H.B. 251 Diligence Claims Water Amendments

What this bill does

H.B. 251 lets owners of livestock grazing homesteads file a water rights claim, called a diligence claim, for small ponds that catch rainfall and were in use before 1903, even if the land was surveyed later. Claims for ponds under 20 acre-feet would be presumed valid, so anyone protesting a claim would have to prove it is wrong.

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Every vote

• 12 yes, 0 no, 2 absentHouse Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Environment Committee: vote to change the bill · Feb 2, 2026Who voted how
• 12 yes, 0 no, 2 absentHouse Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Environment Committee: vote to approve it · Feb 2, 2026Who voted how
• 68 yes, 0 no, 7 absentFinal House vote · Feb 12, 2026Who voted how
• 5 yes, 0 no, 2 absentSenate Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Environment Committee: vote to approve it · Feb 18, 2026Who voted how
• 24 yes, 0 no, 5 absentFirst of two Senate votes · Feb 25, 2026Who voted how
• 19 yes, 0 no, 10 absentFinal Senate vote · Feb 26, 2026Who voted how

Hearings and debates

• Feb 2, 2026 House Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Environment Committee▶ Watch
  Transcript (27 turns)

  1. Committee chair1:09:54

     You Committee. Okay. Representative Chew here. Next one. Diligence claims, water amendments. Go ahead whenever you're ready.

  2. Rep. Scott H. Chew1:10:13

     Appreciate that, Mr. Chair. Uh, I'm gonna have my intern help, uh, here with this presentation. So, uh, give us just a second. We will get started here. It keeps coming unhooked. Okay. So, uh, how many of you know, or even know, or have even thought about how the land you live on was brought to Patton and by patent? In other words, it went from the federal government to private ownership. Uh, I don't know how many of you have, uh, been out and about hiking or, uh, out in the countryside and, and seen something, uh, what we call a quarter, a quarter corner, which a lot of us, uh, call a brass cap. And, uh, you can see this one is considered a quarter corner. It's between section 32 and section five. This happens to be, uh, pretty close to, uh, my, my home where I live at. Anyway, there's, uh, there's many ways that our, uh, land became patented and, and became private. And I'm guessing that most of us, probably back originally when it went from federal ownership to private ownership, was some form of the Homestead Act. And to do this, our forefathers or mothers had to be of a certain category of US citizen, file an application, complete a set of requirements, and one of those requirements was a legal description. The reason we brought this, uh, uh, bill forward is, is some of the folks, and especially in my area of the, of the state, I'm sure there's others, uh, further away from the, the Salt Lake Basin Meridian. And those of you that don't know our entire state's been surveyed away from the Salt Lake Basin. Meridian, Salt Lake Basin Meridian is the intersection of Main Street and South Temple. And so where I live at, and it doesn't say on the, on our, uh, land survey, some of our, uh, quarter corner, sometimes the section corners might, might addressed which, uh, township range and which township and range, um, they're, uh, referring to. But anyway, um, as we surveyed away from Salt Lake City, why, uh, as you can see on this, on the bottom end of that brass cap, it said it was surveyed in 1916. And, uh, one of the, uh, and I'm talking about probably, uh, most of the livestock grazing, uh, homesteads that were, uh, a 640 acre homestead. And one of the requirements they had was for those, uh, our, the homesteader to build a water source. In many cases, it was a, a small northern dam earth dam, uh, made outta dirt. And, uh, and when they did that, they used a, uh, most likely a, a Fresno scraper. Let's show him a picture of a Fresno scraper. Anyway, the Fresno scrapers were pulled by my grandpa. I, I spent a lot of time with my grandpa. I'm pretty fortunate in my area, area of the, of the worldwide, I was able to know some of the original homesteaders, such as my grandpa. Anyway, one like this was pulled mostly with a three horse, uh, team. They were side by side, the ones my grandpa used. And, uh, go ahead and show the video. So when they built their little, uh, water catchments, uh, a lot of times this is what it worked little, uh, quarter of a might have, uh, loaded up. When that scraper was loaded, it might've hauled a, a quarter of a cubic yard of dirt. Our, uh, equipment we use now, a lot of them move up to 25 cubic yards at, at a time. A d nine cat can easily move 2025, uh, yards of dirt. But, uh, I've had, I, I was, uh, fortunate enough to hear the stories about how grandpa used one of these and, and built a lot of the roads and his, uh, uh, and these dams that he built. So, uh, when they finished building their dams, some of their things looked like this. Those pictures of the homesteads there, gar. So, uh, I've got some pictures here that are on our, uh, place that, uh, you can see how, uh, like this is what, uh, what the pond looks like right now. I took this on the day before Christmas. Usually we have two feet of snow up there, but this, this old homestead, you can see the dry pond, and there's the, there's the cabin that was the, the homestead cabin. And, um, they've got two or three more the similar type pictures. I don't think we need to show them probably. Anyway, so, and then, um, so a couple years ago, one of my, uh, constituents figured he needed to increase the size of his, uh, of his, uh, pond. And he thought, I oughta have a water, right? So he went and he, uh, filled out an application, filled out an application, and when he got, uh, he got, when he got to the protest party, he was protested by a, uh, by the Bureau of Reclamation. And, uh, he was pretty intimidated with, uh, you know, uh, with the Washington DC lawyer showing up to the protest hearing. And it made me wonder, you know, I don't even know whether he had an original water right on that. So I got checking into it. And the fact that, uh, these home, their, uh, homesteads were occupied prior to, uh, statehood, most of them. But, uh, in, like in my area, they didn't get an opportunity to be patented until after they were surveyed. And the survey went through there in 1916 to, uh, 1928. A lot of them, those guys, even though they were occupying it, they didn't have a chance to, uh, to prove up on their, so a lot of 'em, even though that was a requirement of their homestead, was to have a water source, uh, available. They, uh, never got it approved up on. So I thought we need to, uh, correct that, make it available to people that have, uh, had in like in, uh, my instance, my grandpa and his dad, but before him were there. And since, anyway, we just need to, we just tried to come up with a way that we could recognize this. And, uh, so we've, uh, um, come up with it. It's take a couple, three years to get to the point. We are working with the state engineer and, and, uh, knowledgeable water lawyers around. And we've got, uh, got this, uh, bill HP 2 51. And, uh, I'm actually, uh, talking to, uh, the substitute. I, I should have mentioned that at the first, we've got a substitute out there, and we've made some adjustments here the last, uh, couple of days. So it's a substitute. I'm talking about, I haven't done anything major on the, on changing the, on the substitute, except we've added in there the, that the homesteads could be up 2, 640 acres and, uh, that the, the, that there are ponds, we could have multiple ponds of, the aggregate of the ponds would be, uh, less than 20 acre feet and all, they're all livestock watering. So anyway, Um, So it, if, if you only catch the precipitation in your small pond, you are smaller than 20 acre feet. It was created as part of a homestead patent and was, or before where in this, uh, situation, what we're trying to, uh, remedy, and you have it surveyed and described why, uh, uh, that's what this bill's about, is getting a, creating an opportunity to recognize, uh, water existence that was created in order to, uh, patent the land. And the substitute says it was used as surface water before 1903 in the sub. So Yeah, that's what, uh, you know, our diligence, uh, portion of our water rights, uh, water has to have been used before 1903. And, uh, that is a part of this, uh, deal. Send that. Yeah, it was, uh, but back in it amends diligence to the, to uh, uh, allow for that. But you've still had to occupied the land even though you probably can't go back. 'cause if you go onto the recorder's office and pull it up, it starts when you're homestead. It was, uh, approved, Which could have been that conclude your presentation. That's, that's it. I'm mixed up enough as it is now. Okay. Well, we'll bring back, bring it to the committee for clarifying questions or comments.

  3. Committee chair1:19:10

     Uh, representative Doug Owen.

  4. Unknown speaker1:19:14speaker not certain

     Doug, Representative Owens no is me.

  5. Committee chair1:19:18

     Oh, representative Arthur, go ahead.

  6. Rep. John Arthur1:19:21

     The less, the less knowledgeable one should Close together. Questions. Thank you, chair Representative. Chew, do you mind, this is a new area for me and I just wanna make sure that I'm understanding this correctly. If, if the water was there with continuous use before 1903, does it, does it have to have been used within your family? Does it have to be handed down or just that it was used before 1903 On this instance, just that it was used before 1903.

  7. Rep. Scott H. Chew1:19:49

     Right. And, uh, of course it's probably easier for families to, to prove that. 'cause they probably got a record of some sort that shows that they were, and that's part of how diligence is, is, uh, is proven, is is through, uh, that type of, but yeah, it's, uh, would definitely be easier, I'm sure, for families, but not necessarily if you can show that. Uh, it was, but we've mostly kind of, uh, probably curtailed this for, uh, operations that have been in existence for quite a while. Yeah. Uh, and reading through the bill, uh, earlier, you know, photographs, other, other pieces that you could look at and say, there was this livestock watering pond there, and it was of this size and it's, it's from precipitation and evaporation and not from pulling from some other water source. That's what makes it livestock watering pond. It had to be there all the way back before 1903. And that's what establishes the ability now to, to get that right. That's correct. And, but there, there is one, one portion of this bill that's a very important part of it. We've got a, uh, rebuttal presumption, which, uh mm-hmm. Says that if somebody, uh, files on it and somebody else says, wait a minute, I don't, uh, oh, one thing, although I wanna make clear too, is, or two things that we need to make clear, it's talking about water that's precipitation, not live water. And also, uh, if it doesn't, it needs to not interfere somebody else's already approved water, right? Mm. But, uh, on the, on the presumption way, uh, somebody has to prove that you weren't there. It's kind of hard to do. Some of it. You take, like my grandpa and his brothers grandpa was probably the most educated. He had a fourth grade education. Uh, my grandma, uh, when her and grandpa had a 50th whatever, she wrote up a little summary. And of course her summary was pretty short of summary of their 50 years together. You know, she wrote things like, like we started our, uh, the night after we, uh, paid for the, the, our wedding band, why we had $8 between us, but thank goodness, uh, grandpa, so, or uncle so-and-so gave us so many hands, and somebody else gave us a rooster. And, you know, that's, uh, kind of what her, uh, her little synopsis of their life was. Of course, the rest of it, we all heard some stories, but, uh, um, and in my area, you take, uh, those, uh, little homesteads that were built, uh, if somebody said, well, that, uh, that pond wasn't there, they've gotta show how come how they know it wasn't there because, uh, and so hopefully we've simplified it for somebody to get, uh, the the okay to have the right their water hole recognized.

  8. Rep. John Arthur1:22:29

     Okay. Just to make sure I understand, then, without rebuttable presumption, it's not just that they have to prove that that palm was there, but someone has to prove that it wasn't there before. If they're gonna be butted, if they're going to say, Hey, wait a minute, you know, uh, representative Arthur. Mm-hmm. Uh, I, my grandpa says he was there and this is how I can prove it. And then I pull out a photo like that was dirt. There's no water there. Okay. Thank you so much for helping me with

  9. Committee chair1:22:56

     That. Hey, thank you, representative Arthur. Uh, seeing no other, uh, clarifying questions.

  10. Committee chair1:23:02

      We'll go to the, uh, public. Is there anybody who wants to speak from the public on this? Come on up. Anybody online, state your name, who you represent, and sign in when you're done.

  11. Naisha Franco, Desert to Mountain Services1:23:21

      My name is Naisha Franco, and that's spelled N-A-C-I-A. And I am the manager and the owner of Desert to Mountain Services. And I've, um, it's a title company and we focus on water mineral and land transfers, land consulting research. And I think it's a safe bet that I do the most diligent claim research. This pre 1903 research in the whole state of Utah, I have worked for a lot of landowners searching archives at BYU, university of Utah, Denver, Washington DC National Archive State Archives, trying to help these landowners find pre 1903 evidence for their livestock ponds. And it is really, really hard to find that type of evidence. And a couple of years ago I was at the BYU special collections and I was looking for pictures, journal articles, newspaper articles, something to show the state of Utah that those ponds were used before 1903. And so I found this picture while I was doing research for these other farmers, and it was a picture of my ancestors in Spanish Fork in the 18 hundreds sometime. And it looks like they were traveling between their summer homestead where they did some livestock in their winter range. And I look at this picture and I see some really tough emaciated people that look like they've seen stuff just staring back at me. And I just love this picture. It's in my office. And someone forgot to tell them that they had to pull out their GPS and take GPS coordinates of every one of their ponds back then. Someone forgot to tell them to get a journalist to come over and take pictures and write about their livestock ponds. And someone forgot to tell 'em to make sure that once they gathered all that evidence to make sure the universities or some type of collection could hold them so they could make the trip to our present day. Because that's what it takes currently to do these diligence claims. And so that's why I am here personally and representing my business, supporting this bill. It's gonna help a lot of landowners be able to put on the record the fact that these are old livestock ponds with their patent. Because sometimes we just can't find journal journal articles or newspapers or things of that nature. And so that's why I support this bill.

  12. Committee chair1:25:45

      Okay. Thank you very much. So I, I'd like to say I'm glad she brought this picture and I hope everybody gets a chance to look at it because I'm not the only one with a bunch of crusty old relatives. That's alright. Okay. Scene. No. Oh, come on up, Theresa.

  13. Teresa Wilhelmsen, Utah State Engineer and Director of the Division of Water Rights1:26:06

      So, Theresa Wilhelmson, Utah State Engineer and Director of the Division of Water Rights, and I just wanted to thank Representative Chew. Um, we have worked on this for like two or three years, and I think we did close that loop that we were a little, that I was a little worried about, um, on that legal, um, issue. But I think it's in a great place and support the bill.

  14. Committee chair1:26:27

      Okay, thank you very much. Anybody else in the public scene? None. We'll bring it back to the committee for further discussion or action. Representative Arthur.

  15. Rep. John Arthur1:26:38

      Thank you Chair. I'd like to move the first substitute HP 2 51.

  16. Committee chair1:26:42

      Okay. That's in order. Would you like to speak to that? I, I think this is a good bill and I, I think that this is doing a lot of good, so, okay. Thank you. So I'll go ahead and place that motion without if there's any discussion on the motion. Seeing that None I'll place. The motion is to, uh, uh, adopt first substitute HB 2 51, diligence water claim amendments. All in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Say aye. Okay. I rule that passes unanimously.

  17. Rep. John Arthur1:27:16

      Would you like to continue? Yes, Sir. Okay, thank you. I'd like to, uh, recommend that we pass out favorably, uh, HB 2 51 substituted.

  18. Committee chair1:27:28

      Okay. That is in order. Any discussion to that motion? Representative Schultz. Speaker Schultz, I should say. Uh,

  19. Rep. Mike Schultz1:27:35

      Thank you Mr. Vice

  20. Committee chair1:27:36

      Chair. You're welcome.

  21. Rep. Mike Schultz1:27:37

      Uh, I'm gonna quote our good, uh, chair on this and say, this is a good bail. Just about Perfect. It was close. I started off a little weak, but I feel like I ended strong with it. You did You Bill, bill Good, Mr. Speaker? Uh, no. I, uh, I just wanna commit, commend the sponsor. And, uh, I, I do believe that this is, this is needed. Um, and I think this is beneficial on a whole host of fronts, um, in regards to, uh, proving up on some, on some old claims. And, and I think one thing that we've kind of glossed over is there's some benefit to the state too, in having these recognized, uh, and having them part of the system in, in the system so that, because the vast majority of these ponds that were there are not documented and are not, uh, uh, uh, part of the system. So I think having that information is also helpful to the state, to the public as well. So there's a whole host of benefits out there because of that. And I, I sure appreciated the Fresno video and 'cause uh, you know, occasionally, occasionally you'll come across one of those old fresnos out on a pond and, uh, not very often, but, uh, sure is a sight to see when you do come across it. And, uh, certainly that's, uh, documentation, uh, as well. But you don't get to see that very often. So, appreciate the presentation, appreciate the bill. Super Supportive. Okay. Thank

  22. Rep. Mike Schultz1:29:00speaker not certain

      you Mr. Speaker. Uh, other discussion,

  23. Committee chair1:29:04

      Uh, Back to the sponsor.

  24. Rep. Scott H. Chew1:29:07

      So I, I appreciate it and I appreciate the opportunity to bring it forward and, and to show some of the things about history and, and, and it, it, what we've, as we've worked on it, it it's been pretty fascinating to me how, uh, little uh, some of our, uh, colleagues here on the hill and even the population out there understands about how our state was, uh, was settled and, uh, what it required in order to do things like have a homestead and stuff. And so, and I appreciate, uh, the attention, uh, everybody's given to this bill. And, and I, I would encourage you to vote for it. Thank you.

  25. Committee chair1:29:41

      Thank you. Back to the maker of the motion.

  26. Rep. John Arthur1:29:43

      Uh, I just, uh, thank you Chair. I'd just like to add, um, I come into this committee humbly and into these, these lessons, not just on good law making, but good history with, uh, a lot of gratitude. And I just, I'm, I'm grateful to be here in this moment after two, three years of work to be the person who gets to, to recommend this favorably. So thank you for the chance.

  27. Committee chair1:30:06

      Okay. Thank you. So I will go ahead and place the motion. The motion is to pass out with a favorable recommendation. First sub HB 2 51 diligence claims water amendment. So in favor, say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Say nay. Congratulations, Representative. Chew it passes unanimously. Thank you. Okay. Uh, before we go to the next item, I just want to take a motion on the minutes, uh, minutes of January 20, 20, 26. Representative Alrich says, so moved. All in favor of approving the minutes, say aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Say nay. Aye. That passes unanimously.

• Feb 12, 2026 House floor debate▶ Watch
  Transcript (7 turns)

  1. Reading clerk35:49

     Mad reading clerk First substitute House bill 2 51. Diligence claims, water amendments by Representative Chew. This bill was serve in natural resources, agriculture and Environment with a vote of 12 0 2.

  2. Speaker (presiding)36:02

     Representative Chew.

  3. Rep. Scott H. Chew36:04

     Thank you Mr. Speaker. So, uh, HB 52, diligence, water claims amendments. Uh, I dunno how many of you know how your, uh, if you own your, uh, the land where your house, uh, sits on where you live at, how many of you know how that went from federal ownership into private? It had to be patented. And usually most of us, it was done by a, a homestead. And in order to be homesteaded, why, uh, you needed to have it located, located, meaning you needed to have it surveyed so you had a legal description of it, and, uh, you probably needed to have a dwelling that had water and, uh, uh, if it was a grazing homestead, uh, you had to have water for your livestock. That was some of the requirements that were needed to, uh, prove, prove up on it from, uh, uh, the federal to get it into your, uh, private. But, um, uh, and a lot of these, uh, water, uh, rights could be, uh, uh, proved up on by a diligence. Diligence had to have been used before 1903. And, uh, what's happened in, uh, especially in my part of the world, there was a certain amount of, uh, our homesteads that were, um, occupied before 1903, but they were not surveyed till in the 1920s. So if you go to your public records and go to pull up, um, it looks like your, your patent did not, I mean, you weren't even there didn't exist until the 1920s. So what we did here, this has been a three year journey, getting to this point, lots of, uh, discussion with the state engineer with, uh, water, uh, attorneys. And, uh, and, and so we've came up with a way to prove that you used this, uh, or that you had the opportunity to get your water claim, uh, uh, filed by, uh, um, using a, a diligence claim. And, and we put in there that it was had a, uh, rebuttal presumption, meaning if somebody contested whether you had the right, they had to prove you were wrong, instead of you having to prove you had it, you just need to be sure that your, uh, uh, patent was occupied before 1903 and, uh, then you can get the, the, the right to you, or, or then you can get your water recognized. So, uh, that's basically what it does.

  4. Speaker (presiding)38:29

     Thank you Representative Chew discussion to the bill. Scene nine, back to your back to you Representative Chew for summation.

  5. Rep. Scott H. Chew38:39

     Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So if you only catch precipitation, your pond is smaller than 20 acre feet. It was created as part of a homestead patent, or before you have it surveyed and described, it will be recognized as a water, right? So, uh, anyway, I'd appreciate your support on this. It's, uh, it, it, it's a helpful bill. Appreciate it.

  6. Speaker (presiding)38:59

     Thank you. Representative Chew voting will now be open on first substitute HB 2 51. Representative Watkins, would you like to vote present?

  7. Speaker (presiding)40:38

     Having voted voting is now closed. First substitute HB 2 51 passes this body with 68 yes votes zero, no votes will be sent to the Senate for its consideration. Madam Marine Clerk

• Feb 18, 2026 Senate Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Environment Committee▶ Watch
  Transcript (11 turns)

  1. Committee chair36:28

     First item on the agenda is House Bill 2 51. First substitute diligent claims Water Amendments Representative. Chew, welcome.

  2. Rep. Scott H. Chew36:36

     Thank you. I appreciate that. And, uh, you know, this has been an interesting, uh, what journey I guess on this. We've been working on it, uh, a couple of years probably. And I've had a lot of, uh, help from the state engineer and, and water lawyers and stuff. And all of you guys that have been here for a while, you all know, know, uh, water, uh, water builds. But this one's been a kind of a special interest to me because it deals with, uh, with diligent claims. And, and a lot of it has to do with our, our, uh, homesteads. I mean, a lot of the folks here don't know exactly how they might own their own home, but they don't know how their home came, uh, into private, from federal ownership to private ownership. And, uh, our state, as you look across, a lot of it was, uh, done by the Homestead Act, different forms of the Homestead Act. There's a lot of different forms of it. And I'm gonna be talking basically about the livestock grazing homestead. And I've got my, uh, intern here. He is, got a few pictures. I'm gonna show you a few things. But one of the things that a, uh, grazing homestead, well, anyway, lemme back up just a little bit. In order for a homestead to have been proved up on the, the applicant had to have his, uh, property, um, where he was homesteading, where he was, uh, claiming to or, or where he made his entry. Had to have a, a description of it. A legal description. So that needed to be surveyed so they know that that where it was. And, uh, if you go back to your county, uh, recorder's office and look up the records on your land, you won't find a description or anything. It starts when it went, when it was patented, when it went from the, the federal government into private ownership. And it, it's pretty interesting here, close to the Capitol. And as we move away from it, I don't know how many of you know that, uh, that our entire state is surveyed away from the Salt Lake Basin Meridian, and the Salt Lake Basin. Meridian is right down here on the intersection of South Temple and Main Street. And away from that. So everything's been surveyed. A lot of, lot of this country here was, uh, homesteaded and Pat, well, of course they were here in the 1840s, but, um, it didn't get brought to patent until into the 1870s. A lot of, if you look, look at the recorder office, and, and it's interesting, I know right here where we're at, as state capital was transferred from federal ownership to, uh, state ownership, I believe it was 1872, by President US Ulysses, this grant to the, to the, um, mayor of the, of the, of the Salt Lake County. If we go farther north, some of them, uh, anyway, but when you get out into my part of the world and some of it further away, those homesteads were not, uh, they might have been occupied, the land was occupied, but they weren't really, um, um, they were occupied, but they didn't know where they were. 'cause they hadn't been, been surveyed in my area. You know, uh, a lot of the folks moved in there in the late 1880s and stuff before, uh, before, uh, we were even statehood. But, uh, we never got surveyed. My grandpa's, uh, homestead was proved up upon in 18, in 1928, even though the family was there, uh, around the turn of the 19, you know, the, the 20th century in 1900. So, so it didn't get, anyway, it wasn't, uh, couldn't be proved up upon until, until later, but until it was surveyed. So when he applied for his, uh, uh, homestead, and a lot of the folks in my area were in the same boat. 'cause a lot of our area was surveyed in the 1916, 1920s along in that area. They occupied it, but they didn't. And so, uh, one of the requirements of their grazing homestead was to have a water source. And they built their water sources with Let, I'm gonna have my intern show a picture of the, the, the Fresno scraper that they used. And then I'm gonna show, we got a little video. This is what the scraper looked, I don't know. We don't have it, uh, showing. I don't know whether we got everything right here or not. We'll get you a little tech Help here. Yeah, it's kind of an interesting, I It is something I don't know much. I could, I I'm probably a little handier with the scraper I'm gonna show you than I would be with the, Can relate with that representative. Anyway, I'll, I'll, oh, there we go. This is a, a, a Fresno scraper that, uh, was pulled by, uh, horses. You know, usually there would be a team of, uh, between two. My grandpa always used three, he said, is what he used. And, and, uh, and here's a, a little video of it too. You know, uh, as they built their, their, uh, you can see the, the scraper back behind those two, uh, uh, team of horses. Grandpa said that he had to hold that, that lever down, that that guided the depth that you dug with. But you had to be dang sure you had your stop when you Uintah spill it in the right place. 'cause if you held it under your arm, under your, under your, your, uh, left arm and had held the lines to the horses, the reins to the horses in your right, if you didn't have that adjusted right and you hit a rock, it would catapult you up into the, into the off horse. But if you had it the other way, the lines in your left hand and, and the lever in your right while it cut pul up into the hind end of the, of the, of the near horse. So anyway, it was kind of fun listening to the grandpa's stories about it. But anyway, we built, uh, they built little, uh, little, uh, reservoirs, little stock watering ponds. And, uh, and we got a couple of pictures of some that are in my area. This, this is a little pond that's actually on my grandpa's homestead. And that we had a little tiny bit of, uh, rain last fall that we caught. It was dry during the summer. Grandpa's homestead. You can see it up there in the top. You can see the, the roof on the old cabin. But anyway, so they built these, uh, these stock watering ponds. And, uh, they had to have them in order to prove up. It was part of the requirement. So they had to have 'em in order to prove up on this. So, so what we've discovered, and, and the state engineer's been awful helpful in this, is, uh, they didn't have 'em described the, that was a requirement, but we didn't have 'em described. So what we've done is, is gone in and, uh, uh, and, and figured out how we can get these and using diligence. 'cause they were there before 1903. All of our diligence claims need to be 19 before 1903. But here, if the, the, the homestead needed to have been occupied before 1903, needed to be located and, uh, surveyed so they knew where it was located at, and, uh, had to have a dwelling with water and be a part of, of, and this pond has to be on the private property part of a grazing operation. And, uh, what we're doing is making it so that anybody that's had has one but hasn't had it described. And it needs to only, it can only catch, uh, precipitation. 'cause if it's, if it's diverting live water, you need to have a water. Right? And so we're recognizing these little ponds is basically they need to be, uh, less than 20 acre feets. And even if we got two or three on the, on the homestead, we need to have less than 20 acre feet. But like I said, one of the key things is not, uh, uh, it's only catching precipitation. And basically we're just recognizing these so that something don't happen. Somebody says, you don't have a right to that and, and have to breach that because of some law that might pass. We need to recognize them. That's, that's, that's the bill. And it's taken us a couple years to get here, and lawyers, and we've all worked on it. I've really been appreciative of how, uh, what, how generous with their time folks have been to help make this happen. 'cause it's something I'm pretty important.

  3. Unknown speaker44:15speaker not certain

     Well, thank you representative. And I really appreciate their, your ties in history to Pioneer Heritage and sharing that with us, and, uh, also going forward that you can clarify any disputes that might come up on that water.

  4. Rep. Scott H. Chew44:33

     So, yeah, and what, what we've done, we've, uh, we've, uh, put a presumptive rebuttal in there so that if somebody has a, uh, uh, uh, a protest or a concern about it, they have to prove that, that it wasn't, rather than me, because like my grandpa, he had a fourth grade education. He didn't keep a journal. Grandma kept a little bit of one, and it was kind of interesting. But she said, you know, when her and grandpa got married, they had $8 left between the two of 'em, and they were glad so and so gave him a couple of hands in a rooster. And anyway, her little journal was pretty fun to read. But basically she said, and when we had kids, I took care of the kids and cooked dinner, and Doug herded the sheep. And, uh, and, uh, we just built from that. So, uh, anyway, yeah. Uh, if, uh, our diligence claims why they, we rely a lot on, on journals or history, and, uh, there's a certain amount of history pieces that, that we'll probably be relying on this. But, uh, but it's, uh, probably a little easier if it's a livestock ho uh, homestead, a grazing homestead to, uh, to recognize the water that's there.

  5. Committee chair45:42

     Great. Thank you. Well, let me bring it to the committee, see if there's any clarifying questions for the representative, not seeing any. So we will open it to the public, if any have come to speak to this bill, please raise your hand. Okay. Looks quiet. So let's bring it back to the committee then for further action or discussion and go to Senator Hinkins.

  6. Sen. David P. Hinkins46:06

     Uh, thank, thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would, uh, make, I'd like to make a proposal that we pass out House Bill 2 51 per substitute with a favorable recommendation.

  7. Committee chair46:15

     Thank you. Motions. In order we've passed out House bill 2 51 per substitute. Have any discussion in the committee, uh, about the motion, not seeing any, I'll come back to you for summation. So

  8. Sen. David P. Hinkins46:31

     I appreciate the motion and what it is. And, and I'll tell you, it's been a lot of fun to, to kind of dig up a few things of history and, uh, and to understand what was done. Remember the, the days I spent with my grandpa. And so, uh, anyway, I appreciate the, the, the motion. And I'd ask you to Yeah. Send it on to the Senate.

  9. Rep. Scott H. Chew46:48speaker not certain

     Absolutely. Yeah. So I wanna echo your gratitude to our state agencies or water engineer helped out with these use

  10. Unknown speaker46:54speaker not certain

      of their time, Senator. Well, I'd just like to say, you know, uh, you talk about the due diligence and stuff, and when you start thinking about the survey, like you said, from the, uh, state Street here, wherever it came from, the southwest corner of the Temple Square, and you're trying to put squares on a round ball, it doesn't really come out very even. And, uh, all the terrain that we have in Utah, it's just amazing that they're, that. And with Google Earth that's came out now where they can do it with satellites, it's amazing how accurate them people were with that. And, and so, I mean, you know, it's really to that we've got quite a history in Utah, and it's, and and part of this is that, and we do have a lot of these areas that are saying that it's not, you know, the water claims, but, you know, it's just for stock bonds and stuff. And so I'd just like to say I really appreciate you bringing this forth. Thanks.

  11. Committee chair47:43

      Thank you, Senator. I'll place the motion. All in favor of, uh, passing out house Bill 2 51. First substitute diligence claims. Water amendments indicate by saying aye. Aye. Aye. Vernal. Aye. Oppose, if any, say nay. Thank you. I'll rule that passes unanimously. Thanks. I appreciate the committee's time. Thanks. Thank you, representative. Next on the agenda is

• Feb 25, 2026 Senate floor debate▶ Watch
  Transcript (5 turns)

  1. Senate President (presiding)37:31

     Senator Hinkins.

  2. Sen. David P. Hinkins37:33

     Thank you Mr. President. Uh, diligent water rights or water rights that, uh, where water was used before 1903 to prove location of your diligence claim on the land had to be surveyed and House Bill 2 51 creates an opportunity for diligent claims where the land wasn't surveyed until after 1903. House Bill 2 51 is also a product of over two years effort by the house sponsor and the state engineer and water lawyers. It recognizes livestock watering ponds that only catch precipitation and are less than 20 acre feet and size and are on homestead parcels. With that, I'm open to questions.

  3. Senate President (presiding)38:15

     Thank you. Senator Hinkins. All the question, Question is, shall first substitute House Bill 2 51 Be read a third time roll call vote.

  4. Unknown speaker38:25speaker not certain

     Senator Spery Lewin Brammer Bus Comore Esia Aye. Fillmore Grover Harper Aye. Kins Aye. Ipson Aye. Johnson. Aye. Juab McKay Mikel Aye. Mikel Aye. Milner a Musselman Owens pitcher Plum Rebi Sandal Stevenson Stratton Aye. Vicar Weiler Wilson. Aye. Winterton President Adams

  5. Senate President (presiding)39:18

     Aye. First substitute house Bill 2 51. Having received 24 yay votes, zero nay votes, five being absent shall be read.

• Feb 26, 2026 Senate floor debate▶ Watch
  Transcript (4 turns)

  1. Sen. David P. Hinkins26:03

     Senator Hinkins, Uh, thank you Mr. President Pro temp, uh, this diligent water rights or the rights where water was used in nine before 1903. And to prove up the diligent claim of the land that had been surveyed and creates opportunities for diligence. Uh, it was surveyed until after 1903. Uh, house Bill 2 51 is a product of over two years of effort by the house sponsor, the state engineer and the water lawyers. It recognizes livestock watering ponds that only catch precipitation and are less than 20 acre feet in size that are on a homestead parcel. With that, I'm open to questions.

  2. Presiding officer (Senate)26:44

     Any discussion to the bill? Seeing none. Senator Hinkins waive summation Call the question. The question is, shall first substitute in house Bill 2 51, be, uh, pass, roll call vote.

  3. Unknown speaker26:57speaker not certain

     Senator Vickers Baldry Lewin Bramer Bus Colmore Escamilla Fillmore Aye. Rover Harper Kinins Aye. Ipson Johnson Quan McKay Macl Milner Musman Owens Pitcher Plum A Tremendous Rebe Sandal Stevenson Stratton. Yes. Bickers Aye. Weiler Wilson. Aye. Winterton Aye. President Adams

  4. Presiding officer (Senate)27:45

     First substitute House Bill 2 51 Having received 19 yay votes, zero nay votes, 10 being absent passes and will be signed by the President and returned to the house for the signature of the speaker.