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THE COLORADO WATER FOR THE 21sT CENTURY INTERBASIN COMPACT COMMITTEE CHARTER I. PREAMBLE The Colorado Water for the 21st Century Act creates a voluntary, collaborative process to help the state address its water challenges. The process is based upon the premise that Coloradoans can work together to address the water needs within the state. The Act sets up a framework that provides a permanent forum for broad-based water discussions. It creates nine Basin Roundtables and the Interbasin Compact Committee (IBCC), a statewide committee that will guide discussions and voluntary negotiations between basins. The IBCC is mandated to: 1) Establish bylaws to govern its actions, 2) Establish and refer to the general assembly an interbasin compact charter that shall govern and guide all negotiations between Basin Roundtables, 3) Submit an annual report to the legislature concerning the status of compact negotiations, and 4) Develop a public education, participation, and outreach working group. HB 05-1177 states that the IBCC Charter should contain a negotiating framework and foundational principles to guide voluntary negotiations between Basin Roundtables, including present and future consumptive and nonconsumptive water uses and such policies as may be necessary to ensure that compacts or other agreements between Roundtables do not conflict or otherwise not conform with one another. II. FOUNDATIONAL LEGAL PRINCIPLES The following foundational legal principles are drawn from the text of the legislation. I. The current system of allocating water within Colorado shall not be superseded, abrogated, or otherwise impaired by this article. 2. Nothing in HB 05-1177 shall be interpreted to repeal or in any manner amend the existing water rights adjudication system. 3. HB 05-1177 affirms the state constitution's recogmtlOn of water rights as a private usufructuary property right; and is not intended to restrict the ability of the holder of a water right to use or to dispose of that water right in any manner permitted under Colorado law. 4. HB 05-1177 affirms the protections for contractual and property rights recognized by the contract and takings protections under the state constitution and related statutes. IBCC Charter Page 1 of 8