Committee advances $2.5 million Walla Walla Basin appropriation and temporary water‑right lease provisions

The Senate Committee on Veterans, Emergency Management, Federal and World Affairs adopted multiple amendments and voted to send Senate Bill 761 to the Joint Committee on Ways and Means with a do‑pass recommendation. Committee staff said the dash‑2 amendment appropriates $2.5 million from the general fund to the Oregon Water Resources Department (OWRD) for the 2025–27 biennium to fund projects benefiting water demands in the Walla Walla River Basin and to enter into an agreement with the Office of the Columbia River within the Washington Department of Ecology. The dash‑4 amendment permits OWRD to approve applications by eligible water‑related districts in the basin to lease all or a portion of an existing water right for temporary conversion to an in‑stream water right in specified circumstances; it requires public notice, allows termination of a lease if it injures existing rights, and authorizes the Water Resources Commission to adopt implementing rules. The act is scheduled for repeal on Jan. 2, 2030, according to committee staff.

Committee staff said the dash‑2 amendment has a fiscal impact issued but no revenue impact; the dash‑4 amendment has minimal fiscal impact and no revenue impact. Senator Brock Smith moved to adopt the dash‑2 and dash‑4 amendments and later moved the bill, as amended, to the floor with a do‑pass recommendation and prior referral to Ways and Means. The committee roll call recorded: Senator Meek — yes; Senator Brock Smith — yes; Senator Woods — excused; Vice Chair Thatcher — excused; Chair Manning — yes. The chair announced the bill will be referred to the Joint Committee on Ways and Means.

Committee members made no further amendments on the floor of the work session. The bill contains an appropriation for projects in the basin and temporary‑lease authority with specified safeguards and a statutory sunset date in 2030.