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H0415........................................................by MR. SPEAKER
Requested by: Department of Water Resources
WATER RIGHTS - Amends existing law relating to the adjudication of water
rights to reduce the period for filing responses to objections in the Snake
River Basin Adjudication from 120 days to 60 days.
01/07 House intro - 1st rdg - to printing
Rpt prt - to Res/Con
01/16 Rpt out - rec d/p - to 2nd rdg
01/17 2nd rdg - to 3rd rdg
01/18 3rd rdg - PASSED - 59-0-11
AYES -- Aikele, Barraclough, Barrett, Bell, Bieter, Black, Block,
Boe, Bolz, Bradford, Bruneel, Callister, Campbell, Clark, Collins,
Cuddy, Deal, Denney, Ellis, Ellsworth, Eskridge, Field(13),
Field(20), Gagner, Gould, Hammond, Harwood, Henbest, Higgins,
Hornbeck, Jaquet, Jones, Kendell, Kunz, Lake, Langford, Loertscher,
Mader, Martinez, McKague, Meyer, Mortensen, Moyle, Pearce, Pomeroy,
Raybould, Roberts, Robison, Sali, Schaefer, Sellman, Smith(33),
Smylie, Stone, Tilman, Trail, Wood, Young, Mr. Speaker
NAYS -- None
Absent and excused -- Bedke, Crow, Hadley, Kellogg, Montgomery,
Pischner, Ridinger, Shepherd, Smith(23), Stevenson, Wheeler
Floor Sponsor - Raybould
Title apvd - to Senate
01/21 Senate intro - 1st rdg - to Res/Env
01/29 Rpt out - rec d/p - to 2nd rdg
2nd rdg - to 3rd rdg
02/01 3rd rdg - PASSED - 32-0-3
AYES -- Boatright, Branch, Brandt, Burtenshaw, Cameron, Darrington,
Davis, Deide, Dunklin, Frasure, Geddes, Goedde, Hawkins, Hill, Ipsen,
Keough, King-Barrutia, Little, Lodge, Marley, Noh, Richardson, Risch,
Sandy, Schroeder, Sims, Sorensen, Stegner, Stennett, Thorne(Thorne),
Wheeler, Williams
NAYS -- None
Absent and excused -- Andreason, Bunderson, Ingram
Floor Sponsor - Noh
Title apvd - to House
02/04 To enrol
02/05 Rpt enrol - Sp signed
02/06 Pres signed
02/07 To Governor
02/12 Governor signed
Session Law Chapter 12
Effective: 07/01/02
|||| LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF IDAHO |||| Fifty-sixth Legislature Second Regular Session - 2002IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES HOUSE BILL NO. 415 BY MR. SPEAKER Requested by: Department of Water Resources 1 AN ACT 2 RELATING TO THE ADJUDICATION OF WATER RIGHTS; AMENDING SECTION 42-1411, IDAHO 3 CODE, TO REDUCE THE PERIOD FOR FILING RESPONSES TO OBJECTIONS IN THE SNAKE 4 RIVER BASIN ADJUDICATION FROM 120 DAYS TO 60 DAYS. 5 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Idaho: 6 SECTION 1. That Section 42-1411, Idaho Code, be, and the same is hereby 7 amended to read as follows: 8 42-1411. REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR. (1) The director shall prepare a 9 director's report on the water system. The director may file the director's 10 report in parts as the director deems appropriate. The director may include 11 such explanatory material as he deems appropriate in the director's report. 12 Such explanatory material shall not impose any conditions or restrictions on 13 the rights reported and shall not be subject to objection. This explanatory 14 material shall not be used to support any notice of claim, objection to a 15 notice of claim, or response to an objection. 16 (2) The director shall determine the following elements, to the extent 17 the director deems appropriate and proper, to define and administer the water 18 rights acquired under state law: 19 (a) the name and address of the claimant; 20 (b) the source of water; 21 (c) the quantity of water used describing the rate of water diversion or, 22 in the case of an instream flow right, the rate of water flow in cubic 23 feet per second or annual volume of diversion of water for use or storage 24 in acre-feet per year as necessary for the proper administration of the 25 water right; 26 (d) the date of priority; 27 (e) the legal description of the point(s) of diversion; if the claim is 28 for an instream flow, then a legal description of the beginning and ending 29 points of the claimed instream flow; 30 (f) the purpose of use; 31 (g) the period of the year when water is used for such purposes; 32 (h) a legal description of the place of use; if one (1) of the purposes 33 of use is irrigation, then the number of irrigated acres within each forty 34 (40) acre subdivision, except as provided in section 42-219, Idaho Code; 35 (i) conditions on the exercise of any water right included in any decree, 36 license, or approved transfer application; and 37 (j) such remarks and other matters as are necessary for definition of the 38 right, for clarification of any element of a right, or for administration 39 of the right by the director. 40 (3) The director may include such general provisions in the director's 41 report, as the director deems appropriate and proper, to define and to admin- 42 ister all water rights. 43 (4) The director shall file the director's report with the district 2 1 court, and the director's report shall be a part of the record. Upon filing 2 with the court, the director's report, except for the explanatory material 3 referred to in subsection (1) of this section, shall constitute prima facie 4 evidence of the nature and extent of the water rights acquired under state 5 law. The unobjected to portions of the director's report shall be decreed as 6 reported. 7 (5) Each claimant of a water right acquired under state law has the ulti- 8 mate burden of persuasion for each element of a water right. Since the 9 director's report is prima facie evidence of the nature and extent of the 10 water rights acquired under state law, a claimant of a water right acquired 11 under state law has the burden of going forward with the evidence to establish 12 any element of a water right which is in addition to or inconsistent with the 13 description in a director's report. Any party filing an objection to any por- 14 tion of the director's report shall have the burden of going forward with the 15 evidence to rebut the director's report as to all issues raised by the objec- 16 tion. Any other party to the proceeding may submit evidence in opposition to 17 the objector's position and in support of the director's report. All such pro- 18 ceedings shall be governed by the Idaho rules of civil procedure and Idaho 19 rules of evidence. 20 (6) The director shall file an original of the director's report with the 21 district court. The director shall also distribute for display and review at 22 least one (1) copy of the director's report to the office of the clerk of the 23 district court for each county in which any part of the water system is 24 located. The director shall also serve on each claimant or the claimant's 25 attorney whose water right is listed in the director's report a notice of fil- 26 ing of the director's report. Notice shall be sent to the last known address 27 of the claimant or the claimant's attorney. The notice shall be prepared by 28 the director using plain and concise language and shall include: 29 (a) a statement that the director's report of the various water rights 30 acquired under state law has been filed with the district court, naming 31 the district court(s) to which the report was filed; 32 (b) a copy of that portion of the report setting forth the claimant's 33 water right; 34 (c) a statement that a complete copy of the director's report is avail- 35 able for inspection, listing the locations at which the director's report 36 is available, which shall include the office of the clerk of the district 37 court for each county in which any part of the water system is located, 38 the offices of the department, and any other locations the director may 39 designate; 40 (d) a statement that all or a portion of the director's report is avail- 41 able upon request at the offices of the department, subject to payment of 42 a reasonable fee to cover costs of reproduction and mailing; 43 (e) a statement that any claimant may file objections to any portion of 44 the director's report with the district court specified in the notice and 45 must mail a copy of the objection to the director, and to the claimant of 46 each claimed right objected to, if the objector is not also the claimant 47 of the right for which the objection is filed; 48 (f) the date prior to which all objections must be filed, which shall not 49 be less than sixty (60) days for any director's report containing five 50 hundred (500) claims or less, one hundred twenty (120) days for any 51 director's report containing more than five hundred (500) claims and not 52 more than five thousand (5,000) claims, and one hundred eighty (180) days 53 for any director's report containing more than five thousand (5,000) 54 claims; the above-stated periods of time shall commence on the date of 55 service by mail of the notice of filing; 3 1 (g) a statement that claimants may file responses with the court to 2 objections filed against their claims, and that a copy of any response 3 must be mailed to the director and to the objector; 4 (h) the date prior to which all responses to objections must be filed 5 with the court, which shall not be less thanone hundred twentysixty 6 (1260) days following receipt of a copy of the objection; and 7 (i) a statement that any part of the report to which no objections are 8 filed shall be decreed by the district court and the time and location 9 set for the hearing at which the unobjected parts of the report will be 10 decreed, which time shall not be less than sixty (60) days following the 11 expiration of the period for filing responses to objections. 12 (7) The director shall file an affidavit with the district court demon- 13 strating compliance with the notice requirements of subsection (6) of this 14 section.
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
RS 11458C1
The filing of responses to objections was an important and
time- intensive process in the early days of the SRBA when the Idaho
Department of Water Resources was a full party and was required to
file detailed responses to each objection. The requirement for the
Department to file responses has been removed, and claimants and
other parties have found 60 days to be sufficient time. The proposed
legislation would modify Section 42-1411(6)(h), Idaho Code, Report of
the Director, to reduce the period for filing responses to objections
in the Snake River Basin Adjudication (SRBA) from 120 days to 60 days,
to streamline and expedite the process without adversely affecting
interested parties.
FISCAL IMPACT
Streamlining and expediting the SRBA will reduce general fund
expenditures by an unquantified amount.
CONTACT
Name: Karl Dreher
Agency: Water Resources, Dept. of
Phone: 327-7910
Statement of Purpose/Fiscal Impact H0415