WSP04349 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

S.B. 439 1tself created some new amb1gu1t1es. In an attempt to clear them up the leg1s1ature passed a resolut1on stat1ng that S.B. 439 was not 1ntended to create new substant1ve r'ghts, but only to deal w1th procedural matters. Th1s leaves uncerta1n whether water courts can recogn1ze cond1t1onal rlghts 1n nontr1butary groundwater. There 1s no statutory prov1s1on for cond1t1onal r1ghts although some water courts (notably 01v1s1on 1) had recogn1zed such r1ghts. Many leg1slators sa1d that they 1ntended the enactment of S.B. 439 to serve as a temporary solut1on unt1l groundwater regu1at1on could be more fully exam1ned. E. The Groundwater Leglslatlon Comm1ttee. Governor Rlchard O. Lamm s1gned S.B. 439 1nto law on October 11, 1983. In d01ng so, he sent a letter to the Colorado Senate that recogn1zed the amb1gu1tles created or not resolved by the new law and asked the leglslature to Bmove at once toward comprehens1ve leg1slatlon that wl1l address the 1ssue of how the state should exerc1se lts plenary control over nontrlbutary groundwater.B The Governor's letter 1s lncluded 1n Append1x A. Governor Lamm d1rected Dav1d H. Getches, Executlve D~rector of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources, to -'n1t1ate at once a study of poss1ble alternat1ve approaches to the adm1n1strat10n of groundwaterB by br1ng1ng together a group of experts 1n groundwater matters to -help the Department formulate recommendat10ns that can be cons1dered by the 1eglslature next year.B Getches estab11shed the Groundwater Leglslat10n Comm1ttee as d1rected by Governor Lamm. The Comm1ttee members are 11sted on the 1ns1de cover of thls report. The full Comm1ttee met regularly a total of 15 t1mes from November, 1983 through July, 1984. The f1rst several meet1ngs were devoted to gather1ng a background 1n Colorado groundwater -8-