Committee debates processing reforms in House Bill 3,342; agencies and water providers raise concerns

The House Committee on Agriculture, Land Use, Natural Resources, and Water opened a public hearing March 12 on House Bill 3,342 and proposed dash‑1 amendments that would change several Oregon Water Resources Department (OWRD) processes for new water rights, transfers and extensions.

Co‑chairs Representative Ken Helm and Co‑Chair Owens described the bills as aiming to reduce backlogs by improving front‑end processing and by creating procedural clarity on transfers and extensions. Brynn Hudson, legislative coordinator for the Water Resources Department, provided a technical overview of the dash‑1 amendments and said the department was not taking a position; she described changes that include defaulting to electronic documents (with paper copies on request), replacing required newspaper notice with the department’s online weekly public notice, and allowing the department to pass through credit/debit card processing fees once…