HB 17-1190

HB 17-1190 is a Colorado bill that addresses a court case called St. Jude's Co. v. Roaring Fork Club, which determined that diverting water from rivers for private purposes like aesthetics and recreation doesn't count as beneficial use under state law. The bill ensures that this ruling only applies to new water rights filed after July 15, 2015, and not to existing or pending claims before that date. This means older water rights can continue to be used for these private purposes without being affected by the court's decision. Since it has been signed into law, its provisions are now in effect.

Official Summary

In the case of St. Jude's Co. v. Roaring Fork Club, LLC, 351 P.3d 442 (Colo. 2015) ( St. Jude's Co. ), the Colorado supreme court held that direct diversions of water from a river to a private ditch for aesthetic, recreational, and piscatorial purposes on private property, without impoundment, are not beneficial uses of water under Colorado water law. The bill provides that the decision in the St. Jude's Co. case interpreting section 37-92-103 (4) does not apply to previously decreed absolute and conditional water rights or claims pending as of July 15, 2015. The interpretation of section 37-92-103 (4) in St. Jude's Co. applies only to direct-flow appropriations, without storage, filed after July 15, 2015, for water diverted from a surface stream or tributary groundwater by a private entity for private aesthetic, recreational, and piscatorial purposes.(Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)

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