Christensen introduces major water bill

Sen. Mark Christensen explained more of the comprehensive water bill he introduced to the Legislature Wednesday, which would include shifting responsibility from the state onto local taxes.

Christensen admitted that the bill, LB701, would be a tough battle and controversial to some.

The bill calls for a Basin Administration Committee comprised of local NRDs, surface irrigation districts, the Nebraska Department of Natural Resources and communities.

The committee would set the annual amount of water allowed to irrigators and communities.

It also calls for funds to be used from property taxes.

"Everybody shares in this problem," he said at the Chamber Legislature conference call this morning. "But it's not just an irrigators' problem."

Christensen said he has three times more dryland than irrigated land, so he realizes how this can affect landowners Still, he stands by his bill and believes it's the only way to address Nebraska's failure to comply with the Republican River Compact.

Christensen's bill also would:

* direct the Nebraska Natural Resources Depart-ment to provide available data, technical support and estimates on the impact of irrigation pumping water into the Republican River;

* assign financial re-sponsibility to the state for any damages due to Kansas through 2012;

* direct the state to match any funds raised by the committee's tax levy at the rate of 80 percent state to 20 percent local;

* have the committee take control of the the local NRDs or natural resource department for one year if either agency fails to stay within its water allowance. The committee would set the budget and notify NRDs of how much water it needs, and levy up to 10 percent per $100 of valuation.

* use water from willing sellers in other basins to supplement Republican flows

He said using property taxes was his only alternative, as Gov. Dave Heineman said he would veto any funds coming from irrigation or sales taxes.

"I think this is the fairest," he said, citing the impact of irrigators on communities. "Everyone benefits from it."

Christensen said his bill would cost $16 million the first year and $6 million annually, in contrast to Gov. Heineman's $2.4 million. He added that he would be open to amending it, such as adding more committee members so the NRD's wouldn't have an automatic majority.

Larry Eisenminger questioned how tax incentives going toward ethanol production would be be affected by this bill, as ethanol production uses large quantities of water. "There may be some kind of discrepancy here," he said. Christensen said he would look into it.

Other bills Christensen introduced are:

* LB700, that will stop the creation of human embryos to be used for cloning;

* LB694, that will create 1,000 parking spaces around the state capitol;

* LB695, that addresses the concealed weapon law and make the law unified across the state;

* LB696, that would keep marriage license fees at $15 if couples waited 30 days to marry and attend eight hours of marriage counseling. The fee for a license would be $100 if they declined to do so.

In response to a question to Jeff Tidyman, Christensen said the top three concerns he's heard from constituents are property taxes, water, and education, primarily about Class Is.

State Sen. Mark Christensen

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Nebraska Legislature

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LB701

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