Idaho Bills

Appropriates $26,311,800 to the Department of Water Resources for fiscal year 2018; limits the number of authorized full-time equivalent positions to 158; appropriates and transfers $716,000 from the Revolving Development Fund to the Aquifer Planning and Management Fund; and transfers $5,000,000 of the appropriation from the General Fund to the Secondary Aquifer Planning, Management and Implementation Fund.

Appropriates an additional $300,000 from the General Fund to the Department of Water Resources for fiscal year 2018; and authorizes an additional 2 full-time equivalent positions for fiscal year 2018.

This trailer appropriation bill funds S1101 in the amount of $300,000 from the General Fund. In the Snake River Basin Adjudication ("SRBA"), small stockwater right holders were not required to file claims in the adjudication, but could defer the filing until a later time. S1101 encourages stockmen grazing livestock on federal lands to file the deferred water right claims by limiting the filing fee payment to no more than $100, and exempts the stockmen from any cost of publication, or any costs of investigation, assistance, and recommendation by IDWR. There will be no other fees or costs imposed for such claims. S1101thencontemplatesthatIDWRwillassumethecostsofinvestigation,assistance,andrecommendation.