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House Ag Committee hears Sargent County testimony on Legal Drain 11; bills would bar votes by landowners who don’t pay assessments
Summary
The House Agriculture Committee heard extended testimony on House Bills 1280 and 1396, both addressing maintenance of Legal Drain 11 after Sargent County officials said downstream flooding and crop losses followed larger culverts installed on Highway 13 in 2013.
The House Agriculture Committee took testimony on House Bill 1280 and House Bill 1396, both titled “relating to maintenance of drainage projects,” focusing on long‑running problems in Sargent County tied to Legal Drain 11 and disagreement with neighboring Ransom County over assessment and voting rights.
The bills would change how votes on maintenance projects affect landowners’ access to a legal drain: under the proposals, landowners who are assessed but fail to pay required maintenance fees could be barred from voting on measures obligating the district to finance work; a related provision in HB1396 would deny access to surface and subsurface drainage for five years to owners who vote against projects that proceed. Committee members heard detailed local testimony about how a 2013 upgrade of culverts at Highway 13 altered downstream flows and contributed to prolonged flooding and lost cropland in Sargent County.
Why it matters: Sargent County officials and landowners said Legal Drain 11 is a century‑old system that…
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