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Senate backs limits on repetitive temporary water-use permits but rejects in-stream flow language
Summary
Senate File 43, which updates the statute governing temporary changes in water use, passed after debate about reforming an archaic statute and adding sideboards on successive temporary permits; the Senate removed proposed in-stream flow restrictions in earlier amendment work.
The Wyoming Senate on Jan. 20 passed Senate File 43, an update to the state's temporary water-use change statute that, sponsors said, modernizes decades-old language and places limits on repetitive successive temporary permits.
Senator Case, speaking in opposition to aspects of the bill at one point, urged colleagues to consider broader potential beneficial uses of temporary water allocations, including tourism and industrial uses. "I hope we would take a more broad look at the benefits of different water uses for our tourism industry, for industry," he said.
Sponsor Senator Hicks said the primary purpose of the bill was to find and clarify the statute the State Engineer's Office has relied on for decades and to add sideboards that would prevent perpetual reliance on successive temporary permits. Hicks said regulators had seen an instance where an entity applied for more than 20 successive two-year extensions — functionally permanent changes made under a temporary process — and the amendment places a limit and a review requirement after a number of years to determine whether the use remains truly temporary.
Senate File 43 passed third reading by roll call, 23 ayes, 4 noes and 4 excused.
What it does: The bill consolidates scattered statutory language so temporary changes of use are easier to find in state code and places limits on repeated temporary-change petitions so the State Engineer can determine whether a purported temporary use has become permanent in effect.
Next steps: The bill will proceed to the House.
