2019 Legislative Preview

Today is the opening day of the Utah Legislature. Below is a summary of water-related legislation that will be considered during the 2019 legislative session.

HB 12 – Instream Flow Water Right Amendments

Rep. Timothy D. Hawkes
House Bill 12 would remove the current “sunset provision” the Legislature enacted when it created Utah Code section 73-3-30(3), which authorized fishing groups to file fixed time change applications to provide instream flows for the Bonneville cutthroat, the Colorado River cutthroat, and the Yellowstone cutthroat. The program is currently set to expire on December 31, 2019.

HB 31 – Water Supply and Surplus Water Amendments

Rep. Kim F. Coleman
House Bill 31 addresses the how municipalities are to provide water service within and beyond its municipal boundaries. The municipality must define, by ordinance, the municipality’s designated water service area, which may be an area that extends beyond the municipality’s boundaries. The municipality must adopt, by ordinance, reasonable water rates for retail customers within the area, and must provide water service to its retail customers within the designated water service area in a manner consistent with the principles of equal protection. A municipality can establish different rates for different classifications of retail customers, if the rates and classifications have a reasonable basis. If a municipality provides water to a retail customer outside of the municipality’s boundary, the municipality must create and maintain a map showing the areas outside of the municipality’s designated water service area where the municipality provides water service to a retail customer. The municipality must provide the map to the State Engineer and, if the municipality has more than 500 retail customers, post the map on the municipality’s website. If more than 10% of a large municipality’s retail customers are outside the municipal boundaries, the municipality must establish an advisory board to make recommendations regarding water rights, water projects, and water service standards. If the municipality supplies water outside of its designated water service area, it must do so only by contract that includes terms for termination, and the municipality must notify the Division of Drinking Water of the names and contact information for each person in these contracts. The bill would take effect in January 2021, provided that the constitutional amendments under HJR 1 are approved by the Legislature and by voters.

HB 125 – Quantity Impairment Modifications

Rep. Carl R. Albrecht
House Bill 125 makes one modification to Utah Code section73-3-8 regarding quantity impairment determinations in change application proceedings. Currently, the statute provides that there is a rebuttable presumption of quantity impairment if, for a period of seven consecutive years, a water right has not been diverted from its approved point of diversion and beneficially used at its approved place of use. The bill would change the “and” to “or.”

HB 143 – Water Conservation Plan Amendment

Rep. Suzanne Harrison
House Bill 143 proposes to make several amendments to UtahCode section 73-10-32 regarding water conservation plans. The proposal would require that water conservation plans prepared by water districts and retail water providers must include an evaluation of the specific measures that would have to be enacted to reduce water use to 175 gallons per capita per day or less, and how much it would cost to do so. The plans would also have to an analysis of how much it would cost in operation costs, maintenance costs, treatments costs, delivery costs, etc. to not reduce water use to 175 gallons per capita per day.

HJR 1 – Proposal to Amend Utah Constitution – Municipal Water Resources

Rep. Keven J. Stratton
House Joint Resolution 1 proposes an amendment to Article XI, Section 6 of the Utah Constitution. The proposal would maintain the prohibition that a municipality cannot lease, sell, alienate, or dispose of any of its water rights or water supply sources. A municipality would be allowed to designate, by ordinance, the geographic limits of its designated water service area, which could be an area that extends beyond its municipal boundaries. A municipality will be allowed to supply water to retail customers outside of its municipal boundaries but within its designated water service area, as well as outside of its designated water service area through surplus water agreements. Municipalities are also allowed to exchange water rights or water supply sources for other water rights or water supply sources. If HJR 1 is passed by the Legislature, the proposed amendment will be submitted to Utah voters at the next general election.

HJR 5 – Joint Resolution Approving Notes to Water Rights Addenda

Rep. Derrin R. Owens
House Joint Resolution 5 proposes edits to the water rightsdeed addenda. The proposed edits add clarification that a properly recorded water rights addendum can be processed as though it were a Report of Conveyance. If, however, the water rights addendum cannot be processed as a Report of Conveyance (e.g., if signatures are missing from the addendum, if the addendum is incorrectly filled out, or if the grantor listed on the addendum is not the recognized water right owner on the Division of Water Rights’ database), then the water right owner will need to file a Report of Conveyance in order to update title with the Division.
 
SB 17 – Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Amendments
Sen. Ralph Okerlund
Senate Bill 17 amends Utah Code section 10-8-15 regarding a municipality’s extraterritorial jurisdiction over waterworks and water sources. The bill maintains a municipality’s right to construct waterworks inside and outside of the municipality’s boundaries, and also maintains a municipality’s jurisdiction over its waterworks as well as streams and other water sources for a distance of 15 miles about the water source and 300 feet on each side of a stream. First class cities (which are cities with a population exceeding 100,000 residents) continue to have jurisdiction over the entire watershed, but the jurisdiction is limited to the county in which the city is located, unless there is an agreement between the first class city and the municipalities and counties that have jurisdiction over the area. The bill also requires additional notice and hearing requirements if municipalities seek to adopt ordinances under their extraterritorial jurisdiction power. Such ordinances cannot conflict with existing federal or state statutes and rules.

SB 52 – Secondary Water Metering Requirements

Sen. Jacob L. Anderegg
Senate Bill 52 enacts deadlines for metering secondary water use, which is defined as pressurized non-culinary and non-agricultural water use for the irrigation of landscaping and gardens. It would require secondary water suppliers to have all new service beginning after July 1, 2019 be metered. All existing connections will need to be metered by 2030. It would also require secondary water suppliers to report water use and other information to the Division of Water Rights before March 31 of each year and to provide monthly readings and educational material to its customers, among other things. To help offset the costs associated with installing meters, the bill would direct the Board of Water Resources to make $10 million available each year (as funded by the Legislature) in the form of loans and grants for up to 50% of the total cost (grants are limited to 16.5% of the total cost). Finally, a water user would not be able to use culinary water if secondary water is available to irrigate landscaping and gardens even though the culinary water rates may be lower.

SB 66 – Dam Safety Amendments

Sen. Scott D. Sandall
Senate Bill 66 makes minor wording changes to Utah dam safety statutes regarding the State Engineer’s regulation of dam safety. The purpose of the bill is to clarify to that the State Engineer’s responsibility is to ensure that dams are safe so they do not fail and cause damage, but that it is not the State Engineer’s responsibility to govern use and safety of the impounded reservoirs for boating, fishing, and other recreational use.

SJR 1 – Joint Resolution Supporting the Study of Water Banking in Utah

Sen. Jani Iwamoto
Senate Joint Resolution 1 expresses support for a multi-stakeholder group that has been working for over a year to develop a water banking program for Utah in accordance with related recommendations from the Governor’s 2017 Recommended Water Strategy. The resolution requests draft water banking legislation for the Legislature to consider during the 2020 general session that would: (1) recognize that the majority of water rights in Utah are agricultural in nature; (2) incentivize agricultural water users to participate in water banking; (3) protect against abandonment and forfeiture for water rights placed within a water bank; (4) minimize the potential for water right impairment; and (5) ensure that water placed within a water bank may be leased or otherwise used for any lawful purpose.