AN ACT relating to prescriptive easements; establishing prescriptive easements for water conveyances; providing requirements for the width and use of a prescriptive easement as specified; requiring the state engineer's office to post an informational document on its website; providing notice to purchasers; specifying applicability and providing for an effective date.
ChildrenEnergyLand
Enacted
This bill passed the Legislature and reached final enactment based on the latest official action.
Sponsor
Water
Last action
2023-02-21
Official status
enrolled
Effective date
7/1/2023
Plain English Breakdown
The summary does not provide detailed specifics about the width or exact maintenance procedures, which are left to interpretation within the law's parameters.
Prescriptive Easement for Water Conveyances
This law establishes rules for water users to obtain a prescriptive easement for maintaining and using water conveyances like canals or pipelines on someone else's land after ten years of continuous use.
What This Bill Does
Defines the requirements for establishing a prescriptive easement for water conveyance purposes, including continuous, open, notorious, and adverse use for at least ten years.
Specifies that maintenance includes temporary removal of infrastructure with notice to the landowner if it affects ingress or egress.
Sets out the width of the easement based on the size and volume of water in the system.
Requires the State Engineer's Office to post information about prescriptive easements for water conveyances on their website.
Who It Names or Affects
Water users who want to establish a prescriptive easement for maintaining and using water conveyances.
Landowners whose property may be affected by these water conveyances.
The State Engineer's Office, which must post information about the law on their website.
Terms To Know
Prescriptive Easement
A legal right to use someone else’s land without permission when that use has been continuous and open for a certain period of time.
Water Conveyance
A man-made structure like a canal, ditch, drain ditch or pipeline used to transport water for agricultural purposes.
Limits and Unknowns
The law does not change existing easements or property rights.
It is unclear how this will affect future real estate transactions involving properties with water conveyances.
Amendments
These notes stay tied to the official amendment files and metadata from the legislature.
Plain English: This amendment changes the width requirement for prescriptive easements related to water conveyances and adds a new requirement for holders of these easements to replace the landowner's infrastructure.
Changes the maximum width of a prescriptive easement from forty-eight (48) feet to seventy-two (72) feet.
Adds a new requirement that the holder of a prescriptive easement must replace the landowner’s infrastructure in a timely manner after consulting with the landowner.
The amendment does not specify what types of infrastructure are covered by this replacement requirement, which could leave some details unclear.
Plain English: The amendment adds language to clarify that temporary changes or cessations in the use of a water conveyance system do not interrupt the establishment of a prescriptive easement.
Adds text after 'uninterrupted' to specify that consistent historical and traditional use by the water user does not get interrupted by temporary changes or cessations, as long as the water rights are not abandoned.
The amendment's full impact on how prescriptive easements are established is complex and may require further legal interpretation beyond this summary.
Standing Committee • House Agriculture, State and Public Lands & Water
Adopted
Plain English: The amendment changes the bill to require the state engineer's office to post an informational document on its website instead of maintaining it, and makes other minor edits related to water conveyances.
Changes 'maintain' to 'post' in relation to the state engineer's office putting a document online.
Adds language about headgates and diversion structures when discussing purposes.
Inserts 'of the water conveyance' after 'size', and adds 'the' before another mention of size.
Inserts 'water' before mentions of conveyance where appropriate.
The amendment text does not provide full context, so some details about how these changes will affect the bill's overall purpose are unclear.
Plain English: The amendment changes the term 'adverse' to 'hostile' in certain parts of the bill and modifies a definition related to water conveyance.
Replaces 'Adverse' with 'Hostile' on page 2, line 6.
Replaces 'adverse' with 'hostile' on page 2, line 10.
Adds the phrase 'man made' after 'means a' on page 3, line 4.
Modifies the definition of water conveyance to specify that it conveys water for agricultural purposes.
The full implications of changing from 'adverse' to 'hostile' are not explained in the amendment text and may require further legal interpretation.
Standing Committee • Senate Agriculture, State and Public Lands & Water
Adopted
Plain English: The amendment adds requirements for the width of prescriptive easements for water conveyances and specifies rules for maintenance activities that affect landowners' infrastructure.
Adds a new section defining 'maintenance' to include temporary removal of infrastructure for upkeep, with notice requirements to landowners.
Specifies that the width of a prescriptive easement should be reasonable enough to accommodate equipment necessary for operation and maintenance based on water volume in the conveyance system.
The amendment text does not provide specific details about how the width will be determined or what constitutes 'reasonable' notice, leaving some aspects open to interpretation.
Bill History
2023-02-21LSO
Assigned Chapter Number 69
2023-02-21Governor
Governor Signed SEA No. 0030
2023-02-16House
H Speaker Signed SEA No. 0030
2023-02-16Senate
S President Signed SEA No. 0030
2023-02-16LSO
Assigned Number SEA No. 0030
2023-02-16Senate
S Concur:Passed 26-4-1-0-0
2023-02-16Senate
S Received for Concurrence
2023-02-15House
H 3rd Reading:Passed 51-10-1-0-0
2023-02-14House
H 3rd Reading:Laid Back
2023-02-13House
H 2nd Reading:Passed
2023-02-10House
H COW:Passed
2023-02-09House
H Placed on General File
2023-02-09House
H05 - Agriculture:Recommend Amend and Do Pass 8-0-1-0-0
2023-02-08House
H Introduced and Referred to H05 - Agriculture
2023-01-24House
H Received for Introduction
2023-01-24Senate
S 3rd Reading:Passed 26-4-1-0-0
2023-01-20Senate
S 2nd Reading:Passed
2023-01-19Senate
S COW:Passed
2023-01-18Senate
S Placed on General File
2023-01-18Senate
S05 - Agriculture:Recommend Amend and Do Pass 5-0-0-0-0
2023-01-10Senate
S Introduced and Referred to S05 - Agriculture
2023-01-04Senate
S Received for Introduction
2022-12-29LSO
Bill Number Assigned
Official Summary Text
Bill Summary - 23LSO-0046
Bill No.:
SF0068
Effective:
7/1/2023
LSO No.:
23LSO-0046
Enrolled Act No.:
SEA No. 0030
Chapter No.:
69
Prime Sponsor:
Select Water Committee
Catch Title:
Prescriptive easement for water conveyances.
Subject:
Prescriptive easements for water conveyances.
Summary/Major Elements:
This bill codifies the process for obtaining a prescriptive easement for a water conveyance.
A prescriptive easement is an easement that arises out of operation of law, and not as the result of a formal agreement between a landowner and the person claiming the easement.
This bill establishes the elements necessary to establish a prescriptive easement for a water conveyance by requiring that use of the water conveyance be continuous and uninterrupted, open and notorious and adverse to the landowner for a period of ten (10) years.
The bill provides definitions, limitations and for the maintenance of the water conveyance.
The bill requires that the State Engineer's Office post an informational document related to water conveyance easements.
The above summary is not an official publication of the Wyoming Legislature and is not an official statement of legislative intent.
While the Legislative Service Office endeavored to provide accurate information in this summary, it should not be relied upon as a comprehensive abstract of the bill.
Current Bill Text
Read the full stored bill text
23LSO-0046
ORIGINAL Senate
ENGROSSED
File No
.
SF0068
ENROLLED ACT NO. 30,
SENATE
SIXTY-SEVENTH LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WYOMING
2023 General Session
AN ACT relating to prescriptive easements; establishing prescriptive easements for water conveyances; providing requirements for the width and use of a prescriptive easement as specified; requiring the state engineer's office to post an informational document on its website; providing notice to purchasers; specifying applicability and providing for an effective date.
Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Wyoming:
Section 1
.
W.S. 34
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1
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158 is created to read:
34
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1
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158.
Prescriptive easement for water conveyance.
(a)
A prescriptive easement for a water conveyance may be established if a water user has used and maintained a water conveyance under a claim of right for a period of ten (10) years during which the use has been:
(i)
Continuous and uninterrupted consistent with the historical and traditional use by the water user of the water conveyance system. A temporary change of use under W.S. 41-3-110 or a cessation of use, so long as the water rights are not abandoned under W.S. 41-3-401, shall not be deemed an interruption under this paragraph;
(ii)
Open and notorious; and
(iii)
Adverse.
(b)
If a water user establishes paragraphs (a)(i) and (ii) of this section, there is a rebuttable presumption that the use has been adverse under paragraph (a)(iii).
(c)
The holder of a prescriptive easement for a water conveyance established as provided in subsections (a) and (b) may:
(i)
File a notice describing the prescriptive easement consistent with the requirements of W.S. 34
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1
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141 in the office of the county clerk in which the prescriptive easement or a portion of the easement is located;
(ii)
Access, use, maintain and repair the water conveyance located within the easement in accordance with law. Maintenance, as used in this section, shall include the right of the holder of the prescriptive easement to temporarily remove infrastructure in or spanning the water conveyance system provided that:
(A)
Before the temporary removal for maintenance purposes of infrastructure that a landowner uses for ingress or egress, the holder of the prescriptive easement shall provide reasonable written notice given the extent and estimated time for maintenance but in no case shall notice be provided less than seventy
‑
two (72) hours before any temporary removal;
(B)
Any temporary removal of a landowner's infrastructure for the purpose of water conveyance system maintenance shall be reasonable and minimize any burden on the landowner. The holder of the prescriptive easement for a water conveyance shall replace the landowner's infrastructure in a timely manner in consultation with the landowner.
(d)
As used in this section:
(i)
"Water conveyance" means a man made canal, ditch, drain ditch or pipeline that conveys water for agricultural purposes including any appurtenant headgates and diversion structures;
(ii)
"Water user" means a water user or the water user's predecessor who owns an adjudicated or valid unadjudicated water right being conveyed in a water conveyance.
(e)
The width of a prescriptive easement for a water conveyance shall be based on the size of the water conveyance and the volume of water in the water conveyance system and shall:
(i)
Be of a reasonable width sufficient to utilize equipment suitable for the operation and maintenance of the water conveyance;
(ii)
Be from the center line of the water conveyance system but may vary from each side of the center line to reasonably facilitate the size of equipment, placement of dredge material and the topography that the water conveyance system traverses.
(f)
The state engineer's office shall post to its website an informational document regarding legal aspects related to water conveyance easements. This document shall not constitute legal advice. All real estate transactions involving property through which a water conveyance passes through shall include notice of this document.
Section 2.
Nothing in this act shall be construed to interfere with or modify any existing easement or property right, including a valid water right, nor alter any rights or duties associated with any existing easement or property right, as established by law.
Section 3
.
This act is effective July 1, 2023
.
(END)
Speaker of the House
President of the Senate
Governor
TIME APPROVED: _________
DATE APPROVED: _________
I hereby certify that this act originated in the Senate.
Chief Clerk
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