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Agency finds workaround; committee recommends do‑not‑pass on SB 2118
Summary
The Department of Water Resources told the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee it no longer needs Senate Bill 2118 because it has reached a stakeholder workaround; the committee recommended a do‑not‑pass on the bill unanimously.
Senate Bill 2118, which would have changed the Department of Water Resources’ role in an engineering determination process, was the subject of a brief hearing after the agency reported it had negotiated an out‑of‑committee process with stakeholders and no longer needs the proposed statutory change.
Rhys Haas, director of the Department of Water Resources, testified he had been on the job one week but reported the department and stakeholders had developed a process to achieve the bill’s goals without statutory change. "We have figured out, a process outside of the legislative process whereby we can work with the stakeholders. We feel that we no longer need this bill. So we do respectfully request that you, kill the bill," Haas said.
Jack Dwyer, executive secretary of the North Dakota Water Resource Districts Association, testified in opposition to the bill and said his association also preferred the bill be killed. With no proponents seeking the measure and the agency requesting it be denied, Senator Kessel moved a do‑not‑pass recommendation. The committee voted unanimously in favor of the recommendation and recorded a 7‑0 do‑not‑pass.
The committee assigned a carrier to the do‑not‑pass recommendation.
