S-6174.1

SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL 6494

State of Washington

66th Legislature

2020 Regular Session

BySenate Agriculture, Water, Natural Resources & Parks (originally sponsored by Senators Rolfes, Van De Wege, Warnick, and McCoy; by request of Department of Ecology)

READ FIRST TIME 02/07/20.

AN ACT Relating to trust water rights; and amending RCW 90.42.130.

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

Sec. 1. RCW 90.42.130 and 2016 c 215 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) The department shall seek input from agricultural organizations, federal agencies, tribal governments, local governments, watershed groups, conservation groups, and developers on water banking, including water banking procedures and identification of areas in Washington where water banking could assist in providing water supplies for instream and out-of-stream uses.

(2) The department shall convene a work group of affected entities to study the design and use of the state water trust, water banking, and the water transfer process in the state, and make recommendations on policy improvements. The department shall invite diverse water resource interests to serve on the work group. By August 1, 2020, the department shall present findings and recommendations to the joint legislative task force on water resource mitigation.

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