Utah's Public Water Use Bill HB-80

[Lonnie]

The law that you are asking for us to support, with or without our dollars, doesn't seem necessary. Those who want to change the law ( as stated in the Utah Supreme Court decision ) have failed in the State Legislature. And even if they passed a law, it would almost certainly be held unconstitutional because a simple act of the legislature can not amend the State Constitution. It seems to me that your opponents have to attack by trying to amend the Constitution, and that the bill you are asking us to support won't change the ultimate outcome one way or the other.

John,

You are mistaken. What the Utah Supreme court stated was that there was a public easement on the waters of the state of Utah, and that the easement included touching the stream bottom. HB80 defines the scope of that easement as the Ordinary High Water Mark, and allows recreation within the OHWM so long as there is water in the stream channel (some of our desert streams go dry in the summer). So, this bill won't be unconstitutional, since it simply further defines what the court has already stated.

So what this bill does is simply clarify the scope of the easement identified by the Supreme court. It also puts protections in place for both land owners and recreationists. This is necessary because the easement could be taken away by legislation, it's not defined in the state constitution, it's defined by state statue.

Right now there are 2 other bill that will attempt to address the same issue. One will try and overturn Conaster, the other is a "wet boot" bill. We have yet to see either of these bills.

I have just returned from doing some citizen lobbying on capitol hill here, so I know what I am talking about. This bill is worth all of our support. As anglers from out of state, you should contact the representatives in our state house and let them know how valuable fishing is to you as an out of state tourist. Our next fight is in the house natural resources committee. We need to get this bill out of that committee and on to a floor vote. HB80 was the only bill to have an open process, where all sides were able to provide input. That should be stressed.

Thank you for taking the time to read this....

Utah House Natural Resources Committee.
Rep. Roger E. Barrus, Chair rogerbarrus@utah.gov
Rep. John G. Mathis, Vice Chair jmathis@utah.gov
Rep. Melvin R. Brown melbrown@utah.gov
Rep. Brad L. Dee bdee@utah.gov
Rep. Jack R. Draxler jdraxler@utah.gov
Rep. Kerry W. Gibson kwgibson@utah.gov
Rep. James R. Gowansjgowans@utah.gov
Rep. Neal B. Hendrickson nhendrickson@utah.gov
Rep. Michael E. Noel mnoel@kanab.net
Rep. Patrick Painter ppainter@utah.gov
Rep. Phil Riesen priesen@utah.gov
Rep. Christine F. Watkins cwatkins@utah.gov
Rep. Ryan D. Wilcox ryanwilcox@utah.gov
Rep. Bill Wright billwright@utah.gov

rogerbarrus@utah.gov
jmathis@utah.gov
melbrown@utah.gov
bdee@utah.gov
jdraxler@utah.gov
kwgibson@utah.gov
jgowans@utah.gov
nhendrickson@utah.gov
mnoel@kanab.net
ppainter@utah.gov
priesen@utah.gov
cwatkins@utah.gov
ryanwilcox@utah.gov
billwright@utah.gov