Brief⁽¹⁾

The bill would enact an alternative procedure for the transfer of land from one rural water district to another. The procedure would include the following steps:

• �The landowner desiring to be released from one water district and attached to another would have to file a petition with the board of directors of the district in which the land is located seeking the release. The petition would have to be signed by at least 75 percent of the land owners of the affected land. The bill specifies information that would have to be included in the petition.



• �The board of directors would have to hold a hearing within 30 days of receipt of the petition. The bill would establish notice requirements for that hearing.



• �On the date of the hearing, the board would have to approve or disapprove the requested release based on the best interests of the district and the petitioning landowners.



• �If the petition for release were granted, the landowner would petition the board of the district to which the land would be attached. The bill specifies the information that would have to be included in the petition.



• �The second board would hold a hearing under the same time constraints and publication requirements as the first board.

• �After both boards approve the petitions, copies of the approvals would be filed with the chief engineer and the county clerk.

The bill states that this procedure would be an alternative to the existing statutory procedure and that provisions of the bill would not limit use of that procedure.

Background

The bill was supported by a representative of the Kansas Rural Water Association at the hearing before the House Committee on Governmental Organization and Elections. In his testimony, he stated that the transfer procedure in current law is appropriate for large or controversial transfers because it allows sufficient time for any concerns to be addressed by the water district boards involved and by the county commission. The procedure embodied in the bill was described as one that would speed the process for transfers of small parcels of land.

The fiscal note prepared by the Division of the Budget states that the bill would have no fiscal impact on state operations.

1. *Supplemental notes are prepared by the Legislative Research Department and do not express legislative intent. The supplemental note and fiscal note for this bill may be accessed on the Internet at http://www.ink.org/public/legislative/bill_search.html.