AI-generated summary, not yet reviewed by Better Utah staff. Please consult the bill text.

This wide-ranging bill makes numerous changes to laws governing Utah's Department of Natural Resources. Among the most notable changes, it removes the $10 million annual cap on low-interest loans available to help water suppliers install secondary water meters (non-drinking irrigation water systems), modernizes how the Division of Water Rights stores its records by explicitly allowing electronic formats, and creates new authority for the Department of Natural Resources to fund general litigation expenses related to the state's water interests, backed by a $5 million General Fund appropriation. It also changes how the state engineer handles water rights when a royalty contract or mineral lease tied to that water right is terminated or violated, adjusts the membership and duties of the Utah Geological Survey and its governing board, replaces the term "buffalo" with "bison" in state law, and repeals both the section establishing funding sources for the Watershed Restoration Initiative and the Alternative Energy Development Tax Credit Act entirely. The bill also makes numerous technical corrections and clarifies rulemaking authority for the Division of Law Enforcement.