John Braun gives a speech Wednesday evening at the Moose Lodge in Centralia.
In an effort to ensure a legislative fix to the Hirst decision, Senate Republicans earlier this year tied a proposal to address the rural water rights issue to the passage of a state capital budget.
Sen. John Braun, R-Centralia, said at a meeting of the Lewis County Chapter of the Olympia Master Builders on Wednesday the reason for doing so was to gain leverage for the rural issue in a Legislature that is often focused on urban matters.
In the end, neither a fix for Hirst nor the capital budget was approved.
“We had to get the attention of the other side,” Braun told The Chronicle. “They have been more than willing to (ignore) rural issues in the past and we had to find a big lever.”
Another reason Braun said the capital budget was tied to Hirst was because the issues are intertwined in a way. The capital budget makes long-term investments in the state's infrastructure and development, and without a fix to Hirst a lot of rural development will slow or stop.
Last year, the state Supreme Court ruled in Whatcom County v. Hirst that counties across the state could no longer rely on information from the state Department of Ecology when issuing building permits with permit exempt wells. Permit exempt wells do not require the owner to hold a water right if it draws less than 280 gallons of water per day.
Under the ruling, counties or property owners must perform their own water feasibility studies to make sure the permit exempt wells do not impede on senior water rights holders or impact instream flows; however, many counties and individuals lack the resources to conduct the studies, which can cost thousands of dollars.
“The development we can do in rural counties is limited without fixing Hirst,” Braun said. “We (Senate Republicans) made the decision early on to tie it to the capital budget.”
The senate passed different versions of the same bill four times during the session to reverse the court’s decision. However, it was never put to a vote in the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives. Each version of the bill allowed counties to use the data from the Department of Ecology in determining water availability, negating the ruling from the court.
“They refused to address the issue,” Braun told the master builders on Wednesday, referring to the Democrats in the House. “I think to a certain point it is political.”
Braun added that regardless of the outcome of the senate race in the 45th district, where control of the senate hangs in the balance, the issues surrounding Hirst will come up again.
One of the versions of the bill passed by the senate included the Taylor-Blake amendment, which set aside resources to help the areas that are facing water issues while still allowing the rest of the state to use data from ecology.
This compromise is something Braun said he supported because it would fix the problem where it exists and helps plan for the future while allowing the rest of the state, including the Chehalis River Basin, to continue to develop in rural areas.
“We should address that (the problem) but not hold the whole state hostage,” Braun said. “If we had our first choice we would reverse the court’s decision … I think the Supreme Court decision was misinformed and wrong.”
Braun said he hopes the Legislature will be able to reach an agreement on Hirst in November when the majority of its members will be in Olympia getting ready for the session to start in January. However, if an agreement is not reached at that time, it will be the first issue the Legislature tackles during its regular session, he added.
