Committee advances bill easing board-eligibility rules for small irrigation districts (SB 1337)

Representative Doug Pickett presented SB 1337, explaining that historical qualification requirements — residency within the district and on land within the district — made it difficult to find candidates as farms have consolidated. The bill would allow, for smaller districts of 15,000 acres or less, a landowner to serve on the board if approved by a 0.667 vote and provided the landowner owns land in the district or lives in the district’s county or an adjoining county.