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Senate approves deadline and hearing requirement for water-right methodology orders
Summary
Senators passed SB 10-61 to require the Idaho director to set methodology orders for water-rights decisions by Dec. 1 of the preceding year and to provide notice and a hearing before major methodology changes, a response to disruptive 2023 methodology changes.
The Idaho Senate passed Senate Bill 10-61 on Feb. 25 to alter how the state sets methodology orders that guide water-right administration, voting 34 in favor with 1 absent. The sponsor said the bill is intended to prevent last-minute changes in methodology that can dramatically change curtailment outcomes for irrigators.
Senator Van Orden, who opened debate on SB 10-61, described the methodology order process as setting the “rules of the game” when the director issues methodology orders. He said the director’s late-April change in 2023—from a steady-state to a transient model—expanded the number of irrigated acres potentially curtailed from about 100,000 to over 600,000, creating disruptive effects and litigation risk.
Under the bill as described on the floor, the director would be required to set methodology changes by Dec. 1 of the prior year, and to give notice and hold a hearing before issuing the methodology order so irrigators and other stakeholders have time to respond.
Van Orden told the Senate that the bill moves the date certain for methodology orders and adds explicit notice and hearing requirements to avoid repeating the 2023 situation. “We want to avoid anything like that again,” he said. Debate closed without further amendment.
The senate secretary recorded 34 in favor and 1 absent. With a majority in the affirmative, SB 10-61 passed and was transmitted to the House of Representatives for consideration.
