The Idaho House Resources and Conservation Committee on March 3 endorsed a bill that would streamline how landowners seek to be annexed into flood-control districts.

The committee voted to send the bill to the full House floor with a do-pass recommendation.

House Bill 565 creates a procedure for landowners to seek annexation by filing a petition with the flood-control district.

Adding lands to a flood-control district now requires filing a petition with the Idaho Department of Water Resources, which issues findings and conducts hearings.

Under HB 565, the district would handle the entire process, reducing the administrative burden on IDWR, according to an attached Statement of Purpose and Fiscal Note.

The bill would offer a more expeditious way for landowners to be added to a flood-control district if they wish, said Dan Steenson, attorney for Boise River Flood Control District No. 10.

“We have landowners who are recognizing that they benefit from the operations of the district,” he said. “I’m not saying there is a torrent of landowners who want to participate, but it’s fair to say that after ’17, people are recognizing flood management is a necessity for landowners in the floodplain of the Boise River and other floodplains in Idaho.”

In 2017, unusually high snowfall and runoff contributed to flooding in Garden City and Eagle, which combined represent a big portion of Flood Control District 10’s service area. The district since then has completed various projects and expanded its capabilities.

Flood-control districts, irrigation districts and canal companies, and others in the state have taken on projects ranging from stream-bank and channel improvements to removing gravel bars.

Steenson said the state can have consecutive dry years, then a year when flooding occurs.

“Awareness of flood risk can fade, but flood-risk management is an ongoing process,” he said.

HB 565 would allow flood-control districts to collect money from petitioning landowners to cover administrative costs. Proposed annexations would be subject to public-notice requirements, and districts could reject those not in their best interest. Approved annexations would be recorded at the county level.