Testimony begins on Hirst decision bills

OLYMPIA — Two bills, which are aimed at solving well water and building permit issues caused by a controversial Washington State Supreme last year, were testified on in a committee Tuesday.

Senate Bill 5239 was written by chair of the committee, Sen. Judy Warnick, R-Moses Lake, and co-sponsored by Sen. Dean Takko, D-Longview. Both were unable to attend the hearing due to having surgery.

In a statement presented on her behalf by vice chair of the committee Brad Hawkins, Warnick said the bill was designed with two goals. The first goal of the bill is to reestablish the working relationship between county governments and the Department of Ecology when it comes to managing water resources. The second goal is to reestablish the expectation of exemption of small household wells from the state permitting process.

The second bill was written by another member of the committee, Sen. John McCoy, D-Tulalip. His goal was to keep the permitting and surveying of water resources, a service previously managed by the Department of Ecology, in the hands of local governments.

Senate Bill 5024 would allow counties to establish a mitigation program and committee which would look at the impacts wells would have on water sources. It would also require people who are applying for building permits to show evidence of available water.

McCoy does believe the Department of Ecology should be involved in the process, but he believes the local governments should take a greater role in managing their water resources.

Dave Christensen testified on behalf the Department of Ecology and said the agency could not support either bill as it was written.

Christensen said McCoy’s bill was too expensive and would not fit into the governor’s budget.

He said he could not support Warnick’s bill because the exemptions for well permits were too broad, which would not adequately protect streams.

“Ecology has spent years working with resources that protect in-stream flows and finding water solutions for rural landowners,” Christensen said. “That balance is challenging and both bills have elements in them that I think are essential in continuing discussion.”

Deputy of the Republican-led Senate majority, Sen. Sharon Brown, R-Kennewick, said Tuesday that believes an altered version of one these bills will eventually be voted on, but right now they both still need work.

“I believe there is room in there for us to extrapolate both bills and come up with the best bill.” Brown said.

Democrat leader of the senate, Sharon Nelson, said she sees these two bills as a way to start the conversation on the Hirst decision.

“It’s complex it means those who have property interest, as well as environmentalist and the tribes are going to have to come together to come up with a solution,” Nelson said.

Several of the tribes around Washington such as the Umatilla and Puyallup tribes testified in full or partial support of McCoy’s bill.

Marie Sullivan, representing Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, testified in support of McCoy’s bill. She said it encouraged a link between land management and water use. She said the tribe could support the concepts of Warnick’s bill and agreed that counties should be able to rely on the state Department of Ecology to determine if water is available. However, she said she could not support the second half of the bill which related to exemptions and the permitting process.

Senate majority Caucus leader Mark Schoesler, R-Ritzville, who is also a sponsor on the bill, said he wants to avoid giving local governments more mandates or spread their budgets any farther.

“We want to look for solutions that work in the smallest low-budget counties but also the big counties,” Schoesler said.