A Wyoming committee bill would put irrigation districts into the subdivision process
A Wyoming committee bill would put irrigation districts into the subdivision process
2026-09-19 · Wyoming · Legislation · Proposed — not yet introduced
What is proposed. A Wyoming legislative committee has voted unanimously to sponsor a 2027 bill that would insert irrigation districts into the subdivision approval process, with a 60-day notice duty, a mandatory good-faith negotiation, and a declaratory judgment action where the two sides cannot agree. It is a working draft, not law, and it has no 2027 bill number yet.
The draft
27LSO-0066 v0.7, “Water rights-subdivisions,” marked “Working Draft 0.7 / DRAFT ONLY NOT APPROVED FOR INTRODUCTION,” eleven pages. Sponsor: the Joint Agriculture, State and Public Lands & Water Resources Interim Committee.1
The committee’s minutes for July 28, 2026, in Casper, record the decision:
“The Committee moved to sponsor 27LSO-0066.7 Water rights-subdivisions during the 2027 General Session. The motion passed on a roll call vote with all members voting in favor of the motion.”
So this is not a draft awaiting a sponsorship decision. That decision has been taken, unanimously, and the draft is now a committee bill awaiting introduction.2
The problem it addresses
The committee’s approved interim topic is called “Preventing Orphaned Water Rights,” carried over from the 2025 interim:
“The Committee will continue discussing the issue of orphaned water rights… explore the process of establishing irrigation district subdivisions, hear from irrigation district managers regarding existing mechanisms to prevent orphaned water rights, and consider legislation addressing areas in water rights law where water rights may become orphaned.”
An “orphaned” water right is one attached to irrigated land that, once the land is subdivided or annexed, nobody uses — and a Wyoming water right that goes unused is exposed to abandonment.
The 60-day machinery, verbatim
The draft amends W.S. § 18-5-306(a)(xi)(D), the county subdivision permit provision:
“If the subdivision is located within the boundaries of an irrigation district … the application shall include recommendations from the irrigation district regarding any changes to the attached water rights and the irrigation district’s easements. If there is a conflict with the irrigation district’s recommendations, the subdivider shall certify that it met with and made a good faith effort to resolve any conflicts…; and evidence that the subdivider submitted the intended disposition of water rights to the irrigation district for review and recommendations not less than sixty (60) days prior to the submittal of any documents to the state engineer or state board of control.”
Three routes follow, and the second is the striking one:
“(A) If the irrigation district provides recommendations … not more than sixty (60) days after receiving the notice…, the subdivider shall work with the irrigation district to address the irrigation district’s recommendations…
(B) If the subdivider cannot obtain the consent of the irrigation district after a good faith effort…, the subdivider shall seek and obtain a declaratory judgment under W.S. 1-37-101 through 1-37-115 from a district court of competent jurisdiction regarding the relative legal rights, status and other obligations between the subdivider and the irrigation district related to the water rights and any associated easements…
(C) If the subdivider does not receive recommendations from the irrigation district within sixty (60) days…, the subdivider shall inform the board that no recommendations have been received.”
How wide it reaches
The same 60/60/declaratory-judgment machinery is repeated across five statutes:
- W.S. § 15-1-415(e)(iv) — municipal subdivision plats
- W.S. § 18-5-303, new subsection (c) — applies it to county subdivision exemptions, the small land splits that escape full subdivision review
- W.S. § 18-5-306(a)(xi)(D) — county subdivision permits
- W.S. § 18-5-316(b)(ix) — large-acreage subdivision permits
- W.S. § 41-7-104, retitled “Construction; existing water rights; subdivisions within irrigation districts”
The extension to subdivision exemptions is what makes this reach beyond large developments to ordinary Wyoming land splits.
Section 2: “This act applies to subdivisions initiated on or after July 1, 2027. This act shall not be construed to impair existing contracts.” Section 3 sets the effective date at July 1, 2027.
Why a Wyoming association would care
A very large share of Wyoming subdivisions sit on ground that was irrigated, inside an irrigation district organised under Title 41, chapter 7. When that ground is platted, the appurtenant water right has to go somewhere, and in many communities it ends up in the association’s hands as a common amenity — ditch water for a common green, a pond, a shared irrigation system, or simply a right nobody is exercising.
State Engineer Brandon Gebhart described four statutory paths available when irrigated land is divided: voluntary abandonment; change of beneficial use or place of use; petition to the Board of Control to move the rights; or distribution of the rights within the new development. The draft does not change those paths. It changes who must be told, and when, before the subdivider takes one.
For an association inheriting a water right at platting, the practical difference is that the irrigation district would have a formal opportunity to comment on the disposition before the State Engineer sees it, and a disagreement would be resolved in district court rather than by the subdivider proceeding regardless.
Who asked for it
The Wyoming Association of Irrigation Districts brought the proposal. At the June 11, 2026 meeting in Riverton, Keith Kennedy of WAID and Ric Herman of WAID and the Casper Alcova Irrigation District provided a proposed amendment and suggested the 60-day response window, with Kennedy suggesting that an unresolved conflict go to district court — which is what subparagraph (B) became. The committee directed a bill draft at that meeting.
At the July 28 meeting, Steve Lynn and Gail Whitman of WAID said the draft “helps prevent the abandonment of water rights and provides irrigation districts an opportunity to identify alternative uses for water rights before they are lost.” Kennedy called it “an incremental step.” There was no public comment.
What happens next
The committee’s final interim meeting is September 22, 2026 in Sheridan, and the agenda covers livestock pregnancy examinations and a livestock fencing bill — water rights does not appear, because that work is finished. The draft carries a working LSO number only; a 2027 General Session bill number is assigned when the session convenes.
Related Wyoming HOA Topics
- 27LSO-0066 v0.7, “Water rights-subdivisions” — working draft, Joint Agriculture, State and Public Lands & Water Resources Interim Committee ↩
- Joint Agriculture, State and Public Lands & Water Resources Committee, meeting minutes, July 28, 2026, Casper — unanimous roll call vote to sponsor ↩
- Same committee, meeting minutes, June 11–12, 2026, Riverton — WAID proposal and bill-draft request ↩
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