A deluge of water metering bills inundated the public this year
A deluge of water metering bills inundated the public this year
The government aims to drown you in a sea of information overload, rendering you unable to take decisive action
In my previous post, I talked about a water metering bill focused on the marijuana industry (SB1352) that got a lot of press and then the HB3194 that slid under the radar all the way to the governor’s desk and allows the Oklahoma Water Resources Board to meter ALL permitted wells - not just commercial.
There were more, and we need to keep them on our radar because they incrementally strip more of our water rights away and require us to PAY THE GOVERNMENT for our water.
In addition, these bills started out with COMPLETELY DIFFERENT LANGUAGE than when they started. I want to know who or what entity is SO interested in this topic of water well metering that they are able to convince the legislature to jump through procedural hoops and make these broad-sweeping changes in the middle of session.
Senate Bill 1341
SB1341, authored by Senators Howard, Bullard and Representative Newton and Kendrix may not have made mention of metering commercial cannibis wells, but their bill is unrecognizable from when it was introduced.
It started out as a three-page new law in Title 82, Section 1020.9D that defined “critical groundwater management area” or “CGMA” to mean all or part of a groundwater basin that does not have sufficient groundwater to provide a reasonably safe supply for municipal use, irrigation or other uses at the current or projected rates of withdrawal. It defined “interference,” “active management plan” and then gave permission for the Oklahoma Water Resources Board (OWRB) to perform spot inspections to maintain adequate determinations of basin measurements, yields and sustainability.
NOT LATER THAN NOVEMBER 1, 2027, ALL WATER PERMITS FOR WATER USAGE THAT ARE IN EFFECT SHALL HAVE METERING OR MEASURING OF THE WATER SOURCE IN PLACE TO ENSURE SUSTAINABLE USE.
That’s where it started.
It was assigned to Energy and Telecommunications Committee where it passed and went to the Senate Floor where it ended up with a floor substitute that passed 37-5.
This floor substitute was a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT BILL.
Now it includes twenty-two pages that amend Title 82, Sections 1020.12,1020.15, 1020.16, 1020.19, 1085.2, and 1085.11.
This is an insane amount of sections to include in ONE bill. When I started going through it, I noticed that it modifies the same section 1020.19 as HB3194 did (the one the governor is about to sign).
SB1341 takes away the landowners power to request that the OWRB require water wells be metered and instead switches to power to OWRB to make that designation without the input of the landowners (This is Section 1020.19 and HB3194).
The bill reads that:
a. all groundwater permit holders must equip all wells with a flow meter or an alternative measuring system (Section 1020.19 and HB3194),
b. requires OWRB to establish a phase-in schedule so all permit holders have a metering system within six years,
c. requires OWRB to review groundwater reports in a timely manner and modernize their data collection systems,
d. authorizes the OWRB to impose fines and penalties for overuse and to perform audits and spot checks if complaints are received,
e. Specifies when a growndwater permit holder must submit their usage reports and requires them to include data from a water meter,
f. allows OWRB to offer a permit for a five-year allocation of the max. annual yield provided no annual yield exceeds 125% of the annual proportional share, g. clarifies that any permit holder using less water than their permit allows will not have their allowance reduced,
h. creates a new process for filing complaints about groundwater waste, and
i. requires OWRB to create regulations for auditing groundwater use reports, modernizing its data collection, investigating claims of waste, and imposing fines for over use.
It then went to the House Agriculture Committee and was amended again on April 11, 2024. Right now, it is awaiting being scheduled on the House Floor and if it passes, it will have to go BACK to the Senate to have the House amendments voted on; but now that HB3194 is on the governor’s desk, I’m not sure what they do about the duplicative language changes.
If HB3194 passes, look to see many more water metering bills next year that incrementally add in these caveats and more regulations. This bill will morph into several smaller bills that legislators might find “benign” but when combined with all the other changes, can make huge impacts on our water rights.
HB3195
I laughed when I first read this bill. I laughed so I wouldn’t cry. The language in this bill is SO over the top, I seriously thought I was reading about “The Party” in Orwell’s 1984.
You should feel a bit relieved to know that this bill is dead for THIS SESSION. Officially (for now, because with the government, you never know). It was assigned to the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, but it was never heard. Thank goodness for small miracles.
HB 3195, authored by Representative Newton, creates a NEW LAW in Title 82, that sets out to ensure that our groundwater resources are managed appropriately by the Oklahoma Water Resources Board (OWRB) to regulate the withdrawal, transportation, use, conservation and conveyance of rights. It's a concoction of fear-mongering fueled by grift, designed to push the narrative that we must expand a state agency with numerous fee-generating regulations and enforcement powers to penalize non-compliance
If that wasn’t bad enough, the bill continued off the deep end.
“The legislature further finds that it is in the best interest of the general economy and welfare of this state and its citizens that the Legislature utilize its POLICE POWER to prescribe which uses of groundwater are most beneficial and economically effective.”
Yeah, ok. How about NO WAY. Do people really think that’s the way it is supposed to work?
I REALLY want to know who wrote this. Who works for who here?
SB659
SB659, authored by Senator Murdock and Rep. Patzkowsky also has to do Title 82 and modifies Section 1020.9 discussing groundwater permits, but it died after coming out of the Energy and Telecommunications Committee with an unanimous YES 11-0 vote on March 2, 2023 (last session). It never made it to the Senate Floor.
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