FACT SHEET 8

August 1998

WHAT ARE MY 

ENTITLEMENTS AS A 

PRIOR LAW RECIPIENT?

Reclamation Reform Act of 1982 (RRA) 

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GENERAL

Under the RRA there are two types of entitlements. The OWNERSHIP entitlement 

refers to the maximum amount of owned land an individual or entity may irrigate with

water from a Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) project. Any nonexempt land 

directly or indirectly owned in excess of an individual's or entity's OWNERSHIP

entitlement is referred to as EXCESS LAND. Generally, such land is not eligible

to receive Reclamation irrigation water while in the ownership of that landholder.

 Nonexempt land means either irrigation land or irrigable land that is

subject to the acreage limitation provisions.

The NONFULL-COST entitlement refers to the maximum amount of directly or 

indirectly owned or leased land an individual or entity may hold and irrigate at less 

than the full-cost rate. FULL-COST LAND is eligible nonexempt land directly or

indirectly owned or leased that exceeds the NONFULL-COST entitlement and may

receive Reclamation irrigation water only at the full-cost rate.

The ownership and nonfull-cost entitlements that apply to a landholder are determined

by the acreage limitation status of the landholder; that is, qualified recipient, limited

recipient, or prior law recipient. The remainder of this Fact Sheet highlights the

entitlements applicable to prior law recipients. 

OWNERSHIP ENTITLEMENT

The OWNERSHIP entitlement for prior law recipients varies from one recipient to

another depending on the form of ownership. The following table provides the

maximum OWNERSHIP entitlements for prior law recipients:
FACT SHEET 8

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LANDHOLDER

OWNERSHIP

ENTITLEMENT 

(Nonexempt

acres)

REQUIREMENTS AND 

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Individual 160 - - - -

Husband and wife 320 Land jointly owned, provided each spouse

holds an equal interest in the land.

Surviving spouse Up to 320 Until remarriage, a surviving spouse is

entitled to receive Reclamation irrigation

water on that land owned jointly in marriage,

up to 320 acres. For example, if 215 acres

were owned jointly during the marriage, then

215 acres would be the ownership

entitlement of the surviving spouse under

prior law until remarriage. However, if the

surviving spouse should sell 15 acres, then

the spouse's new ownership entitlement

would be 200 acres.

Children 160 Per child, regardless of whether they are

independent or dependent. The title to such 

land must be in the name of the child.

Tenancies-incommon and 

joint tenancies

160 Per tenant, provided each tenant holds an

equal interest in the tenancy.

Partnerships 160 Per partner, provided each partner holds 

an equal interest in the partnership. Each

partner must also have a separable interest

in the partnership and the right to alienate

that interest. Otherwise, the partnership is

limited to 160 acres. It is suggested that

partnership agreements be submitted to

Reclamation for a determination of the

entity's prior law ownership entitlement.

Corporations 160 Includes any land held by subsidiaries. 

The 160-acre ownership entitlement 

applies equally to corporations solely 

owned by a single family or surviving 

spouse and those that are owned by 

multiple individuals and/or entities.
FACT SHEET 8

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In addition, prior law recipient OWNERSHIP entitlements are applied either on a

district-by-district basis or on a westwide basis depending on the date the land was

acquired. (Application on a westwide basis includes all land in Reclamation projects

subject to the acreage limitation provisions in the 17 Western States.) The

OWNERSHIP entitlement is applied on a district-by-district basis for any land

acquired by the landholder in question on or before December 6, 1979. The

OWNERSHIP entitlement is applied on a westwide basis for any land acquired by 

the landholder in question after December 6, 1979.

Nonexempt land owned by prior law recipients in EXCESS of the applicable

OWNERSHIP entitlement is generally not eligible to receive Reclamation irrigation

water. However, EXCESS LAND may be eligible to receive Reclamation irrigation

water if such land (1) is subject to a recordable contract, or (2) was eligible in the

holding of a former owner and involuntarily acquired within the past 5 years 

(for example, inherited).

EXAMPLE: Mr. and Mrs. X, who purchased all of their owned land prior to 

December 6, 1979, may receive Reclamation irrigation water on the 

320 acres they own jointly in District A and also on the 100 acres they 

own in District B. On July 1, 1991, they purchased an additional 40 acres 

in District B. Since the 40 acres were acquired after December 6, 1979,

all 460 acres in their ownership must be taken into consideration to

determine if the newly acquired land is within their OWNERSHIP

entitlement. In this case, the total owned acres westwide (460 acres)

exceeds the couple's maximum westwide entitlement (320 acres). 

Therefore, the 40 newly acquired acres are determined to be EXCESS

LAND and ineligible to receive Reclamation irrigation water in their

ownership.

If an entity's stockholders, partners, beneficiaries, etc., have conformed to the

discretionary provisions, it does not necessarily mean the entity has conformed to 

those provisions. The same is true for part owners if an entity has conformed to the

discretionary provisions.

Any land owned by a subsidiary entity is counted against the ownership entitlement 

of its parent entity. An entity may not be able to realize its full entitlement due to the

entitlements of its part owners and their landholdings. No part owner may receive

Reclamation irrigation water on land owned in excess of his/her/its respective

ownership entitlement. Furthermore, stockholders, part owners, and beneficiaries of

prior law entities generally may not individually receive Reclamation irrigation water on

more than 160 acres of directly or indirectly owned land unless they themselves are

subject to the discretionary provisions. Therefore, part owners that exceed their
FACT SHEET 8

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acreage limitation entitlements, either through land the part owner directly owns or

leases or through land attributed to the part owner from an entity, may affect the ability

of the entity to realize its full acreage limitation entitlements, if a part owner must ask

the entity to declare part of its holding as EXCESS or FULL COST.

EXAMPLE: Corporation ABC, which purchased all of the land it owns after 1979, 

and its two part owners, are prior law recipients. As a prior law recipient,

Corporation ABC has an ownership entitlement of 160 acres and indeed

owns 160 eligible acres. One part owner holds no land directly, but has

interests in several entities resulting in 200 acres of owned land being

attributed to her. This part owner, who owns 50 percent of Corporation

ABC, must ask an entity to designate part of its land as excess, since 

her westwide ownership entitlement of 160 acres has been exceeded by

40 acres. If Corporation ABC agrees to the part ownerís request, it will

have to designate 80 acres of its 160 owned acres as excess in order 

for 40 excess acres to be attributed to the part owner (80 acres times 

50 percent, the part ownerís interest in the entity).

 If your landholding, or that of the entity in which you hold an interest, consists

entirely of owned land (in other words, you do not directly or indirectly lease

land to or from another landholder) the following section does not apply to you.

NONFULL-COST ENTITLEMENT

A prior law recipient's NONFULL-COST entitlement is the same as its basic

OWNERSHIP entitlement. In other words, if your OWNERSHIP entitlement is 

320 acres, your NONFULL-COST entitlement is 320 acres. For purposes of computing

the acreage subject to full cost, all owned and leased nonexempt land westwide must

be included in the calculation. However, unlike the ownership entitlement, only land

actually receiving Reclamation irrigation water counts against your NONFULL-COST

entitlement.

Deliveries of Reclamation irrigation water to any eligible land (directly or indirectly

owned or leased) selected as full-cost land will be assessed the full-cost rate. 

Generally, you can select any combination of eligible owned and leased land as your

nonfull-cost acreage. However, any land that is (1) determined to be INELIGIBLE

EXCESS LAND, or (2) required by law to be subject to full-cost rates, cannot be

selected as nonfull-cost acreage.
FACT SHEET 8

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EXAMPLE: Mr. and Mrs. Z own 320 acres of eligible land in each of two districts 

and 160 acres in a third district. All of this land was purchased prior 

to December 6, 1979. In addition, Mr. and Mrs. Z lease 100 acres 

from another party for a total landholding of 900 acres. All 800 acres 

of owned land are eligible to receive Reclamation irrigation water 

at the regular contract rate, because it is within the couple's 

320-acre-per-district ownership entitlement for land purchased before

December 6, 1979. However, 100 of the 900 acres must be selected 

as full cost and the full-cost rate will be applied to any Reclamation

irrigation water delivered to that land. This is because the coupleís

maximum NONFULL-COST entitlement of 320 acres has been 

exceeded by their landholding and the district-by-district provision does

not apply to leased land.

Nonfull-cost entitlements are computed on a cumulative basis during any water year. 

Once you have selected your total nonfull-cost land, and you receive Reclamation

irrigation water on it, that land will be considered your NONFULL-COST land for the

entire water year, even if you should terminate Reclamation irrigation water deliveries 

to the selected land. Any additional eligible land you purchase or lease during the

water year may receive Reclamation irrigation water only at the full-cost rate.

EXAMPLE: Farmer W owns 100 acres that he purchased on October 1, 1982, and

leases an additional 150 acres in District A. Farmer W is entitled to

receive Reclamation irrigation water on the entire 250 acres, but must

select 90 acres as full-cost land (250 acres of eligible land less the 

160-acre NONFULL-COST entitlement). After Farmer W begins to

receive Reclamation irrigation water on the 250 acres for the year, he

decides to purchase an additional 100 acres in District B. With this

purchase, Farmer W must designate 40 acres as ineligible excess

land (200 acres of owned land less the 160-acre OWNERSHIP

entitlement). Farmer W will be able to receive Reclamation irrigation

water on a total of 310 eligible acres (160 acres of eligible owned land 

and 150 acres of leased land); however, 150 acres (310 acres of eligible

land less the 160-acre NONFULL-COST entitlement) must be selected 

as full-cost land. The land selected as full cost must include the 

90 acres that have already received full-cost water during the water 

year and the 60 eligible acres Farmer W purchased during the current

water year.

Nonexempt land that (1) is subject to a recordable contract, or (2) was involuntarily

acquired within the last 5 years and designated as excess by the involuntarily acquiring

party, generally is not considered when determining if the prior law recipient has

exceeded the applicable nonfull-cost entitlement.
FACT SHEET 8

Mission of the Bureau of Reclamation: To manage, develop, and protect water and related resources in an environmentally and economically

sound manner in the interest of the American public.

The Department of the Interior has established a 24-hour toll-free telephone number (1-800-424-5081) for anyone wishing to report suspected

violations of the Reclamation Reform Act of 1982 (RRA). Anyone reporting suspected violations will be protected under Federal privacy laws.

Distributed by the Bureau of Reclamation, United States Department of the Interior.

Page 6 of 6

 If a landholder selects eligible land as full cost, the full-cost rate must be paid 

for Reclamation irrigation water delivered to that land, even if that landholder

should lease the land to someone who does not exceed their own nonfull-cost

entitlement. For example, Entity X is required to select part of its owned land 

as full-cost land. Entity X selects the 50 acres it has leased to Landholder Z 

as full cost. The full-cost rate must be paid for all Reclamation irrigation water

delivered to those 50 acres even if it is the only land in Landholder Zís

landholding.

 Any land leased from a public entity is counted against both the

landholder's OWNERSHIP and NONFULL-COST entitlements.

NEED MORE INFORMATION?

For questions about: See Fact Sheet:

RRA forms requirements for prior law recipients 9

How to determine your acreage limitation status 2

What is a landholding change 11

Trusts and estates 12

Involuntary acquisitions 13

Contact your district or local Reclamation office for more information concerning prior

law recipient entitlements.