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Senate panel adopts amendment and advances House Bill 1218 on water project economic analyses
Summary
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee adopted an amendment agreed to by the bill sponsor, Department of Water Resources and the governor’s office and voted to give House Bill 1218 a due-pass recommendation; the measure revises economic-analysis requirements for water projects and removes certain drainage-area analysis mandates.
Chairman Patton, Chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, opened committee consideration of House Bill 1218, saying the bill "has to do with our economic analysis requirements related to the Department of Water Resources." The committee unanimously adopted an agreed amendment, then voted to give the bill a due-pass recommendation.
The amendment (identified in committee as 0.02002 and later as amendment 25.0817.02 during floor action) removes a requirement that detailed economic analyses be performed for drainage areas and adds language requiring reporting on the economic-analysis formula used for water projects. Chairman Patton said the language in the amendment had been agreed upon by Representative Schreiber Beck (the prime sponsor), the Department of Water Resources and the governor's office.
Senator Kessel moved to adopt the amendment; Senator Behm seconded. The clerk recorded the amendment vote as 7 ayes, 0 nays, 0 absent. After adopting the amendment, Senator Castle moved to advance the engrossed House Bill 1218 as amended; Senator Ingham seconded. The committee recorded the final motion as passed, 6 ayes, 1 nay, 0 absent.
Committee discussion focused on the scope of economic-analysis requirements for water projects and whether drainage-area analyses were creating operational difficulties for applicants and the agency. The committee recessed briefly during its consideration and reconvened to complete the amendment and final vote.
The record in committee shows the amendment was negotiated among the bill sponsor, agency and governor's office and that the committee adopted the negotiated language before advancing the bill. No statutory citations were read into the record during committee action and no formal amendments beyond the recorded amendment numbers were added in open committee.
