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Committee advances bill to require hearings, Dec. 1 deadline for water-management methodology changes
Summary
Senate Resources & Environment Committee advanced Senate Bill 1061, which would require IDWR to give notice and hold a hearing before issuing a new methodology order for conjunctive management and to issue a final methodology no later than Dec. 1 before the year it takes effect.
The Senate Resources & Environment Committee advanced Senate Bill 1061 after supporters said the measure would add predictability to how the Idaho Department of Water Resources (IDWR) sets methodology for conjunctive management of surface and groundwater on the Eastern Snake Plain.
Sponsor Senator Julie Van Orden said the bill was designed to avoid repeating a 2023 change in which the director issued a revised methodology late in spring, after irrigation decisions had already been made. "A methodology order is akin to rulemaking because it defines, quote, unquote, the rules of the game," Van Orden told the committee, adding that farmers and irrigators need changes well before the irrigation season.
Paul Arrington of the Idaho Water Users Association, who helped craft the bill language with surface- and groundwater interests, described the methodology as the multi-step process the director uses to forecast water supply, set curtailments and issue as-applied orders for each water year. "This bill... will provide a process that gives more predictability and certainty moving forward as it relates to the processes by which the Department of Water Resources implements conjunctive management on the Eastern Snake Plain," he said.
What the bill would do - Require notice and an opportunity to request a hearing before IDWR issues a new or revised methodology order used to determine material injury under conjunctive-management rules. - Require any final methodology order to be issued by Dec. 1 prior to the year in which the order takes effect, so irrigators can plan for planting and other operational decisions.
Why it matters Supporters said the timing and procedural safeguards would reduce uncertainty for irrigators and reduce dispute escalation. Brian Murdock, a farmer who testified in support, described the provision as putting "sideboards" on the director’s authority and urged the committee to adopt the bill to give water users more predictable decision deadlines.
Next steps The committee voted to send the bill to the Senate floor with a do-pass recommendation on a voice vote.
