Background and Talking Points On Oregon House Bill 2566

Here is another terrible ground water bill that Rep. Dingfelder is trying to get into a hearing this week with the Ways and Means Committee. I have included all of the pertinent information and the ramifications of the bill.  We all need to call or e-mail Senator Kurt Schrader (Ways and Means Committee) and ask him not to schedule a hearing on this bill.

Gail Whitsett

          HB 2566 – BILL TO LIMIT  RURAL  DOMESTIC  WATER  USERS

PLEASE e-mail or call Senator Kurt Schrader today and ask him not to schedule more  hearings on this issue.       E-mail:  sen.kurtschrader@state.or.us                                   tel.#  (503) 986-1720

Background: 

            This is an extremely controversial piece of legislation and would only serve to increase the rural and urban divide.  This legislation was introduced as a committee bill by Rep. Dingfelder.  The bill lacks consensus and severely divides the regulated and non regulated community.

             Some members of the House Energy and Environment Committee introduced an amendment to remove all the language in the bill and replace it with the formation of a task force.  Due to a procedural error, instead of removing language from the bill it was enlarged, keeping the existing language and making an additional requirement for the establishment of a task force.

                                                            Talking Points

      CHANGES ARE NOT NEEDED

HB 2566 makes completely unnecessary changes to Oregon law. Oregon Water  Resources Department currently possesses all statutory and regulatory tools necessary to protect Oregon 's aquifers when needed. 

      ACT CREATES USER FEE

HB 2566 creates a one time $250 user fee for all wells logged after the effective date of the act to be used to conduct groundwater studies and monitoring, and to pay for the Department’s costs of permitting all exempt uses in certain areas.

HB 2566 unfairly forces exempt domestic well owners to pay a $250 fee that does not apply to other well owners.

HB 2566 generates a large amount of money for the Water Resources Department and provides few restrictions on how the agency must spend it. 

The fee imposed on domestic well owners by HB 2566 will generate about $1 million per year- if not more.  HB 2566 states this money may be used for “ground water studies”, “ground water monitoring” and to classify ground water limited and critical ground water areas. This language is very broad and essentially provides the Department $1 million that may be spent in an exceedingly discretionary manner.

TAKES EXISING WATER RIGHTS

            “Exempt water rights” are vested property rights – Exempt water rights, once 

established, have the same legal status as any other water right.  ORS 537-5452 provides “The use of ground water for a use exempt under subsection (1) of this section, to the extent that it is beneficial, constitutes a right to appropriate ground water equal to that established by a ground water right certificate issued under ORS 537.700.

 HB 2566 will divest landowners of vested exempt water rights and

 spawn unnecessary litigation.  In the rush to pass the bill out of committee

 before the deadline, the committee  adopted a bill that retroactively limits vested

 exempt water rights, and even allows the Commission to invalidate vested

 exempt water rights in some instances.  The limitation and invalidation of vested

 exempt water rights may be deemed a taking of private property under state

 and/or federal taking law.

 ACT EXPANDS PERMITTING REQUIREMENTS

Areas that would require a permit for all exempt use upon passage of the act would include critical groundwater areas, ground water limited areas, and areas where the highest and best use has been reclassified by the Department.  Reclassification for highest and best use could include a variety of uses in any stream including in-stream flow or fish habitat enhancements related to drought, water temperature, or maintenance of stream morphology.

OWRD BUDGET ALREADY INCREASED 20% PLUS ADDITIONAL FEES

     The department’s new budget increases fees across the board.  Now the

     Department  wants a new fee to conduct unspecified “ground water studies”

    and to fund  “ground water monitoring.” Moreover, the Department’s budget

    includes an approximate 20% increase in general fund dollars.  When is

    enough, enough.