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SENATE JOINT MEMORIAL 8014
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AS AMENDED BY THE HOUSE
Passed Legislature - 1995 Regular Session
State of Washington 54th Legislature 1995
Regular Session
By
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.
