justicedao/ipfs_state_laws huggingface dataset:
ORS Chapter 545 — Irrigation Districts

ORS 545.239. Right to enter upon and acquire lands and water rights; right of condemnation. (1) The board of directors and its agents and employees have the right to enter upon any land in the manner provided by ORS 35.220 to make surveys and may locate the necessary irrigation or drainage works and the line for any canals and the necessary branches for the works or canals on any lands that may be considered best for such location. The board also has the right to acquire, by lease, purchase, condemnation or other legal means, all lands, water, water rights, rights of way, easements and other property, including canals and works and the whole of irrigation systems or projects constructed or being constructed by private owners, necessary for the construction, use, supply, maintenance, repair and improvement of any canals and works proposed to be constructed by the board. The board also has the right to so acquire lands, and all necessary appurtenances, for reservoirs, and the right to store water in constructed reservoirs, for the storage of needful waters, or for any other purpose reasonably necessary for the purposes of the district. (2) In the acquisition of property under subsection (1) of this section, the district has the right to acquire by condemnation property already devoted to public use that is less necessary than the use for which it is required by the district, whether used for irrigation or any other purpose, and any other properties owned by the state or any of its departments or commissions. In the acquisition of property or rights by condemnation, the board shall proceed in the name of the district under the provisions of the laws of Oregon. [Formerly
ORS Chapter 545 — Irrigation Districts

ORS 545.241. Bond or other security as condition of immediate possession in condemnation by irrigation or drainage district. Prior to any party, officer or agent of an irrigation or drainage district entering upon any land sought to be condemned, the district shall furnish to the landowner an undertaking, either by surety bond, personal bond, cash or other security, in an amount sufficient to indemnify the landowner for the value of the land sought to be condemned, together with all costs and attorney fees to which the landowner may be entitled. This undertaking shall be conditioned so that the district shall pay to the owner all damages, costs and attorney fees that the owner may suffer by reason of the entry, or which may be awarded to the owner by a jury upon a trial of the cause. [Formerly 545.084]
ORS Chapter 545 — Irrigation Districts

ORS 545.244. [Amended by 1995 c.42 142; renumbered 545.567 in 1995]
ORS Chapter 545 — Irrigation Districts

ORS 545.245. Right to immediate possession in condemnation proceeding. At any time after the board of directors of an irrigation district or board of supervisors of a drainage district has commenced proceedings to acquire title to any land necessary for rights of way, or for construction, alteration, repair or reservoir purposes, the district may enter into possession of the land and begin such work as may be necessary to the development of the district. [Formerly
ORS Chapter 545 — Irrigation Districts

ORS 545.246. [Amended by 1995 c.42 143; renumbered 545.569 in 1995]
ORS Chapter 545 — Irrigation Districts

ORS 545.249. Right to condemn for irrigation purposes is a superior right. The use of all water required for the irrigation of the lands of any district formed under the Irrigation District Law, together with all water rights and rights to appropriate water, rights of way for canals and ditches, sites for reservoirs, and all other property required in fully carrying out the Irrigation District Law, is declared to be a public use more necessary and more beneficial than any other use, either public or private, to which the water, water rights, rights to appropriate water, lands or other property have been or may be appropriated within the district. [Formerly 545.088]
ORS Chapter 545 — Irrigation Districts

ORS 545.250. [Amended by 1995 c.42 145; renumbered 545.573 in 1995]
ORS Chapter 545 — Irrigation Districts

ORS 545.253. Title to and rights in property acquired. The legal title to all property acquired under ORS 545.239, 545.241, 545.245 and 545.249 shall immediately vest in the irrigation district and shall be held by it in trust for and hereby is dedicated and set apart to the uses and purposes set forth in the Irrigation District Law. The board is authorized and empowered to hold, use, acquire, manage, occupy, possess and dispose of the property as provided in the Irrigation District Law. The title acquired by an irrigation district under ORS
ORS Chapter 545 — Irrigation Districts

ORS 545.257. Authority of irrigation district to acquire domestic or municipal water works; assumption of obligations; sale of surplus water; impairment of irrigation service forbidden. When an irrigation district is authorized by the electors of the district as provided in ORS 545.305 and when it appears necessary, proper or beneficial to its inhabitants, the irrigation district may: (1) Acquire by gift, lease, purchase, condemnation or other legal means, domestic and municipal water works or water systems, and property incident to the works or systems, including reservoirs, pumps, mains, stations, water, water rights and all appurtenances. As a part of a transaction of acquisition, the district may assume any outstanding obligations on the water works or water systems. However, a right of condemnation shall not be granted against property of a city. (2) Construct, reconstruct, equip, own, maintain, operate, sell, lease and dispose of, domestic and municipal water works or systems and property, and all appurtenances incident to the works, systems or property. (3) Furnish water for domestic and municipal uses to premises and inhabitants within its district. In connection with furnishing water for domestic and municipal use, the district may supply, furnish and sell, for the uses mentioned in this section, any surplus water over and above the domestic and municipal needs of its inhabitants, to persons or other public bodies as defined in ORS 174.109, either within or outside the district. However, the power to furnish water for domestic and municipal uses granted by this section shall not be exercised in such a manner as to impair the service of the district in furnishing water for irrigation purposes.
ORS Chapter 545 — Irrigation Districts

ORS 545.258. [Amended by 1995 c.42 149; renumbered 545.581 in 1995]
ORS Chapter 545 — Irrigation Districts

ORS 545.262. [Amended by 1995 c.42 151; renumbered 545.589 in 1995]
ORS Chapter 545 — Irrigation Districts

ORS 545.264. [Amended by 1995 c.42 152; renumbered 545.595 in 1995]
ORS Chapter 545 — Irrigation Districts

ORS 545.266. [Amended by 1995 c.42 153; renumbered 545.599 in 1995]
ORS Chapter 545 — Irrigation Districts

ORS 545.268. [Amended by 1995 c.42 154; renumbered 545.603 in 1995]
ORS Chapter 545 — Irrigation Districts

ORS 545.270. [Amended by 1969 c.694 29; 1995 c.42 155; renumbered 545.607 in 1995] (Distribution of Water)
ORS Chapter 545 — Irrigation Districts

ORS 545.271. Furnishing water. Upon receiving proper compensation, an irrigation district may provide for and furnish water for lands not included within the district and for lands within the district but not subject to assessment by the district. An irrigation district may acquire, assume or exercise any rights, property, powers or obligations of a contractor with the state under the Carey Act and may be organized in lieu of a water users association required either by statute or contract. An irrigation district may provide for and furnish water for control of the temperature, humidity or other qualities of the atmospheric conditions pertaining to land otherwise irrigable under this chapter or under ORS chapter 552. [Formerly 545.102]
ORS Chapter 545 — Irrigation Districts

ORS 545.272. [Amended by 1995 c.42 156; renumbered 545.617 in 1995]
ORS Chapter 545 — Irrigation Districts

ORS 545.276. [Renumbered
ORS Chapter 545 — Irrigation Districts

ORS 545.278. [Amended by 1995 c.42 158; renumbered 545.629 in 1995]
ORS Chapter 545 — Irrigation Districts

ORS 545.279. District may require water control devices and measuring devices; notice to water user; objections; hearing. (1) The board of directors may require a water user of the district: (a) To install and maintain a lockable and controllable headgate or other water control device at a point of delivery of water to the users property; or (b) To install a measuring device at a point of delivery as necessary to assist the board in determining the amount of water to be delivered to the user. (2) When practicable, water control devices and measuring devices under this section shall be constructed on property for which the district holds existing easements. (3) Except when an emergency requires the immediate installation of a water control device to avoid loss of water, the board shall notify a water user in writing that the water user is required by the board under this section to install a water control device or a measuring device. The notice shall be delivered personally or mailed by registered or certified mail, return receipt requested, to the water user. Within the 20-day period immediately following the date of personal delivery or mailing of the notice or at any time before the date of the next regular meeting of the board, the water user may file with the secretary of the board a written objection to the requirement for installation of the device and request a hearing before the board. After the hearing, the board may affirm, amend or rescind its order to the water user for installation of a water control device or measuring device. The decision of the board shall be final. [Formerly 545.119]
ORS Chapter 545 — Irrigation Districts

ORS 545.282. [Amended by 1995 c.42 160; renumbered 545.633 in 1995]
ORS Chapter 545 — Irrigation Districts

ORS 545.283. Joinder of districts in acquisition or construction of irrigation or other water use works. (1) Two or more irrigation districts or other water users organizations, organized under the laws of this state or of any adjoining state, may enter into agreements with each other and with the United States for the joint acquisition, operation, maintenance, management, control, construction, care, repair or improvement of works for diverting, impounding, distributing, irrigating or draining of lands within the boundaries of the districts or other water users organizations. Subject to ORS 545.257, agreements made under this section may include provisions to furnish water for domestic and municipal uses to premises and inhabitants within the boundaries of the districts or other water users organization. (2) Agreements entered into under this section may be evidenced by written contracts executed on behalf of the board of directors or trustees of each district or water users organization or by resolutions entered upon their minutes. The contracts or certified copies of them and certified copies of the resolutions may be recorded in the office in which deeds are recorded in each county in which is situated any of the land, works or other real property of the district or other water users organization. (3) Agreements made under this section may provide for joint ownership, several ownership or ownership in common of the property convenient for the joint purposes of the parties to the agreement and may provide for the terms under which the property or respective portions of the property shall be held. (4) Any rights or disputes arising out of or from the agreements may be tried before and enforced by any court of competent jurisdiction in this state. (5) The districts or other water users organizations joined in any agreement under this section are jointly granted the same power of condemnation as is now possessed by one district or organization alone. (6) Any meeting of the governing board of a district or other water users organization of this state, regularly adjourned to or called substantially in the manner for calling special meetings, may be held in another state, in conjunction with the board of a cooperating district or organization of such other state, with the same validity as if held in the office of the district or organization in this state. (7) In carrying out cooperative action under this section between a district or other water users organization of this state and one of an adjoining state, either district or organization may divert water from either or both states, for impounding in the adjoining state, or for distribution to the land of either or both of the cooperating districts or organizations. (8) So far as necessary for carrying out the purposes of this section, a cooperating district or other water users organization in an adjoining state may hold title to property in this state, and a cooperating district or organization in this state may hold title to property in the adjoining state. [Formerly
ORS Chapter 545 — Irrigation Districts

ORS 545.287. Directors may construct or maintain improvements, levy assessments or provide for charges. (1) This section applies: (a) When a parcel of land lying within an irrigation district is subdivided or partitioned into tracts, and the owner has made no provision which in the opinion of the board of directors is adequate for the proper distribution of water to the tracts; or (b) When improvements for the distribution or delivery of water to any tract of land are not owned by the district and the owner or person in control of the improvement fails to maintain, repair or replace the improvement as required for the proper and efficient distribution or delivery of water to any tract. (2) When the interest or convenience of such tracts requires the construction, repair or maintenance of any ditch, flume, dike, aqueduct or other improvement, the board may construct, repair or maintain the improvement. In order to defray the whole or any portion of the cost and expense of the improvement, the board may levy and collect an assessment upon all tracts specially benefited by the improvement or provide for a charge against the landowner of any tract specially benefited by the improvement. The board may determine what lands are specially benefited by the construction, repair or maintenance, and the amount to which each tract is benefited.
ORS Chapter 545 — Irrigation Districts

ORS 545.290. [Repealed by 1995 c.42 184]
ORS Chapter 545 — Irrigation Districts

ORS 545.291. Apportionment of water to tracts; employment of person to distribute water; assessment or charge; lien on land. When a parcel of land lying within an irrigation district is subdivided or partitioned into tracts, and plats of such subdivision are filed as provided by law, if the owners fail properly to apportion the water to their various tracts in the subdivision, the board of directors may employ some competent person to distribute and apportion water for the tracts. The reasonable cost of the distribution and apportionment of water shall be apportioned each year by the board to the tracts. The cost of the distribution and apportionment of water shall be assessed or charged by the board as a special charge to the tracts in the same manner as other assessments or charges are made and extended upon the tax rolls of the county in which the irrigation district lies. The assessments or charges so levied and apportioned shall be a lien upon the tracts and shall be collected in the same manner as all other assessments or charges are levied and collected by the board. [Formerly
ORS Chapter 545 — Irrigation Districts

ORS 545.293. Resolution for water distribution works or services; hearing of objections; construction, repair or maintenance of improvement; apportionment of costs; assessment. (1) When the board of directors considers it expedient or necessary to construct, repair or maintain ditches, flumes, dikes, aqueducts or other improvement, as provided in ORS 545.287, or to employ the services of some competent person to distribute and apportion water for any subdivision, as provided in ORS 545.291, the board shall declare its intention by resolution. (2) A resolution shall be posted in three public places in the subdivision for five days. Within 10 days from the date when the resolution is posted, the owner of any property within a tract may file with the secretary a written remonstrance against the proposed improvement or employment. The board hearing the remonstrances may, in its discretion, overrule any remonstrance and, by resolution, order construction, repair or maintenance of the improvements. The board may either enter into a contract to complete the improvement or, in its discretion, complete the improvement under its own supervision. After the work on the improvement is completed the board shall, by resolution, apportion the costs and declare an assessment upon each tract benefited. The assessments declared under this section shall be final and conclusive. [Formerly 545.412]
ORS Chapter 545 — Irrigation Districts

ORS 545.295. Conditions required in certain districts before delivering water to additional lands; order; charges and assessments. (1) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this chapter, in any irrigation district that was formed before April 23, 1959, and that lies entirely west of the summit of the Cascade Mountains, the board of directors shall, as a condition precedent to the delivery of water and the charging and assessment of any lands within the district that have not been irrigated or charged or assessed, determine: (a) That the delivery of water to the lands will not result in an inadequate supply of water deliverable to the other lands within the district charged or assessed at that time; and (b) That the lands can be served by the facilities of the district without impairing the ability of the district adequately to serve the lands previously charged or assessed. (2) After making the determination required by subsection (1) of this section the board of directors may, as a condition for the delivery of water and the charging or assessment of the lands, require that the applicants contract to pay to the district such sums as the board determines. However, these sums shall not exceed the amount the applicants or their predecessors in interest would have been required to pay to the district for charges and assessments for the payment of their pro rata share of all bonds previously issued and the interest on the bonds, or other indebtedness incurred by the district, had such lands been included in the district when such bonds were issued or such indebtedness incurred. However, there shall be credited to these sums any amount previously paid on behalf of these lands on the bonds or indebtedness. (3) The charges made under subsection (2) of this section shall be set forth in the order allowing the inclusion of the lands in the district. A certified copy of the order shall be recorded in the same manner as provided by ORS 545.079 and the charges and assessments paid, collected and enforced as provided by that section. (4) For the purposes of this section the summit of the Cascade Mountains is considered to be a line beginning at the intersection of the western boundary of Hood River County with the northern boundary of the State of Oregon, thence southerly along the western boundaries of the counties of Hood River, Wasco, Jefferson, Deschutes and Klamath to the southern boundary of the State of Oregon. [Formerly 545.065] (Finances)
ORS Chapter 545 — Irrigation Districts

ORS 545.301. Financing acquisition of water works; contracts with federal government; approval by electors. In carrying out and executing the powers conferred in this section and ORS
ORS Chapter 545 — Irrigation Districts

ORS 545.303. Water works system to be self-sustaining; payment of indebtedness; rates; separate accounts. (1) The district shall charge consumers for the water furnished in amounts so that the domestic and municipal water system shall be self-sustaining. All indebtedness incurred in the acquisition, construction, maintenance, operation and disposition of the water system shall be paid from the revenues so collected and from the proceeds of the disposition of the whole or any part of the water system. The board of directors may establish rates or charges to be paid by each person whose premises are served. The rates or charges may be fixed and classified according to the type of use, according to the amount of water used and according to whether the property serviced lies within or outside the boundaries of the district. (2) The district shall establish and maintain separate accounts covering the acquisition, construction, reconstruction, maintenance, operation and disposition of the domestic and municipal water system. All moneys collected from the operation and disposition of the whole or any part of the water system shall be deposited in a special fund to be designated Domestic Water Fund. Moneys in the fund shall be disbursed only in connection with the water system. [Formerly 545.114]
ORS Chapter 545 — Irrigation Districts

ORS 545.305. Election concerning acquisition of water works. (1) When the board of directors of an irrigation district has determined by resolution that it is for the best interests of its inhabitants that it exercise any of the powers mentioned in ORS 545.257, including the refunding of outstanding bonds, the board shall, by resolution, specify the particular powers it proposes to exercise and order an election to be conducted. Upon the order being entered, an election shall be held by the qualified electors of the district to determine: (a) Whether or not bonds in any amount designated by the board in such order shall be issued for any purpose necessary or convenient in carrying out this section and ORS 545.257, 545.301 and 545.303; and (b) Whether or not the board shall proceed to exercise the powers, or any of them, specified in the resolution. (2) Notice of the election shall be given in the manner provided in ORS 545.511, and that section shall apply to all subsequent proceedings under this section and ORS 545.257, 545.301 and 545.303. [Formerly 545.116]
ORS Chapter 545 — Irrigation Districts

ORS 545.307. Investment of surplus funds in federal or state bonds. When there are surplus funds not necessary for the payment of current obligations of the district in any construction fund, operation and maintenance fund, sinking fund, United States Contract Fund, State of Oregon Contract Fund, emergency fund or any other fund of the district, the board of directors of an irrigation district may invest the surplus funds in bonds of the United States or the State of Oregon. The district may hold and dispose of the bonds at such times as may be necessary to the conduct of the business and affairs of the district. [Formerly 545.224]
ORS Chapter 545 — Irrigation Districts

ORS 545.312. [Amended by 1995 c.42 164; renumbered 545.643 in 1995]
ORS Chapter 545 — Irrigation Districts

ORS 545.314. [Amended by 1989 c.182 22; 1995 c.42 165; renumbered 545.645 in 1995] (Construction of Improvements)