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Bill cleans up implementation language for water-rights permitting timelines
Summary
Senate Bill 76 would clarify and correct implementation language from 2023's House Bill 114, specifying that processing timelines hinge on whether a pre-application meeting occurred, ensuring due process for denials and separating public-comment and response periods.
Senator Sue Vinton opened the hearing on Senate Bill 76, a cleanup measure that clarifies language adopted in 2023's House Bill 114 and aims to ensure the department's water-rights permitting timelines and due-process steps operate as intended.
Nate Ward, bureau chief of the Water Rights Bureau at DNRC, said the bill corrects ambiguities discovered during implementation. Key fixes: timelines are tied to whether a pre-application meeting was completed (not to a vague "technical analyses" trigger); a departmental decision to deny an application is routed automatically to a hearing under section 85-2-310; and DNRC is given 30 days after the close of the public-comment period to review comments and update its preliminary determination.
Stakeholders who participated in the 2021 comprehensive water review and the 2023 stakeholder working group supported the cleanup. Clayton Elliott of Montana Trout Unlimited and Raley Honeycutt (who also testified earlier) both described the changes as consistent with the working group's intent to create predictable timelines and provide due process. Mike Murphy, Brian Thompson and Nicole Rolfe also testified in support.
Senator Vinton closed by asking the committee for a due-pass recommendation. The transcript shows committee members thanked sponsors and witnesses; no formal roll-call vote was recorded during the hearing.
The changes are narrowly drafted implementation clarifications: proponents said they do not add time to statutory timelines created in 2023 but instead align statute with the stakeholder group's intent.
