SENATE FILE 2014

BY  HANCOCK

A BILL FOR

An Act relating to flood prevention by providing for the alteration of a water channel in connection with a project for highway construction or improvement.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:

    Section 1.  Section 306.27, Code 2011, is amended to read as follows:
   306.27  Changes for safety, economy, and utility, and flood prevention.
   1.  The state department of transportation as to primary roads and the boards of supervisors as to secondary roads on their own motion may change the course of any part of any road or stream, watercourse, or dry run and may pond water in order to avoid the construction and maintenance of bridges, or to avoid grades, or railroad crossings, or to straighten a road, or to cut off dangerous corners, turns or intersections on the highway, or to widen a road above statutory width, or for the purpose of preventing the encroachment of a stream, watercourse, or dry run upon the highway. The department and the board of supervisors shall conduct their proceedings
 
under this subsection in the manner and form prescribed in chapter 6B, except that the board of supervisors may use the form prescribed in sections 306.28 to 306.37 for the condemnation of right-of-way that is contiguous to existing road right-of-way and necessary for the maintenance, safety improvement, or upgrade of the existing secondary road.
   2.  The department of transportation as to primary roads and the boards of supervisors as to secondary roads may straighten, deepen, or otherwise improve any channel, river, stream, or other watercourse as necessary to prevent future flooding of property in the path of the channel, river, stream, or watercourse which may occur as a result of a highway project. The department and the board of supervisors shall conduct their proceedings under this subsection in the manner and form prescribed in chapter 6B.
   3.  Changes
 
made under this section are subject to chapter 455B and chapter 459, subchapters II and III.
EXPLANATION
   Under current law, the department of transportation as to primary roads and county boards of supervisors as to secondary roads are authorized to change the course of any stream, watercourse, or dry run and to pond water in order to facilitate a highway project, to improve a highway, or to avoid flooding of a highway. Changes made to any watercourse by the department or a board of supervisors are subject to existing statutes and rules under the purview of the department of natural resources.
   This bill allows the department or a board of supervisors to straighten, deepen, or otherwise improve any channel, river, stream, or other watercourse if a highway project results in a situation that might contribute to flooding in areas that are not part of the highway right-of-way. The department and boards of supervisors are authorized to use procedures under eminent domain for this purpose.