HB 274: Water Amendments - Utah

Amended 2/27/2025 12:02:910 → Substitute #1 · 8 edits

MODERATE

This bill amends Utah water regulations to strengthen water conservation incentives, improve transparency for water rate setting, and expand secondary water metering requirements. Key changes include creating a presumption that water rates including conservation elements are reasonable, requiring more detailed fee disclosures for special districts, adjusting Board of Water Resources appointment terms, and adding tiered conservation rate requirements for secondary water suppliers.

Scope change

The bill maintains its focus on municipal and special district water rate regulation but expands applicability to include clearer definitions for retail water suppliers and adds new requirements for secondary water metering and tiered conservation billing.

REQUIREMENT

Created a legal presumption that water rates including water conservation elements are reasonable, making it easier for municipalities to implement conservation-based pricing.

Requires special districts to provide detailed fee breakdowns and accounting within 10 days of request, including studies and reports used to calculate fees.

Requires secondary water suppliers to develop metering implementation plans filed by December 31, 2025, detailing costs, timeline, and financing.

DEFINITION

Added new definitions for 'large municipal drinking water system' (10,000+ population) and 'retail water supplier' to clarify who must comply with rate-setting rules.

TIMELINE

Extended secondary water metering deadlines to January 1, 2030 for full metering, with tiered conservation rate billing required by July 1, 2030.

ENFORCEMENT

Added administrative fines for secondary water suppliers failing to meter: $10 per connection in 2030, increasing to $50 per connection by 2034.

ELIGIBILITY

Modified Board of Water Resources appointment terms to ensure staggered four-year terms with approximately half the board appointed every two years.

TECHNICAL

Removed Senate Sponsor name from bill header and corrected formatting inconsistencies in Utah Code section references.

Amended Excerpts 2/27/2025 12:02:910 → Amended 2/27/2025 12:02:910 · 4 edits

MODERATE

This bill amends Utah water rate laws to clarify when municipalities can charge different rates based on water conservation efforts, establish requirements for municipalities serving customers outside city limits, and update definitions related to water systems. The changes aim to provide more flexibility in rate-setting while ensuring fair treatment of all retail customers.

Scope change

The bill expands applicability to include specific requirements for municipalities where more than 10% of retail customers receive service outside municipal boundaries, requiring advisory boards and website posting of rates.

REQUIREMENT

Requires municipalities with significant out-of-boundary customers to post rates online and establish advisory boards with representation from outside customers.

Added specific thresholds requiring advisory board representation based on percentage of customers served outside municipal boundaries (20% or 40% representation requirements).

DEFINITION

Added new definitions for 'designated water service area', 'large municipal drinking water system', and 'retail customer' to clarify who the laws apply to.

ELIGIBILITY

Explicitly allows water conservation to be used as a factor in determining water rates for different customer classifications.

Enrolled → Amended Excerpts 2/27/2025 12:02:910 · 1 edit

MINOR

This amendment clarifies the definition of 'water conservation effort' in the culinary water pricing section by correcting a cross-reference to align with the correct subsection. The change ensures consistency in how water conservation programs are defined and accounted for when setting tiered water rates.

DEFINITION

Corrected a cross-reference in the definition of 'water conservation effort' to point to the correct subsection (1)(c)(i) instead of (1)(b)(i), ensuring accurate legal interpretation of conservation program costs.

Substitute #4 → Substitute #5 · 1 edit

MINOR

This bill version primarily updates formatting and line breaks in the legislative text without changing substantive policy provisions. The content remains identical to the previous version, with only minor adjustments to spacing, indentation, and page numbering in the document layout.

Scope change

No substantive scope or applicability changes; this is a formatting-only revision.

TECHNICAL

Adjusted line breaks and spacing throughout the document for formatting consistency, including reformatting the long title section and code section amendments.

Substitute #3 → Substitute #4 · 7 edits

MODERATE

This bill amends Utah water laws to strengthen water conservation measures, improve rate-setting transparency, and enhance secondary water metering requirements. Key changes include clarifying when municipalities can use water conservation as a factor in setting tiered water rates, establishing clearer rules for special district fees, and tightening metering mandates for secondary water systems with specific deadlines and enforcement penalties.

Scope change

The bill expands the scope of water conservation provisions to apply more broadly to retail water suppliers and public water systems, while adding specific requirements for secondary water metering and tiered billing structures.

REQUIREMENT

Clarified that water conservation can be used as a legitimate basis for setting different water rates for different customer classifications, including tiered pricing structures.

Strengthened metering requirements for secondary water suppliers with specific deadlines (January 1, 2030 for full metering) and increased enforcement penalties for non-compliance.

DEFINITION

Added definitions for 'water conservation effort' and clarified what constitutes a 'water conservation effort' in rate-setting contexts.

TIMELINE

Set specific implementation dates for various water conservation and metering requirements, including a July 1, 2027 deadline for residential tiered rate structures.

ENFORCEMENT

Added administrative fines for secondary water suppliers that fail to comply with metering requirements, ranging from $10 to $50 per non-metered connection depending on the year of non-compliance.

ELIGIBILITY

Modified exemptions for secondary water metering requirements to include critical management areas and specific water quality conditions.

FISCAL

Maintained existing funding mechanisms for water conservation efforts and secondary water metering through the Water Resources Conservation and Development Fund.

Substitute #2 → Substitute #3 · 8 edits

MODERATE

This bill substitutes a revised version of HB 274 that updates water rate regulations, secondary water metering requirements, and Board of Water Resources provisions. The changes include adding special district fees to the bill's scope, modifying Senate sponsorship, updating affected code sections, and making technical adjustments to rate-setting language and definitions.

Scope change

The bill's scope was expanded to include special district fees in the highlighted provisions and the affected code sections were updated to include 17B-1-121, which was not in the previous version.

TECHNICAL

Senate Sponsor changed from 'LONG TITLE' to 'Daniel McCay'.

Highlighted provisions updated to add 'addresses special district fees' and 'addresses rate setting by a retail water supplier and public water systems'.

Utah Code Sections Affected list updated to include '17B-1-121, as last amended by Laws of Utah 2023, Chapter 15'.

Formatting and spacing changes throughout the document, including page number markers and line breaks.

Minor text adjustments in Section 10-8-22, including removal of bracketed text '[or]' and '[.]' from subsection (5)(b)(v).

Section 73-10-32.5 definitions reorganized with different lettering (a, b, c instead of a, b, c, d) and minor punctuation changes.

Section 73-10-34 definitions and reporting requirements renumbered and reorganized, with some subsections appearing in different order.

Section 73-10-34(14) enforcement provisions renumbered from (e) through (xiii) to (e) through (xiv) with adjusted lettering.

Substitute #1 → Substitute #2 · 5 edits

MODERATE

This bill substitutes a new version of water rate and metering regulations, updating definitions, rate-setting rules, and enforcement timelines for secondary water systems. The changes clarify how municipalities can set tiered water rates based on conservation efforts, define new terms for retail water suppliers, and establish stricter metering requirements for secondary water with updated deadlines and exemption criteria.

Scope change

The bill maintains its focus on water rate regulation and secondary water metering but updates specific dates, thresholds, and definitions to reflect current legislative priorities and administrative practices.

DEFINITION

Updated code section references and definitions to align with current legislative sessions and clarify terms like 'retail customer' and 'secondary water supplier'.

TIMELINE

Adjusted implementation deadlines for secondary water metering requirements, including updated dates for full metering compliance and plan submissions.

REQUIREMENT

Modified rate-setting provisions to explicitly allow water conservation as a factor in determining tiered water rates for different customer classifications.

ENFORCEMENT

Updated enforcement mechanisms for secondary water metering violations, including revised fine structures and compliance deadlines.

TECHNICAL

Made technical corrections to code section citations and formatting to ensure consistency with current Utah Code structure.

Introduced → Enrolled · 8 edits · Mar 24, 2025

MODERATE

This bill amends Utah water regulations to strengthen water conservation incentives, clarify rate-setting rules for municipalities and water suppliers, and expand metering requirements for secondary water systems. The changes create a legal presumption that conservation-based water rates are reasonable, require tiered pricing for secondary water by 2027, and impose stricter metering deadlines with enforcement penalties for non-compliance.

Scope change

The bill expands applicability to include special districts in fee regulations, clarifies definitions for various water users and suppliers, and extends metering requirements to additional secondary water suppliers with exemptions for small systems or those in critical management areas.

REQUIREMENT

Municipalities can now establish different water rates for different customer classifications based on water conservation, with a legal presumption that such rates are reasonable.

Retail water suppliers must include water conservation as an element in rate-setting for the highest usage block unit by July 1, 2027.

ENFORCEMENT

Secondary water suppliers face escalating administrative fines ($10-$50 per non-metered connection) for failure to achieve full metering by January 1, 2030.

ADDED

Secondary water suppliers must enter into contracts requiring tiered conservation billing by April 1, 2027, with enforcement penalties for non-compliance.

DEFINITION

Updated definitions for various water users including commercial, industrial, institutional, and residential categories for secondary water systems.

ELIGIBILITY

Added exemptions for secondary water suppliers in fifth or sixth class counties, those with water quality issues preventing metering, and those in critical management areas.

FISCAL

Established low-interest loans and matching grants for secondary water metering, with revenue from fines deposited into the Water Resources Conservation and Development Fund.

TECHNICAL

Corrected formatting errors in the Board of Water Resources section and updated Utah Code section references in the long title.

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