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S1122..........................................by RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENT
WATER RIGHTS - Amends existing law to allow temporary changes to water
rights by transfer or exchange of water during a drought emergency; and to
provide a statutory reference to provide that the director of the
Department of Water Resources is not required to publish notice or make
findings in regard to the changes.
02/12 Senate intro - 1st rdg - to printing
02/13 Rpt prt - to Res/Env
02/26 Rpt out - rec d/p - to 2nd rdg
02/27 2nd rdg - to 3rd rdg
03/06 3rd rdg - PASSED - 31-3-1
AYES -- Andreason, Boatright, Branch, Brandt, Bunderson, Burtenshaw,
Cameron, Danielson, Darrington, Davis, Deide, Frasure, Geddes,
Goedde, Hawkins, Ingram, Ipsen, Keough, King-Barrutia, Lee, Lodge,
Noh, Richardson, Risch, Sandy, Schroeder, Sims, Sorensen, Thorne,
Wheeler, Williams,
NAYS -- Dunklin, Stennett, Whitworth
Absent and excused -- Stegner
Floor Sponsor -- Hawkins
Title apvd - to House
03/07 House intro - 1st rdg - to Res/Con
03/14 Rpt out - rec d/p - to 2nd rdg
03/15 2nd rdg - to 3rd rdg
03/16 3rd rdg - PASSED - 62-0-8
AYES -- Barraclough, Barrett, Bedke, Bell, Bieter, Black, Boe, Bolz,
Bradford, Bruneel, Callister, Chase, Collins, Crow, Cuddy, Deal,
Denney, Eskridge, Field(20), Gagner, Gould, Hadley, Hammond, Harwood,
Higgins, Hornbeck, Jaquet, Kellogg, Kendell, Kunz, Lake, Langford,
Loertscher, Mader, Marley, McKague, Meyer, Montgomery, Mortensen,
Moss, Moyle, Pearce, Pischner, Pomeroy, Raybould, Ridinger, Roberts,
Robison, Sali, Schaefer, Sellman, Shepherd, Smith, Smylie, Stevenson,
Stone, Swan, Tilman, Trail, Wood, Young, Mr. Speaker
NAYS -- None
Absent and excused -- Campbell, Clark, Ellis, Ellsworth, Field(13),
Henbest, Jones, Wheeler
Floor Sponsor -- Stevenson
Title apvd - to Senate
03/19 To enrol
03/20 Rpt enrol - Pres signed
03/21 Sp signed
03/22 To Governor
03/23 Governor signed
Session Law Chapter 126
Effective: 03/23/01
|||| LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF IDAHO ||||
Fifty-sixth Legislature First Regular Session - 2001
IN THE SENATE
SENATE BILL NO. 1122
BY RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE
1 AN ACT
2 RELATING TO WATER USE; AMENDING SECTION 42-222A, IDAHO CODE, TO ALLOW TEMPO-
3 RARY CHANGES TO WATER RIGHTS BY TRANSFER OR EXCHANGE OF WATER DURING A
4 DROUGHT EMERGENCY, TO ADD A STATUTORY REFERENCE TO PROVIDE THAT THE DIREC-
5 TOR OF THE DEPARTMENT OF WATER RESOURCES IS NOT REQUIRED TO PUBLISH NOTICE
6 OR MAKE FINDINGS IN REGARD TO CHANGES PURSUANT TO THIS SECTION AND TO
7 CHANGE A REFERENCE FROM ACT TO SECTION; AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY.
8 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Idaho:
9 SECTION 1. That Section 42-222A, Idaho Code, be, and the same is hereby
10 amended to read as follows:
11 42-222A. EMERGENCY TRANSFERS TEMPORARY CHANGES DURING DROUGHT CONDITIONS.
12 (1) Upon declaration of a drought emergency for an area designated by the
13 director of the department of water resources and approved by the governor of
14 the state of Idaho, the director of the department of water resources is
15 authorized to allow temporary changes to the use of water rights consisting of
16 temporary transfers to change point of diversion, place and purpose of use of
17 valid existing water rights or temporary exchanges of water authorized to be
18 diverted under water rights, as provided in section 42-240, Idaho Code, when
19 the director of the department of water resources determines that such
20 change(s) can be accomplished in accordance with the provisions of this sec-
21 tion.
22 (2) Application for a temporary change shall be made upon forms provided
23 by the department of water resources and shall be accompanied by an applica-
24 tion fee of fifty dollars ($50.00) per application.
25 (3) The director of the department of water resources is not required to
26 publish notice of the proposed change pursuant to the provisions of section
27 42-211, or 42-222(1) or 42-240, Idaho Code, and is not required to make find-
28 ings as provided in said sections. A temporary change may be approved upon
29 completion of the application form, payment of the filing fee and a determina-
30 tion by the director of the department of water resources that the proposed
31 change can be properly administered and there is no information that the
32 change will injure any other water right. If the water right to be changed is
33 administered by a watermaster within a water district, the director of the
34 department of water resources shall obtain and consider the recommendations of
35 the watermaster before approving the temporary change application.
36 (4) All temporary changes approved pursuant to the provisions of this act
37 section shall expire on the date shown in the approval which shall not be
38 later than December 31 of the year in which the emergency transfer approval is
39 made and thereafter the water right shall revert to the point of diversion and
40 place of use existing prior to the temporary change. Nothing herein shall be
41 construed as approval to authorize the construction of a new well as a new
42 point of diversion.
43 (5) The recipient of an approved temporary change issued pursuant to this
2
1 section shall assume all risk that the diversion and use of the water may
2 cause injury to other water rights, that the change constitutes an enlargement
3 in use of the original right, that the use is not consistent with the conser-
4 vation of water resources within the state of Idaho and that such use is not
5 in the local public interest. Any applicant for a temporary change who is
6 aggrieved by a denial by the director of the department of water resources of
7 a temporary change pursuant to this act section may request a hearing pursuant
8 to the provisions of section 42-1701A(3), Idaho Code, and may seek judicial
9 review of the final order of the director pursuant to the provisions of sec-
10 tion 42-1701A(4), Idaho Code.
11 (6) Temporary changes shall only be approved for the purpose of providing
12 a replacement water supply to lands or other uses which normally have a full
13 water supply except for a drought condition. Temporary changes may not be
14 approved to provide water for new projects or to allow expansion of the use of
15 water under existing water rights. If the right to use the water, the diver-
16 sion works or the water delivery system is represented by shares of stock in a
17 corporation or if such right, diversion works or delivery system is owned or
18 managed by an irrigation district, no change in point of diversion or place or
19 nature of use of such water shall be made or allowed without the written con-
20 sent of such corporation or irrigation district.
21 SECTION 2. An emergency existing therefor, which emergency is hereby
22 declared to exist, this act shall be in full force and effect on and after its
23 passage and approval.
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
RS11041
The purpose of this legislation is to broaden the scope of Section 42-222A, Idaho
Code, which allows temporary changes in existing water rights, to include approval of
temporary exchanges during a designated drought emergency. During the summer of
2000, drought emergencies were designated in five counties in south central Idaho
thereby allowing expedited approval of temporary transfers to make effective use of
short water supplies. Under a temporary transfer, the location of the point of diversion,
place of use, and/or nature of use can be changed for the remainder of the irrigation
season. However, a number of proposed changes could not be approved under existing
law because rather than a transfer, an exchange in the use of water from the same or
different water source, or under one or more water rights from the same or different
water source, was proposed. Enactment of this bill would allow proposals involving
temporary exchanges of water rights to be allowed if the proposal is otherwise
approvable under the provisions of the existing Section 42-240, Idaho Code, which
provides for approval of permanent exchanges.
FISCAL IMPACT
This change will not require additional appropriations to the Department of Water
Resources. The filing fee of $50.00 per application will provide a small increase to the
Department s Fee Account. The largest impact will be the positive effect on local
economies from allowing available water supplies to be used more effectively during a
drought emergency.
CONTACT: Karl DreherfNorm Young
Department of Water Resources
Phone: 208-327-7910
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE/FISCAL NOTE S 112