HB 617, HCA 1 -- WATERSHED DISTRICTS

SPONSOR:  Kelly

COMMITTEE ACTION:  Voted "do pass" by the Committee on
Conservation and Natural Resources by a vote of 7 to 6.

Currently, the counties of Douglas, Ozark, and Wright are members
of the Upper White River Basin Watershed Improvement District.
This bill excludes those counties from the watershed improvement
district and allows those counties to be removed from a watershed
district upon the filing of a petition signed by at least 20% of
the qualified voters of the county requesting removal and upon
countywide voter approval at the next general election.

HCA 1 -- Eliminates provisions allowing for well-volume
monitoring and the licensing of septic system maintenance
providers within a watershed district, eliminates the requirement
that persons installing on-site sewage disposal systems be
registered by the Department of Health and Senior Services, and
requires the department to investigate only sewage complaints
received from an aggrieved party or adjacent landowner and not
those received from any two residents of the county.

FISCAL NOTE:  No impact on state funds in FY 2006, FY 2007, and
FY 2008.

PROPONENTS:  Supporters say that Wright, Ozark, and Douglas
counties should be excluded from the Upper White River Watershed
Improvement District because those counties have much different
needs than the other member counties.  People in the watershed
district were not aware, consulted, or notified of the effect of
last year's HB 1433 on their property rights.

Testifying for the bill were Representative Kelly; Missouri Farm
Bureau; Citizens for Private Property Rights; Ron Hardecke;
Wright County; and Ozark Chapter of Property Rights Congress.

OPPONENTS:  Those who oppose the bill say that by removing
several member counties of the Upper White River Watershed
Improvement District a bad message is sent to Arkansas
legislators who viewed the watershed district as a model, and the
watershed district should remain intact.

Testifying against the bill were Representative Wood; Office of
the Attorney General; and Upper White River Basin Watershed
Improvement District.

Kristina Jenkins, Legislative Analyst

Missouri House of Representatives
93rd General Assembly, 1st Regular Session
Last Updated August 25, 2005 at 1:20 pm