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Nebraska has also established a clear system of water rights based upon the <br />uses of the water and the priority date of those uses. Creatively solving some of <br />the endangered species issues in the Platte Basin requires that we consider means <br />of flexibility within these rights, while at the same time protecting those rights and <br />uses for future generations. <br />As we speak, the legislature and my committee specifically, are considering <br />various pieces of legislation related to leasing and banking water rights, <br />conversion of water rights between uses, establishing a legal linkage between <br />ground water and surface water and so on. My committee has advanced a bill, LB <br />1023, to the full legislature for debate. This bill creates a Water Policy Task Force <br />which will examine five issues relating to water policy in Nebraska over the <br />course of eighteen months at a cost of $750,000.00. <br />While the state was likely to have considered these issues in its own time <br />frame, the Cooperative Agreement discussions are forcing us into the situation of <br />considering many of these issues in a compressed time frame. While these issues <br />are important to resolving endangered species issues in the context of the <br />Cooperative Agreement, it is more important that the legislature of the state <br />consider very carefully the long term effects that any of these actions might have. <br />The legislature will not jeopardize the constitutional rights of our citizens or our <br />agricultural economy in Nebraska because of rushed or ill- considered measures. <br />That being said, let me extend my support to the Cooperative Agreement <br />process. A cooperative process among the states and the federal government — let <br />