Amends, repeals, and adds to existing law regarding irrigation and drainage rights-of-way.

Thislegislationupdateschapters11and12ofTitle42andonesectionofTitle18thataddressditchrights-of-way (ROW), operation and maintenance duties, interference and encroachments. This legislation: consolidates provisions that pertain to the same subject; repeals antiquated provisions that are no longer in use, and clarifies provisions based on recent Idaho Supreme Court decisions and contemporary experience: (1) laterals and drains will be added to the chapter 11 statutes that deal with ditch ROW existence, establishment and rights; (2) the circumstances in which a land owner has notice of a ditch ROW will be clarified in 42-1102(3); (3) ditch operation and maintenance duties will be defined in one statute (I.C. 42-1201), rather than five (I.C. 42-1102(3), 42-1201, 42-1202, 42-1203, 42-1204); (4) the following antiquated provisions will be repealed: I.C. 42-1108 (right to cross ditches); I.C. 42-1205 (bridges over ditches); I.C. 42-1206 (repair of community ditches), and (5) the written permission, encroachment removal and “self-help” provisions (as interpreted by the Idaho Supreme Court in Pioneer v. Caldwell, 153 Idaho 593, at 599-600 (2012)) are codified in the ditch encroachment provisions of 42-1102(5) and 42-1209(2), and in the ditch relocation and piping provision on 42-1207(1)(e) (addressing the Idaho Supreme Court’s decision in Hood v. Poorman, 519 P.3d 769 2022, to make it clear that the ditch owner’s “self-help” remedy applies to ditch relocation and piping as well as ditch ROW encroachments).