SB0250
0 General Document comments
0 Sentence and Paragraph comments
0 Image and Video comments
Great Salt Lake Amendments
2026 GENERAL SESSION
STATE OF UTAH
Chief Sponsor: Nate Blouin
House Sponsor:
2
3 LONG TITLE
4 General Description:
5 This bill addresses funding of programs with the objective of distributing water to the Great
This sentence addresses the purpose of this bill and generally sums up a lot of the jargon that is presented in the rest of the bill. With the exception of mentioning the $200 million, this one sentence states the intention of the bill funding lake conservation efforts.
6 Salt Lake.
7 Highlighted Provisions:
8 This bill:
9 ▸ modifies purposes for the Water Infrastructure Restricted Account in light of the
10 12 13 14 15 16 17 reduction of money in the Water Infrastructure Restricted Account to fund the Great Salt
11 Lake Account (account);
▸ modifies the purposes for which account money may be used for the acquisition or lease
of water or water rights related to the Great Salt Lake; and
▸ makes technical and conforming amendments.
Money Appropriated in this Bill:
This bill appropriates $1,500,000 in operating and capital budgets for fiscal year 2027, all
of which is from the General Fund.
18 This bill appropriates $198,500,000 in restricted fund and account transfers for fiscal year
19 2027, including:
20 ▸ ($1,500,000) from General Fund; and
21 ▸ $200,000,000 from various sources as detailed in this bill.
22 Other Special Clauses:
23 This bill provides a special effective date.
24 Utah Code Sections Affected:
25 AMENDS:
26 27 28 29
73-10g-104, as last amended by Laws of Utah 2024, Chapter 522
73-32-304, as last amended by Laws of Utah 2023, Chapter 208 and renumbered and
amended by Laws of Utah 2023, Chapter 205
30 S.B. 250
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the state of Utah:S.B. 250 02-04 08:37
31 32 33 34 35 36 37 Section 1. Section 73-10g-104 is amended to read:
73-10g-104 . Authorized use of the Water Infrastructure Restricted Account.
Money in the restricted account is to be used, subject to appropriation, for:
(1)(a) the development of the state's undeveloped share of the [Bear and Colorado rivers,
pursuant to] Colorado River in accordance with existing interstate compacts
governing [both rivers as described in Chapter 26, Bear River Development Act, and]
the Colorado River as described in Chapter 28, Lake Powell Pipeline Development
38 Act; and
39 40 41 43 44 (b) to the extent the state has committed the money as of July 1, 2026, the development
of the state's undeveloped share of the Bear River, in accordance with an existing
interstate compact governing the Bear River as described in Chapter 26, Bear River
42 Development Act;
(2) repair, replacement, or improvement of federal water projects for local sponsors in the
state when federal funds are not available;
45 (3) study and development of rules, criteria, targets, processes, and plans, as described in
46 Subsection 73-10g-105(3);
47 (4) a project that benefits the Colorado River drainage in Utah, including projects for water
48 reuse, desalinization, building of dams, or water conservation, if a county or
49 municipality that benefits from the project:
50 (a) requires a new residential subdivision follow the regional conservation level of .59
51 acre-feet regardless of whether the outside water is potable, reuse, or secondary water;
52 (b) adopts and implements the local water conservancy district's emergency drought
53 contingency plan;
54 (c) adopts and implements the local water conservancy district's grass rebate program's
55 maximum grass restrictions;
56 (d) prohibits grass in new retail, industrial, or commercial facility landscaping;
57 (e) has reuse water be managed by the local water conservancy district;
58 (f) does not withdraw water from an aquifer in excess of the safe yield of the aquifer as
59 defined in Section 73-5-15;
60 61 (g) adopts and implements excess water use surcharges;
prohibits private water features in new development, such as a fountain, pond, or ski
(h) 62 lake; and
63 64 (i) prohibits large grassy areas in new development, unless the large grassy area is open
to the general public; and
- 2 -02-04 08:37 S.B. 250
65 66 (5) a project recommended to the Legislature by the Water District Water Development
Council, created in Section 11-13-228, for generational water infrastructure, as defined
67 in Section 11-13-228.
68 69 Section 2. Section 73-32-304 is amended to read:
73-32-304 . Great Salt Lake Account.
70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 98 (1) As used in this section[ ;] :
(a) "Mineral" includes a chemical compound that includes an element or mineral.
(b) "Mining" means the process of producing, extracting, leaching, evaporating, or
otherwise removing a mineral from a natural deposit of the mineral.
(2)(a) There is created within the General Fund a restricted account known as the "Great
Salt Lake Account" consisting of:
(i) revenues deposited into the account under Subsection (3);
(ii) appropriations from the Legislature; and
(iii) interest and other earnings described in Subsection (2)(b).
(b) The Office of the Treasurer shall deposit interest and other earnings derived from
investment of money in the account into the account.
(3) The Division of Forestry, Fire, and State Lands shall deposit into the account the royalty
income received by the state from mining that occurs on or after July 1, 2022, of a
mineral from the sovereign lands of the Great Salt Lake if during the fiscal year
beginning July 1, 2020, the state did not receive royalty income from the mining of that
same mineral from the sovereign lands of the Great Salt Lake.
(4)(a) Upon appropriation by the Legislature, money in the account may be used to:
[(a)] (i) manage the water levels of the Great Salt Lake; [and] or
[(b) fund the activities of the commissioner and office under this chapter.]
(ii) make payments to negotiate agreements, leases, or other means to acquire or lease
water or water rights for the Great Salt Lake.
(b) Money deposited into the account under Subsection (2)(a)(ii) or appropriations
transferring money from the Water Infrastructure Restricted Account may only be
used for the purpose outlined in Subsection (4)(a)(ii).
Section 3. FY 2027 Appropriations.
The following sums of money are appropriated for the fiscal year beginning July 1,
2026, and ending June 30, 2027. These are additions to amounts previously appropriated for
97 fiscal year 2027.
Subsection 3(a). Operating and Capital Budgets
- 3 -S.B. 250 02-04 08:37
99 100 101 102 Under the terms and conditions of Title 63J, Chapter 1, Budgetary Procedures Act, the
Legislature appropriates the following sums of money from the funds or accounts indicated for
the use and support of the government of the state of Utah.
ITEM 1 To Department of Natural Resources - Office of the Great Salt Lake Commissioner
103 From General Fund 1,500,000
104 Schedule of Programs:
105 GSL Commissioner Administration 1,500,000
106 107 108 109 110 Subsection 3(b). Restricted Fund and Account Transfers
The Legislature authorizes the State Division of Finance to transfer the following
amounts between the following funds or accounts as indicated. Expenditures and outlays from
the funds to which the money is transferred must be authorized by an appropriation.
ITEM 2 To General Fund Restricted - Great Salt Lake Account
111 From General Fund (1,500,000)
112 From Water Infrastructure Restricted Account, One-time 200,000,000
113 Schedule of Programs:
114 Great Salt Lake Account 198,500,000
115 116 The Legislature intends that the money
transferred from the Water Infrastructure Restricted
117 Account under this Item 2 be used for the acquisition or
118 lease of water or water rights for the Great Salt Lake as
119 provided in Subsection 73-32-304(4)(a)(ii).
120 Section 4. Effective Date.
121 This bill takes effect on July 1, 2026.
General Document Comments 0
- What you’ve pasted is a published Utah bill (S.B. 250) that changes how the state pays for getting more water to the Great Salt Lake, especially by shifting money from a big water fund into a special Great Salt Lake fund.
- The bill says Utah will move about $200 million (one time) in 2027 from the Water Infrastructure Restricted Account into the Great Salt Lake Account, and that this money is mainly to buy or lease water or water rights for the lake.
- It also tightens rules on how other water projects can use state money—for example, new developments in some areas have to limit lawns, stop private ponds/fountains, follow drought plans, and charge extra for heavy water use if they want funding.
- The “Great Salt Lake Account” is a restricted pot of money in the state budget that gets royalty money from certain kinds of mining on the lake plus interest and legislative appropriations, and this bill makes clear that some of that money can only be spent on water purchases or leases (not just general lake management).
If you had to explain this bill in 3–4 short sentences for a class or a friend—focusing on what money moves where and why—what would you write, and do you want to click Continue with AI to draft that now or go to Create Document to start your own summary or upload a source to annotate?
- Yes—there are some very recent news pieces that talk about this same idea of using $200 million in state money to help the Great Salt Lake, especially by shifting it away from Bear River development and toward buying or leasing water for the lake ((Utah News Dispatch, “‘Real, tangible action’: Young Utahns push lawmakers to rescue the Great Salt Lake,” 2026)).
- A KSL article from January 2025 explains Sen. Nate Blouin’s push for the state to match a $200 million fundraising effort to get more water to the lake, and it specifically talks about SB250 as one of the proposals to do that ((Williams, “Utah lawmaker wants state to match $200M Great Salt Lake fundraising effort,” 2025)).
- You can also see neutral, bill-tracking style info (status, summary, links to the official text) about S.B. 250 itself on sites like BillTrack50 or LegiScan, which are handy if you just want quick facts without commentary ((BillTrack50, “UT SB0250,” 2026); (LegiScan, “UT SB0250,” 2026)).
- For a little broader background on earlier “historic” Great Salt Lake bills, Deseret News (via the Great Salt Lake Collaborative) has an article about 2023 legislation meant to protect the lake and set elevation goals ((Dunphey & Gilbert, “Utah lawmakers unveil two pieces of ‘historic’ legislation for the Great Salt Lake,” 2023)).
If you skim just one of these articles, what’s one detail or quote you might want to use in your own short explanation of this bill—and do you want to click Continue with AI to talk through that, or go to Create Document to start drafting or upload another source instead?
- You’re working with a published bill text here, so you’re in the role of reader/analyst rather than editor of the document itself.
- The “long title” and “General Description” at the top are key because they plainly say the goal is to fund “programs with the objective of distributing water to the Great Salt Lake” and to change the rules for the Water Infrastructure Restricted Account so this can happen.
- The changes to 73-10g-104 (Water Infrastructure Restricted Account) are important because they show that some money is being shifted away from big new water projects (Colorado River/Bear River development) and toward projects that meet strong conservation rules and, through transfers, toward the lake.
- The section on the Great Salt Lake Account (73-32-304) is central: it spells out that money in this account can now be used specifically “to negotiate agreements, leases, or other means to acquire or lease water or water rights for the Great Salt Lake,” and that transfers from the Water Infrastructure Restricted Account may only be used for that purpose.
- The appropriations and transfer section (FY 2027) is where the intention becomes concrete: it actually moves about $200 million one time into the Great Salt Lake Account and says the Legislature “intends” that this money be used only to acquire or lease water or water rights for the lake.
If you were to pick just one of those sections and write a short note in your own words about what it “tells us” about lawmakers’ priorities, which part would you choose—and do you want to click Continue with AI to think that through together, or go to Create Document to start your own notes or upload another source instead?
on the uploaded document.
0 archived comments