Senate Bill 36, which would establish a Nevada voluntary groundwater rights retirement program, was advanced by the Assembly Committee on Natural Resources after proponents described the measure as a tool to reduce long‑term groundwater overuse.

Sen. Julie Pizzina, sponsor of SB 36, told the committee the bill "establishes provisions relating to the conservation of groundwater" and is the standalone water‑rights‑retirement piece of prior omnibus water legislation. She said the proposal builds on a pilot funded with $25,000,000 in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) money that the state used to retire water rights from willing sellers.

Supporters said the program is voluntary and targets basins with steep groundwater declines. "We know that overuse of groundwater in some places is depleting this precious resource and impacting other water users as well as our natural resources," Laurel Saito, Nevada Water Strategy director for The Nature Conservancy, told the committee. "These impacts can take years, decades, or even centuries to reverse." Jeff Fontaine, executive director of the Central Nevada Regional Water Authority and the Humboldt River Basin Water Authority, said the two authorities implemented a pilot during the interim and "between the two organizations, we retired over 17,000 acre‑feet of water in three groundwater basins where the groundwater levels are sharply declining," adding that Diamond Valley is among the basins affected.

Pizzina and Fontaine said the pilot also included grants managed by the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and distributed to four entities: the Central Nevada Regional Water Authority, the Humboldt River Basin Water Authority, the Walker Basin Conservancy and the Southern Nevada Water Authority. Pizzina told the committee the pilot "successfully retire[d] over 20,000 acre‑feet of water rights from willing sellers," a figure she used to summarize the statewide pilot results; Fontaine provided the 17,000 acre‑feet figure for the two regional authorities he represents.

Witnesses from conservation groups, water agencies and local governments spoke in support. Christy Cabrera, deputy director of the Nevada Conservation League, said the program is "another important tool to conserving" state water resources. Katie Hale, testifying on behalf of EDF Action, said the permanent program would allow the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources "to implement science‑based criteria and monitoring mechanisms to maximize water savings." James Stonewall, director of the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, testified neutral and said the department "appreciate[d] working with the sponsor and other entities" and confirmed the agency had used ARPA funds to acquire and retire water rights during the pilot.

Committee members asked whether the standalone bill duplicates AB 104; Pizzina said SB 36 contains the water‑rights‑retirement language consistent with AB 104 but exists as a separate, focused bill so stakeholders who worked on the program could receive recognition and so the retirement authority would stand alone.

The committee moved the bill in a work session. A motion to "do pass" SB 36 was made by Vice Chair LaRue Hatch; the motion passed by voice vote with the committee recording the motion as approved unanimously.

SB 36 would authorize the state to formalize a voluntary retirement program for specified groundwater rights and clarify terms the State Engineer would apply when retired rights are removed from future appropriation. The measure incorporates technical edits the Sponsor said were made to align terminology with State Engineer practice.