HB2570 Summary

• Establishes "temporary non-expansion areas" outside active management areas and irrigation non-expansion areas, initiated by petition signed by at least half of irrigation users and 10% of registered voters in a groundwater basin or subbasin.

• Requires public meeting and county election among eligible voters within proposed area; temporary non-expansion area designated if majority approves.

• Imposes 10-year moratorium on irrigation expansion in designated areas—only acres irrigated during the 10 years before designation may be irrigated, and non-exempt well withdrawals capped at 5 acre-feet per acre per year.

• Restricts well drilling in temporary non-expansion areas, prohibiting new drilling cards except for deepening existing wells, replacement wells, recovery wells, or exempt wells with prior notice of intention to drill.

• Requires hydrological analysis before 10-year moratorium period ends; director may continue the temporary non-expansion area or allow designation to lapse based on groundwater level changes.