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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

SPONSOR Campos

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

1/31/07

HB 699

SHORT TITLE Fort Sumner Irrigation District Adjudication

SB

ANALYST Propst

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY07

FY08

$100.0

Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Office of the State Engineer (OSE)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

House Bill 699 appropriates $100.0 from the General Fund to the Local Government Division of

the Department of Finance and Administration to provide professional services to the Fort

Sumner Irrigation District for the Adjudication of Water Rights.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $100.0 contained in this bill is a recurring expense to the General Fund.

Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of FY08 shall revert to the

General Fund.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

The services provided would include historical studies, hydrographic surveying, hydrographic

mapping, legal fees, and other necessary but unspecified technical services. Any unexpended or

unencumbered funds remaining at the end of fiscal year 2008 would revert to the general fund

.

House Bill 699 – Page

2

The Office of the State Engineer notes that

water rights adjudication has been an issue

throughout the State for many years, the process is time consuming as historical studies,

hydrographic surveying and mapping along with the related legal ramifications result in years

addressing these concerns before final resolution is realized.

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

The OSE is the agency that possesses the specialized knowledge, expertise and experience

related to water right adjudication, it might be more efficient to appropriate the funds to OSE.

CONFLICT, DUPLICATION, COMPANIONSHIP, RELATIONSHIP

According to the OSE, the Executive Summary Annual 2007 Budget in Brief, includes

appropriated funds for this purpose through the Strategic Water Reserve initiative.

OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES

OSE reports that, as a rule, the State has not embraced the funding of water-right adjudication

expenses that are incurred by individual water-right claimants. The exception to this has been

funds awarded to Acequia associations through the Acequia and Ditch Fund to assist them in the

adjudication of their water rights. Setting a precedent could encourage other entities such as

municipalities and irrigation districts to expect that their adjudication costs be underwritten by

the State.

WEP/nt