Water Rights Amendments
HB 60 amends Utah's water rights laws to clarify procedures for the state engineer handling water appropriation applications. It modifies protest deadlines, specifies what "public welfare" means in approval decisions, and defines who can challenge decisions in court. The bill directly affects water applicants, landowners with existing rights, and the state engineer, who must now consider fewer factors when reviewing applications. It makes technical updates to existing code without changing water allocation or requiring new funding.
Bill status
signed
all 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Jan 2026
Committee Review
Feb 2026
House Passage
Feb 2026
Senate Passage
Feb 2026
Signed into Law
Mar 2026
Introduced Jan 20, 2026
Signed Mar 23, 2026
Maddy AI version diff · 2 comparisons
What changed between versions
Substitute #1
→
Enrolled
·
4 edits
·
Mar 23, 2026
MODERATE
The bill clarifies who can sue the state engineer regarding water orders and how they must do it, while also defining the governor's emergency powers during water shortages. It ensures that only people with specific, direct harm can challenge water decisions and requires them to notify other involved parties before filing a lawsuit. Additionally, it separates the governor's authority to declare water emergencies from general disaster declarations to prevent confusion in legal responses.
Scope change
The bill expands the scope of judicial review procedures for water orders and clarifies the specific legal boundaries of the governor's emergency powers related to water shortages.
REQUIREMENT
Added specific requirements for who can challenge a water order (only those with particularized injury) and mandated that plaintiffs must notify other parties in the water dispute before filing a lawsuit.
ENFORCEMENT
Clarified that courts cannot award litigation costs against the state engineer when reviewing its water orders.
DEFINITION
Explicitly stated that the governor's water shortage emergency orders are separate from and do not trigger the full Disaster Response and Recovery Act.
TIMELINE
Set the effective date of the bill to May 6, 2026.
Floor votes · House Feb 3, 2026
How they voted
This bill passed the Senate by voice vote (no roll call recorded).
Full legislative history
Actions timeline
Total actions
44
Key actions
9
Committee
6
Mar 23, 2026
Signed into law
Governor Signed
executive
Feb 20, 2026
Lower · Passed
House/ signed by Speaker/ sent for enrolling
lower
Feb 20, 2026
Lower · Passed
Senate/ signed by President/ returned to House
lower
Feb 20, 2026
Upper · Passed
Senate/ passed 3rd reading
upper
Feb 17, 2026
Upper · Passed
Senate/ committee report favorable [Senate Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Environment Committee]
upper
Feb 12, 2026
Upper · Passed
Senate Comm - Favorable Recommendation [Senate Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Environment Committee]
upper
Feb 5, 2026
Committee
Senate/ to standing committee [Senate Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Environment Committee]
upper
Feb 4, 2026
Introduced
Senate/ 1st reading (Introduced)
upper
Feb 3, 2026
Upper · Passed
House/ passed 3rd reading
upper
Jan 26, 2026
Lower · Passed
House/ committee report favorable [House Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Environment Committee]
lower
Jan 23, 2026
Lower · Passed
House Comm - Favorable Recommendation [House Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Environment Committee]
lower
Jan 20, 2026
Committee
House/ to standing committee [House Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Environment Committee]
lower
Jan 20, 2026
Introduced
House/ 1st reading (Introduced)
lower
0 primary · 1 co-sponsor
Sponsors
No sponsor information available.
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