As this is being written we are a day away from the start of early voting in Nevada. It will be a while before we learn everyone who will be sitting in the chairs at the Nevada Assembly and Senate, but we are starting to get glimpses of some of the legislative proposals that will be considered.
There are general ideas that were surfaced during the interim legislative committee meetings and from these early indications we know that the 2025 Nevada Legislature will have a number of water related proposals. There will more than likely be additional bills surfacing from other places and these unknown ideas will also need to be reviewed and evaluated.
When the Joint Interim Standing Committee on Natural Resources and their Subcommittee on Public Lands met in August there were 14 legislative bill draft ideas approved to come before the 83rd Nevada Legislature.
Three legislative measures (two resolutions and one bill) were given the green light for processing by the Natural Resources Committee. The proposed resolutions deal with land use planning and “Smart from the Start” solar development as state of Nevada policy. A legislative measure will be advancing to amend Title 26 of Nevada Revised Statutes (NRS) to cover inclusion of a policy statement that is intended to prioritize “tribal expertise and knowledge” as local knowledge of public lands in Nevada.
There are seven water-related proposals that gained support from the full committee to be brought forward. Several of these proposals have been offered in past sessions.
One of the repeat ideas involves legislation focused on special assessments that are available for the State Engineer to assess on groundwater basins which are designated. Water right owners in designated basins may or may not be charged depending on whether the State Engineer determines that fees are needed to cover costs for the additional management activities that the State Engineer decides are needed for the basin. The outline of the legislative proposal offers the removal of minimum charges and establishes a maximum charge for special assessments. Basins where groundwater use is predominantly for agricultural purposes would fit within this proposed change. The bill concept also would limit the special assessment to activities directly connected to that groundwater basin – as opposed to being spent elsewhere or used within the general operations of the Division of Water Resources. As part of a greater emphasis on transparency where special assessments are spent, this legislation seeks to require annual reporting on the expenditures and activities funded by the special assessment. Last, and not least, the measure promotes a $1 million increase for spending by the state to support the State Engineer and the Nevada Water Initiative that is an on-going effort to update water information in the state’s water basins.
Another repeat bill request is directed at authorizing county boards of commissions to establish groundwater boards for the designated groundwater basins in their areas. This concept is to enhance the local level of knowledge as well as improve opportunities for improved communications with local water right owners and the State Engineer.
The 2023 Nevada Legislature authorized appropriation of funds to the Desert Research Institute for carrying out a cloud seeding program. Another proposal from the interim Natural Resources Committee would continue this type of program with $600,000 per year of the biennium going to such an operation.
Another repeat legislative effort involves the establishment and funding of a Nevada Water Buy-Back and retirement of water rights. This type of legislation stalled in the 2023 Nevada Legislature (SB 176) but a different program was provided through federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) infrastructure funds that went to the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. There are currently a couple of different approaches for what might proceed forward in this legislative proposal.
Water conservation legislation is coming forward in a couple of different proposals that the Interim Committee approved. One concept is to add language to state law for filing conservation plans with the State Engineer and giving the ability to the State Engineer to treat the conserved water as appropriated water. This non-used water that has been identified as “conserved water” would not be subject to forfeiture.
Somewhat also seeking to provide non-pumped water for conservation, a proposal seeks to extend the time limit of a temporary conservation designation to go for wildlife purposes.
How these various ideas make their way into bill language will yet to be determined and even after that comes out through the legislative introduction process all kinds of possible changes will be discussed, cussed and considered.
The Interim Legislative Natural Resources Committee is including an agricultural bill that was also attempted in the 82nd legislative session but fell short of gaining passage. The bill, if passed into law, will create a Healthy Soils Initiative and will work to support regenerative agricultural practices. The initiative envisioned by the legislative concept is to create a Soil Health Advisory Board that will operate through the Conservation Districts program of the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. This program would oversee educational programs as well as grants for agricultural producers in pursuing transitions to regenerative agricultural practices.
Outdoor Recreation, Wildfire and Wildlife are areas where each respective topic has a bill that has been approved by the Interim Committee. Outdoor Recreation’s bill relates to creating a “Transit-to-Trails” Task Force who would assist in gaining funding for public transit that runs to trailheads and identifies the high-priority areas for potential future transit to trails programing.
The Wildfire legislative proposal would give authority to the Governor and Nevada Division of Forestry to enter certain fire compacts.
Wildlife’s bill, from the Interim Natural Resources Committee, proposes $5 million from the General Fund to go into the Wildlife Crossings Account to support construction of new wildlife crossings in areas of need around the state.
These legislative proposals are just a sampling of the much greater list that will start coming out later this year and before the February 3rd start-up of the 2025 Legislature. As more specifics become available there will be opportunities for Nevada agricultural advocates to weigh in, keeping our members informed and engaged.
By Doug Busselman | NFB Executive Vice President