AN ACT Relating to filing of adjudication claims for precode uses of groundwater and surface water in the water resource inventory area 1 water rights adjudication; amending RCW 90.14.043; and creating a new section.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The legislature finds that after completing the Yakima basin surface water rights adjudication, the department of ecology filed a new water rights adjudication for water resource inventory area 1 ("WRIA 1") applying to Whatcom and Skagit counties.

The legislature finds that water users are seeking to apply similar procedures and lessons learned from the Yakima basin water rights adjudication to the new WRIA 1 adjudication.

The legislature further finds that after the department of ecology filed the Yakima basin adjudication in 1977, the legislature passed chapter 216, Laws of 1979 ex. sess. (Engrossed Substitute Senate Bill No. 2794). This legislation ensured that water users who may have had precode water uses could participate in the adjudication court process.

The legislature intends to ensure that, like the Yakima basin adjudication, the WRIA 1 adjudication allows for the filing of adjudication claims for precode uses of groundwater and surface water.

Sec. 2. RCW 90.14.043 and 1985 c 435 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) Notwithstanding any time restrictions imposed by the provisions of this chapter (( 90.14 RCW)), a person may file a claim pursuant to RCW 90.14.041 if such person obtains a certification from the pollution control hearings board as provided in this section.

(2) A certification shall be issued by the pollution control hearings board if, upon petition to the board, it is shown to the satisfaction of the board that:

(a) Waters of the state have been applied to beneficial use continuously (with no period of nonuse exceeding five consecutive years) in the case of surface water beginning not later than June 7, 1917, and in the case of groundwater beginning not later than June 7, 1945, or

(b) Waters of the state have been applied to beneficial use continuously (with no period of nonuse exceeding five consecutive years) from the date of entry of a court decree confirming a water right and any failure to register a claim resulted from a reasonable misinterpretation of the requirements as they related to such court decreed rights.

(3) The board shall have jurisdiction to accept petitions for certification from any person through September 1, 1985, and not thereafter.

(4) A petition for certification shall include complete information on the claim pursuant to RCW 90.14.051 (1) through (8), and any such information as the board may require.

(5) The department of ecology is directed to accept for filing any claim certified by the board as provided in subsection (2) of this section. The department of ecology, upon request of the board, may provide assistance to the board pertinent to any certification petition.

(6) A certification by the pollution control hearings board or a filing with the department of ecology of a claim under this section shall not constitute a determination or confirmation that a water right exists.

(7) The provisions of RCW 90.14.071 shall have no applicability to certified claims filed pursuant to this section.

(8) This section shall have no applicability to groundwaters resulting from the operations of reclamation projects.

(9) Notwithstanding any time restrictions imposed by the provisions of this chapter, for an adjudication filed in water resource inventory area 1 after June 1, 2023, filing an adjudication claim form as provided in RCW 90.03.140 satisfies the statement of claim filing requirements of RCW 90.14.041.