Legislation Would Protect Private Water Rights on State Land and Sell Off Landlocked State Parcels

A bill protecting landowners from state seizure of private water rights on state lands has begun debate in the Senate, but not without concerns about school funding, water rights cases and public land access.

Speaker of the House Brandon Ler, R-Savage, brought his House Bill 676 to the Senate Judiciary Committee after a series of tight votes in the House.

Ler’s bill would prohibit the state land board from seizing private water rights used to irrigate or otherwise service state-owned, leased land. The bill would also mandate the sale of publicly inaccessible state land and dissolve the state w...