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Breckenridge and Golden filed applications seeking decrees for <br />in- channel flow rights to operate whitewater kayak courses. <br />Before the water courts ultimately granted the respective <br />conditional decrees, the General Assembly enacted SB 216. Since <br />the amendments were not retroactive, §§ 37- 92- 102(6)(e), 37 -92- <br />103(7), 37- 92- 305(16), C.R.S. (2004), the water courts did not <br />apply them to Breckenridge and Golden's applications. Although <br />these cases were appealed, this Court was equally divided, <br />thereby affirming the decrees by operation of law. State Eng'r <br />v. City of Golden 69 P.3d 1027, 1028 (2003); State Eng'r v. <br />Eagle River Water & Sanitation Dist. 69 P.3d 1028, 1029 (Colo. <br />2003) . <br />B. An Overview of SB 216 <br />"Absent constitutional concerns, the General Assembly may <br />amend or repeal prior legislation as the result of the adoption <br />of policies that differ from those previously embraced by that <br />governmental institution." People v. Juvenile Court, City & <br />County of Denver, 893 P.2d 81, 89 (Colo. 1995). Exercising this <br />authority, SB 216 amended the Water Right Determination and <br />Administration Act of 1969, sections 37 -92 -101 to -602, C.R.S. <br />(2004), in several important respects. <br />First, the bill affected changes in statutory definitions. <br />"Diversion" and "beneficial use" were amended to expressly <br />encompass recreational in- channel diversions: <br />9 <br />