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H0152.........................................by RESOURCES AND CONSERVATION SNAKE RIVER RIGHTS AGREEMENT - Adds to existing law to provide for approval, ratification and confirmation of the Snake River Water Rights Agreement of 2004; to authorize implementation of the agreement; and to provide a contingent effective date. 02/10 House intro - 1st rdg - to printing 02/11 Rpt prt - to Res/Con 02/28 Rpt out - rec d/p - to 2nd rdg 03/01 2nd rdg - to 3rd rdg 03/02 3rd rdg - PASSED - 55-14-1 AYES -- Anderson, Barraclough, Bastian, Bedke, Bell, Bilbao, Black, Block, Boe, Bolz, Cannon, Chadderdon, Clark, Collins, Crow, Deal, Denney, Edmunson, Ellsworth, Eskridge, Field(18), Field(23), Garrett, Henbest, Henderson, Jaquet, Jones, Kemp, Lake, LeFavour, Martinez, Mathews, Miller, Mitchell, Moyle, Nielsen, Nonini, Pasley-Stuart, Pence, Raybould, Ring, Ringo, Rusche, Rydalch, Sayler, Shirley, Skippen, Smith(30), Smith(24), Smylie, Snodgrass, Stevenson, Trail, Wills, Mr. Speaker NAYS -- Andrus, Barrett, Bayer, Bradford, Hart, Harwood, McGeachin, McKague, Roberts, Sali, Schaefer, Shepherd(2), Shepherd(8), Wood Absent and excused -- Loertscher Floor Sponsors - Stevenson, Raybould & Clark Title apvd - to Senate 03/03 Senate intro - 1st rdg - to St Aff 03/14 Rpt out - rec d/p - to 2nd rdg 03/15 2nd rdg - to 3rd rdg 03/16 3rd rdg - PASSED - 27-7-0, 1 vacancy AYES -- Andreason, Bunderson, Burkett, Burtenshaw, Cameron, Coiner, Compton, Corder, Darrington, Davis, Gannon, Geddes, Goedde, Hill, Jorgenson, Kelly, Keough, Langhorst, Little, Lodge, McGee, Richardson, Schroeder, Stegner, Stennett, Werk, Williams NAYS -- Brandt, Broadsword, Malepeai, Marley, McKenzie, Pearce, Sweet Absent and excused -- (District 21 seat vacant) Floor Sponsors - President Pro Tempore Geddes & Burtenshaw Title apvd - to House 03/17 To enrol 03/18 Rpt enrol - Sp signed 03/21 Pres signed 03/22 To Governor 03/24 Governor signed Session Law Chapter 148 Effective: Gov Proclamation certifying all conditions of Snake River Water Rights Agreement of 2004 have been satisfied
]]]] LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF IDAHO ]]]] Fifty-eighth Legislature First Regular Session - 2005IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES HOUSE BILL NO. 152 BY RESOURCES AND CONSERVATION COMMITTEE 1 AN ACT 2 RELATING TO THE SNAKE RIVER WATER RIGHTS AGREEMENT OF 2004; TO DEFINE TERMS; 3 TO PROVIDE FOR THE APPROVAL, RATIFICATION AND CONFIRMATION OF THE SNAKE 4 RIVER WATER RIGHTS AGREEMENT OF 2004; TO AUTHORIZE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE 5 SNAKE RIVER WATER RIGHTS AGREEMENT OF 2004; DECLARING AN EMERGENCY AND 6 PROVIDING A CONTINGENCY ON EFFECTIVENESS. 7 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Idaho: 8 SECTION 1. DEFINITIONS. For purposes of this act: 9 (1) "The Snake River Water Rights Agreement of 2004" means the document 10 titled "Mediator's Term Sheet" dated April 20, 2004, and submitted on that 11 date to the SRBA Court in SRBA Consolidated Subcase 03-10022 and SRBA Consoli- 12 dated Subcase 67-13701, with all appendices to the document. 13 (2) "SRBA" means the Snake River Basin Adjudication litigation before the 14 SRBA Court styled as In re Snake River Basin Adjudication, Case No. 39576. 15 (3) "SRBA Court" means the District Court of the Fifth Judicial District 16 of the State of Idaho, In and For the County of Twin Falls in re Snake River 17 Basin Adjudication. 18 SECTION 2. RATIFICATION OF THE SNAKE RIVER WATER RIGHTS AGREEMENT OF 19 2004. The Snake River Water Rights Agreement of 2004 as approved, ratified and 20 confirmed by the 108th Congress of the United States in the "Snake River Water 21 Rights Act of 2004," Pub. L. No. 108-447 (H.R. 4818), 118 Stat. 3431 to 3441 22 (December 8, 2004), is hereby approved, ratified and confirmed. 23 SECTION 3. AUTHORIZATION FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF THE SNAKE RIVER WATER 24 RIGHTS AGREEMENT OF 2004. The Governor and the executive branch agencies with 25 obligations under the agreement shall execute and perform all actions consis- 26 tent with this act that are necessary to implement The Snake River Water 27 Rights Agreement of 2004. 28 SECTION 4. DECLARING AN EMERGENCY -- CONTINGENCY ON EFFECTIVENESS. An 29 emergency existing therefor, which emergency is hereby declared to exist, this 30 act shall be in full force and effect at such time that the Governor issues a 31 proclamation certifying that all conditions for the effectiveness of The Snake 32 River Water Rights Agreement of 2004 have been satisfied.
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE RS 14671C3 The purpose of this legislation is to approve, ratify and confirm the Snake River Water Rights Agreement of 2004 and to authorize and direct the Governor and the executive branch agencies with obligations under the agreement to execute and perform all actions consistent with this act that are necessary to implement the agreement. FISCAL NOTE Under the agreement, the State will have an obligation to contribute a value of not less than twenty-five percent of the contribution of the United States for the Section 6 Programs provided for in the Snake River Water Rights Agreement of 2004. The state match can be in-kind services provided by state agencies. The federal money coming to the state for Section 6 programs is $25.66 million. The extent of the state match required will depend upon the level of participation in the voluntary Section 6 Programs. The Idaho Department of Lands (IDL) will spend approximately $2 million of state monies in preparing a biological assessment and NEPA documents in support of the Idaho Forestry Program. IDL has set aside in the FY 2005 budget the monies for these documents. No additional staff will be needed to implement the program on state lands. Some additional IDL staff time will be required over the life of the agreement to implement the Idaho Forestry Program on private lands. The amount will depend on the number of private landowners who enroll in the program; however, this is not expected to result in a large increase in FTEs because monitoring activities on enrolled lands will be done in conjunction with routine inspections under the current Forest Practices Act. IDL does not expect any measureable impact on the returns from endowment lands as a result of enrollment of state lands in the Idaho Forestry Program because it already conducts state timber operations in a manner that is consistent with the measures in the Idaho Forestry Program. The Idaho Department of Fish and Game will incur additional costs for staffing necessary to implement the Section 6 Agreements. The extent of such staffing is uncertain. Staffing costs that qualify can be used as a portion of matching contribution for the federal monies made available for the Section 6 Program. The Idaho Department of Water Resources is not expected to require any additional staffing or funding to complete its duties under the agreement. The Office of Species Conservation will have some duties to assist with the implementation of the Section 6 Agreements. The Office does not anticipate any additional needs for funding. While participants in the Section 6 Programs may incur some costs, participation in the programs is entirely voluntary. In addition, the federal habitat trust will be available to offset some of the costs of participants. The Upper Snake River Flow augmentation program is based upon the principle of willing buyer/willing seller. Therefore, no regulatory burdens are imposed on private parties. The federal government will pay approximately $57 million in today's dollars in rental fees over the life of the agreement to private water users. In addition, the federal government will pay up to $13 million for the acquisition of natural flow water rights between Milner and Swan Falls dam and will provide a one-time $2 million mitigation payment to local governments for impacts arising from these acquisitions. The transfer of approximately 11,000 acres of BLM lands is estimated to result in a loss of $11,000 in annual PILT payments to Lewis and Nez Perce Counties. The federal government will provide a one-time payment of $200,000 to mitigate for this impact to the counties. This amount of monies will provide the equivalent of a $13,000 annual payment for 30 years computed at a five percent rate. The combined amount of federal dollars made available under this agreement to the State, local government and private individuals is approximately $95 million. Contact Names: Representative Bruce Newcomb Senator Bob Geddes Representative John Stevenson Senator Don Burtenshaw Representative Dell Raybould Senator Gary Schroeder Representative Scott Bedke Senator Stan Williams Representative Wendy Jaquet Senator Clint Stennett Phone: (208) 332-1000 STATEMENT OF PURPOSE/FISCAL NOTE H 152