Hirst Bill Moves to House Ag Committee

Hirst Bill Moves to House Ag Committee

Bob Larson
Bob Larson
I'm Bob Larson. A Senate bill that takes on the Supreme Court's Hirst Ruling has made it's way to the House where it will be heard by the Ag and Natural Resources Committee.

Pomeroy Representative Jacquelin Maycumber says the decision negatively impacts many people in her district and across the state...

JACQUELIN MAYCUMBER ... "So, what the Hirst decision does is it forces the liability of exempt wells to be on the county. So, they have to pay these exorbitant costs to make sure the waters available with hydrologists and it can be tens of thousands to eighty thousand dollars per well."

Maycumber says Hirst has shattered the dreams for rural landowners across the state ...

JACQUELIN MAYCUMBER ... "It is so upsetting to see people put their life savings into a piece of property, have a well currently on it and be told you don't get a building permit. They would have to have a hydrologist come in and review the land and the water and make sure it's there, even though an exempt well is less than one percent of the water pulled from aquifers. Let me say that again, less than one percent of home wells, that are considered exempt, are pulled from aquifers and this ruling makes it so people, who even had well on raw land, can't use it if it wasn't functioning at the time of this decision."

If Senate Bill 5010, sponsored by Moses Lake Republican Judy Warnick, makes it out of committee, it moves to the floor of the chamber for debate.

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