HOUSE BILL REPORT
HB 1865
As Passed Legislature
Title: An act relating to irrigation districts acting as initiating governments for watershed planning.
Brief Description: Changing watershed planning provisions.
Sponsors: By Representatives G. Chandler and Grant.
Brief History:
Committee Activity:
Agriculture & Ecology: 2/23/01, 2/26/01 [DP].
Floor Activity:
Passed House: 3/12/01, 98-0.
Senate Amended.
Passed Senate: 4/10/01, 47-0.
House Concurred.
Passed House: 4/13/01, 88-0.
Passed Legislature.
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Brief Summary of Bill
$Identifies which water supply utility is an initiating government in a water resource inventory area that has lands in the Columbia Basin Project.
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HOUSE COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE & ECOLOGY
Majority Report: Do pass. Signed by 14 members: Representatives G. Chandler, Republican Co‑Chair; Linville, Democratic Co‑Chair; Cooper, Democratic Vice Chair; Mielke, Republican Vice Chair; B. Chandler, Delvin, Dunshee, Grant, Hunt, Kirby, Quall, Roach, Schoesler and Sump.
Staff: Kenneth Hirst (786‑7105).
Background:
The state=s watershed planning law establishes a process for the development of watershed plans under a locally initiated planning process. Watershed planning may be initiated for a single water resource inventory area (WRIA), as these watersheds have been designated by rules adopted by the Department of Ecology (DOE), or for a multi-WRIA area. Watershed planning for a single WRIA may be initiated only with the concurrence of: all counties within the WRIA; the largest city or town within the WRIA unless the WRIA does not contain a city or town; and the water supply utility obtaining the largest quantity of water from the WRIA. It may be initiated for a multi-WRIA area only with the concurrence of: all counties within the multi-WRIA area; the largest city or town in each WRIA unless the WRIA does not contain a city or town; and the water supply utility obtaining the largest quantity of water in each WRIA. If these entities decide to proceed, they must extend an invitation to all tribes with reservation lands within the management area. These entities, including the tribes if they affirmatively accept the invitation, constitute the "initiating governments" for the purposes of initiating watershed planning.
Summary of Bill:
For a water resource inventory area (WRIA) with lands in the Columbia Basin Project, the water supply utility obtaining from the project the largest quantity of water for the WRIA is the water supply utility that qualifies as an initiating government for watershed planning for the WRIA.
Appropriation: None.
Fiscal Note: Not Requested.
Effective Date: Ninety days after adjournment of session in which bill is passed.
Testimony For: (1) Grant, Adams, and Franklin counties contacted the Department of Ecology to inquire about initiating watershed planning, only to find that the largest water utilities in the WRIA, irrigation districts, cannot be initiating governments for the watershed planning process. (2) Under the watershed planning law as amended by the bill, the federal agency supplying the water in the area, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, would still have a role at the planning table, but not as a local initiating government.
Testimony Against: None.
Testified: (In support) Mike Schwisow, Washington Water Resources Association.