BILL REQ. #:  H-1465.3 

READ FIRST TIME 03/05/03.   

     AN ACT Relating to irrigation district boards of joint control; amending RCW 87.80.005, 87.80.030, and 87.80.130; and adding a new section to chapter 87.80 RCW.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

Sec. 1   RCW 87.80.005 and 1996 c 320 s 2 are each amended to read as follows:
     Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, the definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter.
     (1) "Area of jurisdiction" means all lands within the exterior boundary of the composite area served by the irrigation entities that comprise the board of joint control as the boundary is represented on the map filed under RCW 87.80.030.
     (2) "Irrigation entity" means an irrigation district or an operating entity for a division within a federal reclamation project. For the purposes of this chapter, a water company, a water users' association, a municipality, a water right owner and user of irrigation water, or any other entity that provides irrigation water as a primary purpose, is an irrigation entity when creating or joining a board of joint control with an irrigation district or operating entity for a division within a federal reclamation project.
     (3) "Joint use facilities" means those works, including reservoirs, canals, ditches, natural streams in which the irrigation entity has rights of conveyance under RCW 90.03.030, hydroelectric facilities, pumping stations, drainage works, reserved works as may be transferred by contracts with the United States, and system interties that are determined by the board of joint control to provide common benefit to its members.
     (4) "Ownership interest" means the irrigation entity holds water rights in its name for the benefit of itself, its water users or, in federal reclamation projects, the irrigation entity has a contractual responsibility for delivery of water to its individual water users.
     (5) "Source of water" means a hydrological distinct river and tributary system or aquifer system from which board of joint control member entities appropriate water.

Sec. 2   RCW 87.80.030 and 1996 c 320 s 4 are each amended to read as follows:
     The petition for the creation of a board of joint control shall be addressed to the board of county commissioners, shall describe generally the relationship, if any, of the irrigation entities to an established federal reclamation project, the primary water works of the entities including reservoirs, main canals, hydroelectric facilities, pumping stations, and drainage facilities, giving them their local names, if any they have, and shall show generally the physical relationship of the lands being watered from the water facilities. However, lands included in any irrigation entity involved need not be described individually but shall be included by stating the name of the irrigation entity and all the irrigable lands in the irrigation entity named shall by that method be deemed to be involved unless otherwise specifically stated in the petition. Further, the petition must propose the formula for board of joint control apportionment of costs among its members, and may propose the composition of the board of joint control as to membership, chair, and voting structure. When a board of joint control includes irrigation entities other than an irrigation district or an operating entity for a division within a federal reclamation project as provided in RCW 87.80.005, the voting structure must be such that the votes apportioned to those entities are less than fifty percent of the total votes.
     The petition shall also state generally the reasons for the creation of a board of joint control and any other matter the petitioners deem material, and shall allege that it is in the public interest and to the benefit of all the owners of the lands receiving water within the area of jurisdiction, that the board of joint control be created and request that the board of county commissioners consider the petition and take the necessary steps provided by law for the creation of a board of joint control. The petition shall be accompanied by a map showing the area of jurisdiction and the general location of the water supply and distribution facilities.

Sec. 3   RCW 87.80.130 and 1998 c 84 s 2 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) 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.
     (b) Prior to undertaking a water conservation or system efficiency improvement project ((which)) that 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.
     (c) A board of joint 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.
     (d) The board of joint control shall notify the department of ecology of transfers of water between the individual entities of the board of joint control not related to conservation and system efficiency improvements.
     (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.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 4   A new section is added to chapter 87.80 RCW to read as follows:
     The provisions of chapter . . ., Laws of 2003 (this act) shall not be construed or interpreted to authorize the impairment of any existing water rights.