CERTIFICATION OF ENROLLMENT

 

                   SENATE JOINT MEMORIAL 8014

 

 

 

 

                        54th Legislature

                      1995 Regular Session

Passed by the Senate April 19, 1995

  YEAS 42   NAYS 0

 

 

 

President of the Senate

 

Passed by the House April 6, 1995

  YEAS 97   NAYS 0

             CERTIFICATE

 

I, Marty Brown, Secretary of the Senate of the State of Washington, do hereby certify that the attached is SENATE JOINT MEMORIAL 8014 as passed by the Senate and the House of Representatives on the dates hereon set forth.

 

 

 

Speaker of the

      House of Representatives

                            Secretary

 

 

Approved Place Style On Codes above, and Style Off Codes below.

                                FILED

          

 

 

Governor of the State of Washington

                   Secretary of State

                  State of Washington


          _______________________________________________

 

                    SENATE JOINT MEMORIAL 8014

          _______________________________________________

 

                      AS AMENDED BY THE HOUSE

 

             Passed Legislature - 1995 Regular Session

 

State of Washington      54th Legislature     1995 Regular Session

 

By Senators Fraser, Morton, Winsley and Rasmussen

 

Read first time 02/03/95.  Referred to Committee on Energy, Telecommunications & Utilities.

 

Petitioning Congress regarding water adjudication.



    TO THE HONORABLE BILL CLINTON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, AND TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE AND THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, AND TO THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES, IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED:

    We, your Memorialists, the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Washington, in legislative session assembled, respectfully represent and petition as follows:

    WHEREAS, Congress traditionally has deferred to state regulation of water; and

    WHEREAS, Congress enacted the McCarran Amendment, 43 U.S.C. Sec. 666, to allow the joinder of the United States in state general stream adjudications; and

    WHEREAS, Congress intended the United States to be subject to the same procedures as all other water users joined in state stream adjudications; and

    WHEREAS, Many of the western states' general stream adjudication procedures require claimants to pay a fee to offset a part of the state's expenses arising from state general stream adjudications; and

    WHEREAS, Many of the western states are conducting general stream adjudications in state courts for the purpose of quantifying all water right claims in accordance with the McCarran Amendment; and

    WHEREAS, The United States is a large claimant of water rights in these general stream adjudications; and

    WHEREAS, The Unites States often provides legal representation of Indian tribes claiming reserved rights in state general stream adjudications, and these rights stem from agreements with the United States; and

    WHEREAS, The adjudication of federal and Indian water right claims takes a great deal of the state courts' and state water rights agencies' time, effort, and resources; and

    WHEREAS, In some instances, federal agencies have promised financial support to states in these adjudications which the western states have included in their budgets; and

    WHEREAS, The United States has in the past paid adjudication filing fees in some western states; and

    WHEREAS, The United States Supreme Court interpreted the McCarran Amendment as not waiving the United States' sovereign immunity to payment of state adjudication fees; and

    WHEREAS, This suit by the federal government is contrary to promises and assertions made by various federal officials to provide financial assistance to states for the conduct of the adjudication; and

    WHEREAS, Equity and fairness dictate that the United States share the financial burden borne by other claimants and the state in funding these adjudications;

    NOW, THEREFORE, Your Memorialists respectfully pray that Congress require federal agencies to pay state adjudication fees to the same extent as required of other claimants; and

    BE IT RESOLVED, That Congress require the Bureau of Indian Affairs to pay state adjudication fees for Indian reserved claims to the same extent as required by other claimants; and

    BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That Your Memorialists urge Congress to appropriate moneys for payments to states that have incurred costs as a result of federal or Indian reserved claims or objections to private claims in a state general stream adjudication for services that the respective states have provided to the federal government in quantifying its water rights.

    BE IT RESOLVED, That copies of this Memorial be immediately transmitted to the Honorable Bill Clinton, President of the United States, the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and each member of Congress from the State of Washington.

 

 


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