2-07 House Committee Lay Over Unamended

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2-07 House Committee Lay Over Unamended Page 10 of 49 made it clear in those days that all decisions need to be made in the first instance upon data and they did well with what they had. Well, we can do that again today. That's what SWSI is all about. That's the first step is get the data, find out what we have and what we need. This is the next step. This is an invitation given by the state in its role to anyone who will come to the table and talk about these issues. We will ask for the same ingredients to be put on the table. Come in good faith, be willing to openly look at the next level, put the litigating possibilities aside, put the local self- interests aside for the moment. Come to the table and look. Here's what I need; here's what I'm willing to give. In the first instance we can do it from an inter-basin side. Two basins talking; three or more; or are there areas within a basin that need to have the same conversations. The difference in some ways between this idea and some of what we see in some places in the state today is this one invites us and encourages us to recognize that virtually any decision made anywhere in the water business in this state is going to impact and have a connection to the other basins. There's an interconnectedness that we always haven't acknowledged. This process will invite us to do that. Now we started the bill that you have in front of you in a simple form. We intentionally tried not to put too much meat on the bones, but we wanted to have a pretty real process skeleton in place. That's what we've brought to you so far. Now the risk in that of course is that when things are left unsaid, it invites people to worry about what does that mean. That's fine because the whole idea here is that we set the table, but we invite the people who come to the table to tell us what needs to be on it. Who needs to be there to make decisions. We wanted that to be made out in the local communities. We're dignifying local involvement, local decision-making in its completest form. The state is dictating nothing. The state is setting in motion a voluntary process. We think it's our responsibility to underwrite this process wherever people across the state want to do it. Bring the resources to the table. In the first instance we bring the SWSI data as we have it and the SWSI data as we generate as time goes forward. The question was asked how does this relate to SWSI. Hand in glove; SWSI is moving forward whether or not this does. That's why there might appear to be some overlapping because until they're both in motion we have to keep SWSI as it's designed. It's a matter of statute. www.escriptionist.com Page 10 of 49