House Judiciary reviews S.45 changes that would limit nuisance suits against farms, debates flood thresholds

The House Judiciary Committee met April 9 to review draft 2.1 of S.45, a bill that would limit nuisance liability for agricultural activities and add a specified exception for flood-related claims when certain storm thresholds are met. Michael Grady, Office of Legislative Council, walked members through the changes and two alternative thresholds for when flooding would not be covered by the bill's nuisance protections.

The bill would preserve existing protections that allow recovery for damages caused by agricultural pollution of state waters, but add a flood-specific carve-out: no nuisance protection would apply if runoff causing flooding was not the result of either (a) a 25‑year, 24‑hour rainfall event as defined by the National Weather Service or (b) a flood with an annual exceedance probability (AEP) of 4% or lower. "An annual exceedance probability of 4% means it could occur once every 25 years," Michael Grady said, adding that AEP is not limited to a 24‑hour duration and is expressed as a percent by the U.S. Geological Survey or National Weather Service.

Why it matters: The choice of storm metric affects whether farms can claim statutory nuisance protection after a flooding event and aligns civil liability standards with, or apart…