Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Water Policy topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
House approves 10-year water-banking pilot after multi-year stakeholder process
Summary
The House passed Senate Bill 26 unanimously to create a voluntary, locally driven 10-year pilot framework for water banks; sponsor Rep. Hawkes described years of stakeholder work and proponents said it will add flexibility for agriculture and cities.
Representative Timothy Hawkes described SB26 as the culmination of roughly five years of stakeholder work to establish voluntary, local water banks as a 10-year pilot program. He said the framework lets groups of water-rights holders create temporary, local water banks that are voluntary and designed to help manage scarcity in a collaborative, market-oriented way.
"It essentially creates a framework for groups of water rights holders to get together and set up water banks," Hawkes said, noting that state appropriations have been paired with a federal grant to create seed funding for pilot projects.
Representative Ferri, who described himself as an agriculture stakeholder, praised the bill and urged support, saying the program will benefit irrigated agriculture, cities and rural communities. Representative Chu said she had voted against the bill in committee but would support it on the floor because its local opt-in design addressed many constituent concerns.
The vote was recorded by the clerk as 72 yay, 0 nay; SB26 will be returned to the Senate.
