BOARD01993

• Board Meeting Date: 11/15/1984
• Description: Agenda, Minutes, Memos
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Meeting

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Discussion

No action was taken by Congress on this bill during this 4It
past session. However, I have been advised that the bill will be
reintroduced next year with revisions which the Lower Basin
states believe are needed in order to avoid unintended effects on
some activities in the floodplain. We have received the amended
version of the proposed bill. It makes no significant changes in
the major features of the bill as originally introduced and it
continues to merit the Board's support.

The Lower and Upper Basin states have indicated that they
would like to discuss the amended bill with the intent of
arriving at a seven-state position on the proposed legislation.
I expect those discussions to start in December when the
governors' ad hoc task force on reservoir operations, to which I
am Colorado's representative, meets.

On a related matter, Senator De Concini (Arizona) introduced
a bill (S. 2918) late in the session which would have done
nothing more than create a task force to study the problem of
restoring a floodway. The Senator's bill contained none of the
provisions found in H.R. 5055 which would result in specific
steps being taken to establish and manage a floodway and
discourage development therein. Under the circumstances, H.R.
5055 is clearly preferable to S. 2918.

Recommendations

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I recommend that the Board:

(1) Reaffirm its support for the general provisions of H.R.
5055, with the amendments proposed by the Lower Basin
states,

(2) Take the position that S. 2918 is an unacceptable
response to the problem, and

(3) Direct the staff to participate in any seven-state
discussions of H.R. 5055 and report back to the Board on
the results of such deliberations so that the Board can
take such additional action, if any, as it deems
appropriate.

JWM/gl

MEMORANDUM

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November 7, 1984

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