|
REFERENCE TITLE: Pinal AMA; groundwater; extinguishment credits |
|
State of Arizona Senate Fifty-third Legislature Second Regular Session 2018
|
|
SB 1511 |
|
|
|
Introduced by Senator Griffin
|
AN ACT
amending section 45-462, Arizona Revised Statutes; relating to the groundwater code.
(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:
Section 1. Section 45-462, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:
45-462. Grandfathered groundwater rights; persons included; certificate of exemption amount is legal use; extinguishment
A. In an active management area, a person who was legally withdrawing and using groundwater as of the date of the designation of the active management area or who owns land legally entitled to be irrigated with groundwater as determined pursuant to this article has the right to withdraw or receive and use groundwater as determined by the director pursuant to this article.
B. For purposes of determining grandfathered rights pursuant to this article, a groundwater use shall not be determined to be illegal merely because the groundwater legally withdrawn is or has been transported.
C. The amount of groundwater use described by an applicaton application for a certificate of exemption is recognized as a legal use for purposes of determining grandfathered rights pursuant to section 45‑464, subject to any modification as a result of a finding on appeal of a factual mistake by the state land department or Arizona water commission in computing the amount of the authorized withdrawal.
D. The right to withdraw or receive and use groundwater pursuant to this article is a grandfathered right. There are three categories of grandfathered rights as follows:
1. Non-irrigation grandfathered rights associated with retired irrigated land as determined pursuant to sections 45‑463, 45‑469 and 45‑472.
2. Non-irrigation grandfathered rights not associated with retired irrigated land as determined pursuant to section 45‑464.
3. Irrigation grandfathered rights as determined pursuant to section 45‑465.
E. Notwithstanding any other statute or rule, in the pinal active management area:
1. Not later than January 1, 2019, the director of water resources shall adopt rules to calculate extinguishment credits in the pinal active management area consistent with this section. For this purpose, the director is exempt from the rule making requirments of title 41, chapter 6, except that the director shall file a notice of exempt rule making with the secretary of state who shall publish the rules in the Arizona administrative register and the Arizona administrative code. The rules shall have an immediate effective date.
2. The director shall recalculate the amount of groundwater AVAILABLE for use in the active management area for purposes of determining an assured water supply after reviewing and eliminating those proposed uses that are no longer economically practicable for actual development and future use.