SESSION OF 2020
SUPPLEMENTAL NOTE ON SENATE BILL NO. 270
As Recommended by Senate Committee on
Agriculture and Natural Resources

Brief*
SB 270 would expand the opportunity for the
establishment of multi-year flex accounts (MYFAs) for
groundwater water rights to water right users who do not
have historical water use before 2009.
The bill would amend the definition of “base average
usage” to:
● Exclude any amount applied to the unauthorized
place of use from:
○ The average amount of water actually
diverted for a beneficial use under the base
water right during calendar years 2000 to
2009; or
○ The average amount of water actually
diverted for a beneficial use under the base
water right during the five calendar years
immediately before the calendar year when
water conservation began; and
● Include, at the discretion of the Chief Engineer of
the Division of Water Resources, Kansas
Department of Agriculture (KDA) (Chief Engineer),
the net irrigation requirement for a base water right,
if the right was certified after December 31, 1999.

____________________
*Supplemental notes are prepared by the Legislative Research
Department and do not express legislative intent. The supplemental
note and fiscal note for this bill may be accessed on the Internet at
http://www.kslegislature.org
 The bill would amend the definition of “flex account
acreage” to include as a qualifying condition if the base water
right was not certified prior to December 31, 1999, the flex
account acreage must be the maximum number of legally
irrigated acres to which water was beneficially applied in any
single calendar year during the perfection period.
The bill would require, if the base water right is eligible
to use the net irrigation requirement as created in the
amended definition of “flex account acreage,” the amount of
water deposited in the MYFA must not exceed 500 percent of
the product of the annual net irrigation requirement multiplied
by the flex account acreage, multiplied by 110 percent, but
not greater than five times the maximum annual quantity
authorized by the base water right.
The bill would remove provisions relating to designated
drought emergency areas for 2011 and 2012.
The bill would also make technical amendments.

Background
The bill was introduced on January 15, 2020, in the
Senate Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources on
behalf of the KDA.
In the Senate Committee hearing on January 30, 2020,
the Chief Engineer testified as a proponent to provide
background information on MYFAs. A representative of the
KDA also testified as a proponent. He testified there are water
users in Kansas that are qualified to participate in a MYFA,
but are unable to participate because they do not have the
required historical water usage from 2000 to 2009. He stated
there are approximately 1,600 water right permits that are
currently not eligible for a MYFA because the water right was
not perfected before 2009. He testified the bill would allow an
additional calculation method for such water users.
Representatives of the Kansas Corn Growers Association
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and the Kansas Farm Bureau provided written-only proponent
testimony. No opponent or neutral testimony was provided.
According to the fiscal note prepared by the Division of
the Budget on the bill, the KDA indicates enactment of the bill
would not have a fiscal effect on agency expenditures or
revenue.


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Statutes affected:
As introduced: