HOUSE BILL REPORT

SSB 5594

As Amended by the House

BYSenate Committee on Agriculture (originally sponsored by  Senators Hansen, Barr, Bauer, Deccio and Newhouse)

Authorizing amendment to water rights claims under certain conditions.

House Committe on Agriculture & Rural Development

Majority Report:  Do pass with amendments.  (14)

      Signed by Representatives Rayburn, Chair; Kremen, Vice Chair; Baugher, Bristow, Brooks, Chandler, Doty, Grant, Holm, Jacobsen, McLean, Moyer, Nealey and Rasmussen.

House Staff:Kenneth Hirst (786-7105)

AS PASSED HOUSE APRIL 6, 1987

BACKGROUND:

State law enacted in 1969 required all persons claiming a right to water, based on something other than a water permit or certificate of right issued by the state, to file a water right claim with the Department of Ecology.  With certain exceptions, the claims had to be filed by June 30, 1974.  Any person claiming such a water right who failed to file the required statement of claim is deemed by statute to have waived and relinquished any right, title, or interest in the right.

Filing a statement of claim does not constitute an adjudication of a claim.  However, the statement is, under certain circumstances, admissible in a general adjudication proceeding for water rights claims as prima facie evidence of the times of use and quantity of water withdrawn as of the date of the filing.

SUMMARY:

A person or entity with a water right claim on file with the Department of Ecology on the effective date of the bill may submit to the department an amendment to the statement of claim.  Such an amendment must be based upon:  an error in estimating the quantity of the water claim if reasons are provided for the failure to claim the right in the original claim; a change in circumstances, concerning only the manner of transportation or diversion of the water, not foreseeable at the time the original claim was filed; or a ministerial change.  The department shall accept such a submission and file it in the claims registry unless it concludes in writing that these requirements have not been satisfied.

A person aggrieved by a determination of the department may obtain a review by filing a petition with the Pollution Control Hearings Board within 30 days.

Fiscal Note:      Requested March 17, 1987.

Effective Date:The bill contains an emergency clause and takes effect immediately.

House Committee ‑ Testified For:    Bill McArdle, Cascade Irrigation District.

House Committee - Testified Against:      None Presented.

House Committee - Testimony For:    (1) The original law requiring that water right claims be filed with the Department and subsequent amendments to that law have always referred to the filing of claims; they do not provide for the filing of amendments to claims already on file.  (2) The original water right claim filed for the Cascade Irrigation District greatly underestimates the quantity of water used by the district from runoff waters received from 11 creeks.  The bill would permit an amendment to the original claim to be filed.

House Committee - Testimony Against:      None Presented.