Legislative Update: April 10

Beyond the actions in committees and on the floor, we will be working on amendments to a bill allowing storage of water at alternate locations without undergoing a change of use. As written, this bill decreases transparency and could allow damage to streams. We will also be working on a bill allowing “dedications” of water for in-stream uses without undergoing change cases. Additional tools to keep water in streams are always useful, but this bill would apply in a very narrow range of circumstances. It’s important to make sure that that fact remains clear so as not to undermine other tools we’ve worked hard to create.

Finally we will be working to improve, or at least preclude further weakening of the CPW financial bill. Much of the bill is as expected but there are a few problem spots. The most significant aspect is section 4, which prohibits the use of any “new” money raised by the increase in fees under the bill for fee title acquisitions of land or water. While we may have to accept some form of limitation on expenditure of increases revenue for fee title purchases, given the makeup of the legislature, an outright ban is a little heavy handed.