District Court Water Judges - rule adopted

In a prior post, I discussed a proposed amendment to the Utah Code of Judicial Administration that would allow for the appointment of district court water judges. Rule 6-104 has now been formally adopted and will become effective on November 1, 2022. 

The adopted rule has a few changes from the original proposed rule. 

First, section 6 of the original proposed rule required water judges to publish any opinion that decided a water law case of first impression. Some people were concerned that publishing the opinions gave the impression that they were binding decisions. Section 6 of the adopted rule requires judges water judges to post decisions in water law cases of first impression. 

Second, section 8 was added to clarify that nothing in the rule affects the venue of a water law case.

To read the full text of the adopted rule, click here.