House committee advances House Bill 1340 after amendments that change water-use and revegetation rules

A House committee voted 13-0 to advance House Bill 1340 to the Committee of the Whole after adopting two amendments that alter how revegetation and related water use on private land would be handled.

Representative Morrow, the sponsor explaining the changes, said the strike-and-replace language reflects months of stakeholder work and addresses private property concerns. "The strike below reflects changes developed through extensive stakeholder discussions, particularly to address concerns around private property rights," Morrow said, summarizing the amendment package.

The amendments remove a temporary access easement requirement and add a definition of "successfully established." They shift implementation to a field-by-field approach and replace a fixed 50% water-use cap with a more flexible, case-by-case framework that can rely on financial assurances or limits established through water court or existing local-government authority to ensure compliance, according to Morrow.

Representative Winter, who moved the amendment and later moved the bill to the Committee of the Whole, said the package reflects long engagement on the issue. "It's been an 18 month journey," Winter said, and thanked the bill drafter and two experts, "Mr. Knapp and Mr. Goble," for their work on the measure.

Representative Smith, among other committee members, noted that other water districts may want to be included in revegetation efforts in the future. "I think it might have come as a little bit of a surprise that the other water districts want to be included in this sort of revegetation," Smith said, suggesting the committee could consider widening scope in a later session.

After closing remarks by sponsors and no objections to the amended language, the committee approved the amendment-to-the-amendment (L002 to L001) and adopted L001 as amended. Representative Winter moved that the amended bill be sent to the Committee of the Whole with a favorable recommendation; Miss Kelly called the roll and the motion passed unanimously, recorded as "thirteen-zero." The committee then adjourned.

The transcript does not record a specific committee name or meeting date; the committee's next procedural step is to have House Bill 1340 considered by the Committee of the Whole.