Change of use for irrigation districts.

WORKING DRAFT
2012
STATE OF
WYOMING
12LSO-0057

HOUSE BILL
NO.
HB0006

Change of
u
se for
i
rrigation
d
istricts
.

Sponsored by:
Joint Agriculture, State and Public Lands and Water Resources Interim Committee

A BILL

for

AN ACT relating
to

the amendment of certificates of appropriation;
modifying the conditions under which a
change in use
and change in place of use
may
be obtained
;

providing for change in use or place of use within legally organized

conservancy
and
irrigation districts
;
and
providing for an effective date.

Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Wyoming:

Section 1.

W.S.
4
1
‑
3
‑
1
04(a)
(intro)
and
41
‑
4
‑
5
14(d)
are
amended to read:

41
‑
3
‑
104.

Procedure to change use or place of use.

(a)

Except as provided in W.S. 41
‑
4
‑
514,

w
hen
an owner of a water right wishes to change a water right from
its present use to another use, or from the place of use under the existing right to a new place of use, he shall file a petition requesting permission to make such a change. The petition shall set forth all pertinent facts about the existing use and the proposed change in use, or, where a change in place of use is requested, all pertinent information about the existing place of use and the proposed place of use. The board may require that an advertised public hearing or hearings be held at the petitioner's expense. The petitioner shall provide a transcript of the public hearing to the board. The change in use, or change in place of use, may be allowed, provided that the quantity of water transferred by the granting of the petition shall not exceed the amount of water historically diverted under the existing use, nor exceed the historic rate of diversion under the existing use, nor increase the historic amount consumptively used under the existing use, nor decrease the historic amount of return flow, nor in any manner injure other existing lawful appropriators. The board of control shall consider all facts it believes pertinent to the transfer which may include the following:

41
‑
4
‑
514.

Petition for amendment of permits; petition for amended certificate of appropriation; hearings on petition; notice; costs.

(d)

The state board of control is authorized, upon the written petition of the owner, to issue amended certificates of appropriation
for
of

water rights that have been adjudicated for the purpose of correcting clerical errors
and
when in the judgment of the board it appears
or to amend other provisions of the certificate
as
necessary
.
The total amount of the appropriation of water shall not exceed the amount set forth in the original certificate of appropriation and, in the case of an appropriation for irrigation use, the total area of the lands shall not exceed the total area described in the original certificate of appropriation.
Except within legally organized
conservancy or
irrigation districts where the state board of control has determined in a contested case hearing, conducted in accordance with its rules and the Wyoming Administrative Procedure Act, that there is no injury to the water rights of other
Wyoming
appropriators, t
he amended area shall not exceed the area actually irrigated under the original
water

right
.

An owner of a water right within a legally organized
conservancy or
irrigation
district may obtain
,
under this section
,

an amendment of the use or
the place of use
to another area within the district
notwithstanding
the time limits established by W.S. 41
‑
3
‑
108
.
Any petitioner shall be the owner of all the land involved in the petition, except that in cases where amendments are petitioned for
in
within

a

regularly
legally

organized
conservanc
y
or
irrigation district, the consent of the district board and the consent or agreement of the land owners directly involved is sufficient. Proper adjustments shall be made in any assessment levied against lands affected by the amendment. The
water

rights of other

Wyoming
appropriators shall not be injuriously affected
thereby

by the granting of an amended certificate of appropriation
.

Section 2.
This act is effective July 1, 2012.

(END)

1
HB0006