U.S. Water News Online
LINCOLN, Neb. -- State lawmakers sped through debate recently on amendments and again approved a multimillion-dollar plan to shield the state from penalties for not sending Kansas the water it is owed.
Senators gave second-round approval to the bill (LB701), which relies heavily on new taxes and fees. The bill had not yet been scheduled for a final reading.
Speaker Mike Flood of Norfolk thanked senators for acting quickly to avoid costly legal battles and avoid potentially disastrous measures, including shutting off irrigation in the area.
The bill was described as a painful but necessary antidote for water shortages in the Republican basin.
Many farmers have expressed support for the bill, even though it likely will increase taxes.
"I'm just hoping we can keep this whole basin from being shut down," Dale Helms of Holbrook said. "If we don't step up to the plate and take care of this ... it's not going to do us any good after we're shut down."
Driving the need for a water plan this year is a determination, set for August, on whether Nebraska has overused the amount of Republican River water it is allocated under a three-state, 64-year-old compact that includes Kansas and Colorado. Nebraska gets 49 percent, Kansas gets 40 percent and Colorado gets 11 percent.
A finding that the state is not in compliance is likely, which could make the state liable for damages to Kansas.
Nebraska has overused its compact allocation the last three years, and estimates show the state could be short enough water to cover 200,000 acres of land -- more than 300 square miles -- with a foot of water.
Under the bill, officials would be able to impose a new tax levy of 10 cents per $100 of assessed property value on all Republican River basin residents and a $10 per-acre fee on irrigated land.
The property tax levy and fee could raise up to $16 million a year. The money would be used to buy and lease water to send to Kansas, reduce water-consuming vegetation along the river and possibly augment it with groundwater, among other things.
The bill also includes a water fund filled with state general fund dollars and new regulatory powers for resources districts statewide.
The so-called water cash fund would receive annual appropriations of $2.7 million over the next decade.
Beginning in 2012, fees of three-fifths of a cent per bushel on corn and grain sorghum would be imposed to raise money for water issues. Those fees could raise an estimated $7.4 million annually.
An added amendment makes natural resources districts that fail to implement controls and rules ineligible for those funds.
Sen. Ernie Chambers asked senators to carefully consider the topic, introducing several amendments for language changes.
"We're putting new concepts into the law which were not there formerly," Chambers said. "Money is going to have to be coughed up by people who were not coughing up money before."
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