act shall be in full force and effect on and after July 30 1, 2000.
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
RS09384
Amend Section 42-1426, Idaho Code, to reduce the response period
for the petition to assert injury from 120 days to 30 days by
owners of water rights in the Snake River Basin not claimed by the
Snake River Basin Adjudication. This amendment would streamline
and expedite the Snake River Basin Adjudication while causing no
discernable hardship to interested parties.
The purpose of this amendment is to eliminate a needless
complication in the preparation of Director's Reports. The
department sends a proposed recommendation for each water right to
the claimant, initiating a 60-day error correction process. Water
rights for enlarged uses are simultaneously advertised. At the end
of this process, the Director's Report is filed with the court.
Presently, water rights for enlargements cannot be filed until the
120-day response period is complete. Unless the Director's Report
is held back, a separate mailing is required, causing confusion for
the claimants involved and slowing dispute resolution in the basin.
A 30-day response period after two consecutive weekly
advertisements could occur concurrently with the error correction
process, enabling the Director's Report recommendation for the
water rights enlargements to be included with recommendations for
all other water rights in the basin.
FISCAL IMPACT
Implementation of this legislation is estimated to create a savings
of 100 personnel hours per year, equivalent to about $2500 per year
of general fund monies.
CONTACT
Name: Karl J. Dreher
Agency: Water Resources
Phone: 327-7910
Statement of Purpose/Fiscal Impact H0399