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2005 General Session
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SF 56 would have permitted municipalities to temporarily transfer water held in a reservoir into an instream flow to provide minimum stream flows for fisheries, recreation or other municipal purposes within municipal boundaries. Currently, temporary water use laws do not allow instream flow as a temporary use. Wyoming first passed instream flow legislation nearly 20 years ago, which recognized that leaving some amount of water in streams to improve recreation, aquatic habitat or water quality constituted a legitimate use of some of Wyoming’s tightly regulated waters. Instream flow has always been a controversial topic in the state, as conservationists’ concerns over dewatered rivers conflict directly with agricultural operators who depend on large quantities of water for crop irrigation.
SF 56 enjoyed wide support from towns, water development advocates and conservationists, and was strongly promoted by the town of Pinedale, where Pine Creek has been completely dewatered before reaching town in recent summers. Supporters of SF 56 touted the bill as a modest step that would help communities enhance and conserve their natural resources, while simultaneously protecting the stability of Wyoming’s traditional first-in-time, first-in-right water use laws.
Opponents, mainly representing agriculture interests, generally opposed any change whatsoever to the state's water rights laws. Some argued that even the modest change embodied in SF 56, which in itself would not harm their interests, might somehow lead to more substantive changes in water law at some point in the future.
SF 56 passed the Senate, 25-5, and passed the House Agriculture, Public Lands and Water Resources Committee, 6-3. The bill died when the House Majority Floor Leader, Representative Roy Cohee (R-H35) did not schedule it for floor debate and a vote by the House Committee of the Whole by the deadline.
The votes listed below are the House Agriculture, Public Lands and Water Resources Committee vote, and the Senate third reading (final passage) vote.
A YES vote means the legislator supported allowing towns to temporarily transfer water held in storage to an instream flow. A NO vote means the legislator did not support this change in temporary water use law.
| Bighorn Basin Legislators | Senate 3rd 1/27/05 |
|
| S 18 | Hank Coe (R) | No |
| H 24 | Colin Simpson (R) | |
| H 50 | Pat Childers (R) | |
| S 19 | Laness D. Northrup (R) | No |
| H 25 | Alan Jones (R) | |
| H 26 | Elaine Harvey (R) | |
| S 20 | Gerald E. Geis (R) | Yes |
| H 27 | Debbie Hammons (D) | |
| H 28 | Lorraine Quarberg (R) | |
| Casper-Area Legislators | Senate 3rd 1/27/05 |
|
| S 27 | John Barrasso (R) | Yes |
| H 35 | Roy Cohee (R) | |
| H 36 | Gerald Gay (R) | |
| S 28 | Kit Jennings (R) | Yes |
| H 56 | Tom Walsh (R) | |
| H 57 | Thomas A. Lockhart (R) | |
| S 29 | Bill Hawks (R) | Yes |
| H 37 | Steve Harshman (R) | |
| H 59 | Mary Gilmore (D) | |
| S 30 | Charles K. Scott (R) | Yes |
| H 38 | Bob Brechtel (R) | |
| H 58 | Ann Robinson (D) | |
| Cheyenne-Area Legislators | Senate 3rd 1/27/05 |
|
| S 4 | Tony Ross (R) | Yes |
| H 7 | Doug Samuelson (R) | |
| H 41 | Becket Hinckley (R) | |
| S 5 | John Hanes (R) | Yes |
| H 8 | Larry Meuli (R) | |
| H 42 | Pete Illoway (R) | |
| S 6 | Wayne H. Johnson (R) | Yes |
| H 9 | Bryan Pedersen (R) | |
| H 10 | Rodney "Pete" Anderson (R) | |
| S 7 | Kathryn Sessions (D) | Yes |
| H 11 | Wayne Reese (D) | |
| H 43 | Dan Zwonitzer (R) | |
| S 8 | E. Jayne Mockler (D) | Yes |
| H 12 | Layton Morgan (D) | |
| H 44 | Floyd Esquibel (D) | |
| Gillette-Area Legislators | Senate 3rd 1/27/05 |
|
| S 23 | John Hines (R) | Yes |
| H 31 | Thomas E. Lubnau II (R) | |
| H 52 | Burke Jackson (R) | |
| S 24 | Michael Von Flatern (R) | Yes |
| H 32 | Jeff Wasserburger (R) | |
| H 53 | Frank Latta (R) | |
| Lander/Riverton-Area Legislators | Senate 3rd 1/27/05 |
|
| S 25 | Cale Case (R) | Yes |
| H 33 | W. Patrick Goggles (D) | |
| H 54 | Del McOmie (R) | |
| S 26 | Robert A. Peck (R) | Yes |
| H 34 | Frank Philp (R) | |
| H 55 | David Miller (R) | |
| Northeast/East Central WY Legislators | Senate 3rd 1/27/05 |
|
| S 1 | C.L. Townsend (R) | Yes |
| H 1 | Mark Semlek (R) | |
| H 2 | Ross Diercks (D) | |
| S 2 | Jim Anderson (R) | Yes |
| H 5 | James C. Hageman (R) | |
| H 6 | Dave Edwards (R) | |
| S 3 | Curt Meier (R) | Yes |
| H 3 | Deborah Alden (R) | |
| H 4 | Edward A. Buchanan (R) | |
| Sheridan-Area Legislators | Senate 3rd 1/27/05 |
|
| S 21 | Bruce Burns (R) | No |
| H 29 | Jerry Iekel (R) | |
| H 51 | Rosie Berger (R) | |
| S 22 | John Schiffer (R) | No |
| H 30 | Jack Landon (R) | |
| H 40 | Doug Osborn (R) | |
| South Central WY Legislators | Senate 3rd 1/27/05 |
|
| S 9 | Mike Massie (D) | Yes |
| H 13 | Jane Warren (D) | |
| H 45 | Kevin A. White (R) | |
| S 10 | Phil Nicholas (R) | Yes |
| H 14 | Kermit C. Brown (R) | |
| H 46 | James Slater (R) | |
| S 11 | Bill Vasey (D) | Yes |
| H 15 | George Bagby (D) | |
| H 47 | Kurt Bucholz (R) | |
| Southwest WY Legislators | Senate 3rd 1/27/05 |
|
| S 12 | Rae Lynn Job (D) | Yes |
| H 48 | Marty Martin (D) | |
| H 16 | Pete Jorgensen (D) | |
| S 13 | Tex Boggs (D) | Yes |
| H 17 | Stephen Watt (R) | |
| H 60 | Bill Thompson (D) | |
| S 14 | Stan Cooper (R) | No |
| H 18 | Mick Powers (R) | |
| H 39 | John Hastert (D) | |
| S 15 | Ken Decaria (D) | Yes |
| H 19 | Owen Petersen (R) | |
| H 49 | Bruce Barnard (R) | |
| West Central WY Legislators | Senate 3rd 1/27/05 |
|
| S 16 | Pat Aullman (R) | Yes |
| H 20 | Kathy Davison (R) | |
| H 21 | Randall Luthi (R) | |
| S 17 | Grant Larson (R) | Yes |
| H 22 | Monte Olsen (R) | |
| H 23 | Keith Gingery (R) | |
See Southwest Region for H 16 and S 12 | ||