4-14 Senate Committee

• Title: 4-14 Senate Committee
• IBCC - Doc Type: Legislation

4-14 Senate Committee
Interviewer, Interviewee

Page 5 of 37

goes into lawsuits and litigation on water?" So, that was the
genesis of really what we put down as the first draft of this bill;
was trying to recognize how they treated each other and how they
figured out how to come to a negotiated settlement.

So, that's what we've done and we thought that we would use the
first draft of the bill as the first example of how we thought
decision making ought to occur from this day forward; making
large scale water decisions in the state. And that is for us at the
state level not to dictate the answers. Not to try to decide for
ourselves, "Here's what's best for you" being anyone in any basin.
So, we drafted a fairly straightforward, plain, bare bones, concept
that still remains; but in the meantime we invited everyone who
was willing to talk to us to tell us what they would like to see
added to this, this skeleton. And that's why the bill is so heavily
amended as it comes to you today and why you'll be asked to
consider amendments again. That's the process. We've invited
folks to come to us knowing, fi.Jll well, that almost any new idea in
water these days has a serious risk of being dead on arrival. So,
this was our effort to say, "This one's different." This concept,
like SWSI, is a new way of addressing long term water solutions.

So, I'm happy to say that many folks accepted our invitation and
we've been in collaboration with all of the major water interests in
the state and many individuals and others. And as they come to us,
oftentimes it was with one or two questions. Either, "What is it
you're trying to do" or "Where do I fit into this?" Well, we can
answer what it is we want to do and that is trade a process of
fighting and litigation for a statewide process of collaboration,
conversation, and joint decision making. Where - how we answer
the second question was where do they fit in and what's in it for
me, or however the question would have been posed. We simply
turned it back to them and said, "Where do you want to be? What
do you want to see? How would this work for you?" And people
were good enough then to go back and seriously consider, what
would be the right answer for that?

And this did exactly what I wanted to do and I think is a foretelling
of what will happen as this process goes forward out in the basins.
That you get this enormous up swelling of good thinking and good
intention and good ideas and proposals; that's what we have here
today. It's been getting only better ever since. Now, I won't say
this hasn't been without a little bit of teeth gnashing. We had to
wrestle these parts but we also proved that when you do that, when
people what to see if a good idea can actually work and help you;
the good idea just does get better. And it begins to work.

www.escriptionist.com

Page 5 of 37