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H0544.........................................by RESOURCES AND CONSERVATION
WATER RIGHTS - Amends existing law to provide that persons have thirty days
from the date of last publication of the notice of enlargement of a water
right to file a petition with the Department of Water Resources to assert
any claimed injury from the enlargement.
02/10 House intro - 1st rdg - to printing
02/11 Rpt prt - to Res/Con
02/18 Rpt out - rec d/p - to 2nd rdg
02/21 2nd rdg - to 3rd rdg
02/24 3rd rdg - PASSED - 56-0-14
AYES -- Alltus, Barrett, Bell, Bieter, Black, Boe, Bruneel,
Callister, Campbell, Chase, Cheirrett, Clark, Crow, Cuddy, Denney,
Field(20), Gagner, Hadley, Hansen(23), Hansen(29), Henbest, Hornbeck,
Jaquet, Jones, Judd, Kempton, Kendell, Kunz, Lake, Loertscher, Mader,
Marley, Meyer, Montgomery, Mortensen, Moss, Moyle, Pearce, Pomeroy,
Reynolds, Ridinger, Ringo, Robison, Sali, Schaefer, Sellman,
Shepherd, Smith, Smylie, Stevenson, Stoicheff, Stone, Taylor, Tilman,
Trail(Miller), Zimmermann
NAYS -- None
Absent and excused -- Barraclough, Deal, Ellsworth, Field(13),
Geddes, Gould, Hammond, Kellogg, Linford, McKague, Pischner, Wheeler,
Wood, Mr Speaker
Floor Sponsor - Hansen(29)
Title apvd - to Senate
02/25 Senate intro - 1st rdg - to Res/Env
03/16 Rpt out - rec d/p - to 2nd rdg
03/17 2nd rdg - to 3rd rdg
04/03 3rd rdg - PASSED - 35-0-0
AYES -- Andreason, Boatright, Branch, Bunderson, Burtenshaw, Cameron,
Crow, Danielson, Darrington, Davis, Deide, Dunklin, Frasure, Geddes,
Hawkins, Ingram, Ipsen, Keough, King-Barrutia, Lee, McLaughlin, Noh,
Parry, Richardson, Riggs, Risch, Sandy, Schroeder, Sorensen, Stegner,
Stennett, Thorne, Wheeler, Whitworth, Williams
NAYS -- None
Absent and excused -- None
Floor Sponsor - Lee
Title apvd - to House
04/04 To enrol - rpt enrol - Sp signed
04/05 Pres signed - to Governor
04/14 Governor signed
Session Law Chapter 311
Effective: 07/01/00
H0544
|||| LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF IDAHO ||||
Fifty-fifth Legislature Second Regular Session - 2000
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
HOUSE BILL NO. 544
BY RESOURCES AND CONSERVATION COMMITTEE
1 AN ACT
2 RELATING TO WATER RIGHTS; AMENDING SECTION 42-1426, IDAHO CODE, TO PROVIDE
3 THAT PERSONS HAVE THIRTY DAYS FROM THE DATE OF LAST PUBLICATION OF THE
4 NOTICE OF ENLARGEMENT OF A WATER RIGHT TO FILE A PETITION WITH THE DEPART-
5 MENT OF WATER RESOURCES TO ASSERT ANY CLAIMED INJURY FROM THE ENLARGEMENT.
6 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Idaho:
7 SECTION 1. That Section 42-1426, Idaho Code, be, and the same is hereby
8 amended to read as follows:
9 42-1426. ENLARGEMENTS -- WAIVER OF MANDATORY PERMIT REQUIREMENTS. (1)
10 Legislative findings regarding enlargements:
11 (a) The legislature finds that prior to the commencement of the Snake
12 River basin adjudication and subsequent to the mandatory permit system
13 provided in sections 42-201 and 42-229, Idaho Code, persons entitled to
14 the use of water or owning any land to which water has been made appurte-
15 nant by decree, license or constitutional appropriation have, through
16 water conservation and other means, enlarged the use of said water without
17 increasing the rate of diversion and without complying with the mandatory
18 permit system adopted by the legislature. Enlargements have been done with
19 the knowledge of other water users, and water has been distributed based
20 upon the right as enlarged. Junior water users made appropriations based
21 upon a water system that reflected these enlarged uses. Thus, the legisla-
22 ture further finds and declares that it is in the public interest to waive
23 the mandatory permit requirements for these enlargements in use prior to
24 the commencement of a general adjudication, so long as such enlargements
25 in use did not increase the rate of diversion of the original water right
26 or exceed the rate of diversion for irrigation provided in section 42-202,
27 Idaho Code, after the enlargement of use, and the enlargement of use did
28 not reduce the quantity of water available to other water rights existing
29 on the date of the enlargement in use.
30 (b) The legislature further finds that it is in the public interest to
31 waive certain statutory provisions for the appropriation of water that has
32 been diverted and applied to beneficial use to insure the economic and
33 agricultural base in the state of Idaho as it existed on the date of the
34 commencement of the Snake River basin adjudication and to maintain his-
35 toric water use patterns existing on that date.
36 (2) The mandatory permit requirements of sections 42-201 and/or 42-229,
37 Idaho Code, are waived, and a new water right may be decreed for the enlarged
38 use of the original water right based upon the diversion and application to
39 beneficial use, with a priority date as of the date of completion of the
40 enlargement of use for any enlargement occurring on or before November 19,
41 1987; provided however, that the rate of diversion of the original water right
42 and the separate water right for the enlarged use, combined, shall not exceed
43 the rate of diversion authorized for the original water right; and further
2
1 provided, that the enlargement in use did not injure water rights existing on
2 the date of the enlargement of use. An enlargement may be decreed if condi-
3 tions directly related to the injury can be imposed on the original water
4 right and the new water right that mitigate any injury to a water right exist-
5 ing on the date of enactment of this act. If injury to a water right later in
6 time cannot be mitigated, then the new right for the enlarged use shall be
7 advanced to a date one (1) day later than the priority date for the junior
8 water right injured by the enlargement. It is further provided that any such
9 enlargement of use allowed in a general adjudication shall not constitute an
10 abandonment or forfeiture of the original water right to the extent of current
11 use.
12 (3) The director shall publish a notice of enlargement of water right for
13 all water rights recommended under this section. The notice shall contain a
14 summary of the notice of claim and shall be published in the same manner as
15 notices for applications to appropriate water in section 42-203A, Idaho Code.
16 Any person who has filed an application for a water right prior to the enact-
17 ment of this act or who has been issued a permit for a water right prior to
18 enactment of this act but who has not filed a claim in an adjudication shall
19 have one hundred twenty (120) thirty (30) days from the date of last publica-
20 tion of the notice of enlargement of a water right under this section to file
21 a petition with the department of water resources to assert any claimed injury
22 from the enlargement. No appeal of the determination of the department shall
23 be allowed. If the applicant or permittee is dissatisfied with the determina-
24 tion of the department on any claim of injury, the sole remedy is to intervene
25 in the general adjudication and assert their claim of injury in an objection
26 to the water right.
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
RS 09973
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. This bill does not alter,
change or extend the date of enactment of Section 42-1426, Idaho Code.
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 L. Dreher
Department of Water Resources
Phone: 327-7910
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE/FISCAL NOTE H 544