Committee hears public testimony, staff briefing on contested-case reform for water-rights process

The House Committee on Agriculture, Land Use, Natural Resources, and Water opened a public hearing and received a technical briefing on House Bill 3,544 (dash-3), a bill that would standardize contested-case procedures administered by the Oregon Water Resources Department (OWRD).

Committee members and OWRD staff described the measure as an effort to streamline contested-case schedules, clarify party-status and protest requirements, and expand settlement mechanisms. "This bill would provide and actually direct the agency to work with the Office of Administrative Hearings to develop default schedules," said Raquel (department staff), who presented the bill’s technical overview. The bill sets a 180-day default deadline for completing a hearing from referral to hearing (with enumerated exceptions), establishes a preference for oral testimony when…