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SUBSTITUTE
HOUSE BILL 2710
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AS
AMENDED BY THE SENATE
Passed
Legislature - 1998 Regular Session
State of Washington 55th
Legislature 1998 Regular Session
By
Read first time 02/02/98.
Referred to Committee on .
Changing
irrigation district administration.
AN
ACT Relating to the administration of irrigation districts; and amending RCW
87.03.845 and 87.80.130.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE
LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
Sec.
1. RCW
87.03.845 and 1993 c 235 s 2 are each amended to read as follows:
This
section and RCW 87.03.847 through 87.03.855 provide the procedures by which a
minor irrigation district may be merged into a major irrigation district as
authorized by RCW 87.03.530(2).
To
institute proceedings for such a merger, the board of directors of the minor
district shall adopt a resolution requesting the board of directors of the
major district to consider the merger, or proceedings for such a merger may
be instituted by a petition requesting the board of directors of the major district
to consider the merger, signed by ten owners of land within the minor district
or five percent of the total number of landowners within the minor district,
whichever is greater. However, if there are fewer than twenty owners of land
within the minor irrigation district, the petition shall be signed by a
majority of the landowners and filed with the board of directors of the major
irrigation district.
The
board of directors of the major irrigation district shall consider the request
at the next regularly scheduled meeting of the board of directors of the major
district following its receipt of the minor district's request or at a special
meeting called for the purpose of considering the request. If the board of the
major district denies the request of the minor district, no further action on
the request shall be taken.
If
the board of the major district does not deny the request, it shall conduct a
public hearing on the request and shall give notice regarding the hearing. The
notice shall describe the proposed merger and shall be published once a week
for two consecutive weeks preceding the date of the hearing and the last
publication shall be not more than seven days before the date of the hearing.
The notice shall contain a statement that unless the holders of title or
evidence of title to at least twenty percent of the assessed lands within the
major district file a protest opposing the merger with the board of the major
district at or before the hearing, the board is free to approve the request for
the merger without an election being conducted in the major district on the
request. If the board of the major district is considering requests from more
than one minor district, the hearing shall be conducted on all such requests.
Sec.
2. RCW
87.80.130 and 1996 c 320 s 11 are each amended to read as follows:
(1)
A board of joint control created under the provisions of this chapter shall
have full authority within its area of jurisdiction to enter into and perform
any and all necessary contracts; to accept grants and loans, including, but not
limited to, those provided under chapters 43.83B and 43.99E RCW, to appoint and
employ and discharge the necessary officers, agents, and employees; to sue and
be sued as a board but without personal liability of the members thereof in any
and all matters in which all the irrigation entities represented on the board
as a whole have a common interest without making the irrigation entities
parties to the suit; to represent the entities in all matters of common
interest as a whole within the scope of this chapter; and to do any and all
lawful acts required and expedient to carry out the purposes of this chapter. A
board of joint control may, subject to the same limitations as an irrigation district
operating under chapter 87.03 RCW, acquire any property or property rights for
use within the board's area of jurisdiction by power of eminent domain;
acquire, purchase, or lease in its own name all necessary real or personal
property or property rights; and sell, lease, or exchange any surplus real or
personal property or property rights. Any transfers of water, however, are
limited to transfers authorized under subsection (2) of this section.
(2)
A board of joint control is authorized and encouraged to pursue conservation
and system efficiency improvements to optimize the use of appropriated waters
and to either redistribute the saved water within its area of jurisdiction, or,
transfer the water to others, or both. A redistribution of saved water as an
operational practice internal to the board of joint control's area of
jurisdiction, may be authorized if it can be made without detriment or injury
to rights existing outside of the board of control's area of jurisdiction,
including instream flow water rights established under state or federal law.
Prior to undertaking a water conservation or system efficiency improvement
project which will result in a redistribution of saved water, the board of
joint control must consult with the department of ecology and if the board's
jurisdiction is within a United States reclamation project the board must
obtain the approval of the bureau of reclamation. The purpose of such
consultation is to assure that the proposal will not impair the rights of other
water holders or bureau of reclamation contract water users. A board of
control does not have the power to authorize a change of any water right that
would change the point or points of diversion, purpose of use, or place of use
outside the board's area of jurisdiction, without the approval of the
department of ecology pursuant to RCW 90.03.380 and if the board's jurisdiction
is within a United States reclamation project, the approval of the bureau of
reclamation.
(3)
A board of joint control is authorized to design, construct, and operate either
drainage projects, or water quality enhancement projects, or both.
(4)
Where the board of joint control area of jurisdiction is totally within a
federal reclamation project, the board is authorized to accept operational
responsibility for federal reserved works.
(5)
Nothing contained in this chapter gives a board of joint control the authority
to abridge the existing rights, responsibilities, and authorities of an
individual irrigation entity or others within the area of jurisdiction; nor in
a case where the board of joint control consists of representatives of two or
more divisions of a federal reclamation project shall the board of joint
control abridge any powers of an existing board of control created through federal
contract; nor shall a board of joint control have any authority to abridge or
modify a water right benefiting lands within its area of jurisdiction without
consent of the party holding the ownership interest in the water right.
(6) A board of joint control created under this chapter may not use
any authority granted to it by this chapter or by RCW 90.03.380 to authorize a
transfer of or change in a water right or to authorize a redistribution of
saved water before July 1, 1997.
