296 IRRIGATION DISTRICTS AND FARM LOANS An act to provide for the application of the reclamation law to irrigation districts. (Act of May 15, 1922, ch. 190, 42 Stat. 541) [Sec. 1. Application of reclamation law to irrigation districts-Individual water-right applications dispensed with.]-In carrying out the purposes of the act of June 17, 1902 (Thirty-second Statutes, page 388), and acts amendatory thereof and supplementary thereto, and known as and called the reclamation law, the Secretary of the Interior may enter into contract with any legally organized irrigation district whereby such irrigation district shall agree to pay the moneys required to be paid to the United States, and in such event water-right applications on the part of landowners and entrymen, in the discretion of the Secretary of the Interior, may be dispensed with. In the event of such contract being made with an irrigation district, the Secretary of the Interior, in his discretion, may contract that the payments, both for the construction of irrigation works and for operation and maintenance, on the part of the district shall be made upon such dates as will best conform to the district and taxation laws of the respective States under which such irrigation district shall be formed; and if he deem it advisable, he may contract for such penalties or interest charges in case of delinquency in payment as he may deem proper and consistent with such State laws, notwithstanding the provisions of sections 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6 of the reclamation extension act approved August 13, 1914 (Thirty-eighth Statutes, page 686). The Secretary of the Interior may accept a partial payment of the amount due from any district to the United States, providing such acceptance shall not constitute a waiver of the balance remaining due nor the interest or penalties, if any, accruing upon said balance: Provided, That no contract with an irrigation district under this act shall be binding on the United States until the proceedings on the part of the district for the authorization of the execution of the contract with the United States shall have been confirmed by decree of a court of competent jurisdiction, or pending appellate action if ground for appeal be laid. (42 Stat. 541; 43 U.S.C. § 511) IRRIGATION DISTRICTS AND FARM LOANS Solicitor Edwards Opinion, 50 L.D. 142 (1923). 2. Warren Act contracts This act does not modify the Act of February 21, 1911, 36 Stat. 925, and existing contracts entered into under the Act of February 21, 1911, may stand as made or be modified under the same authority which authorized their execution; likewise, new contracts may be made thereunder without resort to the court proceedings specified for contracts under the Act of May 15, 1922. Solicitor Edwards Opinion, 50 L.D. 142 (1923) 3. Construction charges The Act of August 13, 1914, provided for the payment of irrigation construction charges upon a specified date, the only authority for change of which is contained in the Act of May 15, 1922, and where the latter act is invoked to change the date of payment under a prior contract, the procedure described therein must be followed in order to give validity to the amended contract. Solicitor Edwards Opinion, 50 L.D. 142 (1923). 4. Operation and maintenance charges The Secretary of the Interior, in whom the Extension Act of August 13, 1914, 38 Stat. 686, imposed the authority to fix the date for payment of operation and maintenance charges in connection with irrigation projects as of the date fixed for each project, may for sufficient reason change the due date for future payments and modify the contract without violation of either the letter or the spirit of the Act of May 15, 1922, and without invoking the procedure therein provided for confirmation of contracts under the latter act. Solicitor Edwards Opinion, 50 L.D. 142 (1923). 5. Public notice of charges The time of giving public notice of charges under section 4 of the Reclamation Act after the letting of the contracts is left to the discretion of the Secretary of the Interior, and notice might reasonably be delayed until the completion of the project. Moreover, when a contract fixing the amount and terms of payment of construction costs is entered into with an irrigation district pursuant to the Act of May 15, 1922, there was no purpose to be served by issuing the public notice. Lincoln Land Co. v. Goshen Irr. Dist., 42 Wyo. 229, 293 Pac. 373, 376, 378-79 (1930). 6. Removal of lands from projects When the War Department acquires for military purposes lands covered by a repayment contract with an irrigation district, 267-067-72-vol. I-22 297 War Department funds may be transferred to the Department of the Interior in such amount as may be agreed upon by the Secretaries of War and Interior as representing the proportionate share of construction and other charges applicable to the irrigable lands to be removed from the reclamation project. Dec. Comp. Gen. B-31310 (January 14, 1943), in re Kendrick project. 7. Penalties Under contracts with irrigation districts under the Act of May 15, 1922, 42 Stat. 541, and also under the Warren Act of February 21, 1911, 36 Stat. 925, penalties on account of all classes of charges shall be credited to the reclamation fund generally and not to the project in connection with which they arise. C.L. 1186, January 3, 1923. 8. Assessments Where the United States has, in acquiring property of a landowner for a reclamation project, agreed to furnish water perpetually to certain acreage of the landowner free of charge except an annual charge of 50 cents per acre for maintenance, an irrigation district subsequently organized may not assess such lands for payment of construction charges of the Federal project. Fort Shaw Irr. Dist. v. Ward, 81 Mont. 170, 261 Pac. 962 (1927). 9. Waters, substitution of In order to supplement the water supply of District lands on the Boise Project, the Wilder Irrigation District entered into a contract with the United States for a supplemental water supply from Anderson Ranch Dam and Reservoir. In affirming the validity of the contract, the Supreme Court of Idaho, on February 24, 1943, held: (1) The contract was not invalid because it provided for the exercise of certain powers by a Board of Control since it, in the exercise of the powers granted, is merely acting as the common agent of the several districts on the project; and (2) the provision for the substitution at some future time, at the option of the Secretary of the Interior, of an equal amount of water from the Payette or Salmon Rivers for waters of the Boise River to which the District had a water right, where such substitution would not work an injury to the rights of the water users, was not illegal. Board of Directors of Wilder Irrigation District v. Jorgensen, 64 Idaho 538, 136 P.2d 461 (1943). 10. Extension of time The Act of May 15, 1922, applies only to contracts with irrigation districts and not to contracts with water users associations. Therefore, a substantial extension of time 298 IRRIGATION DISTRICTS AND FARM LOANS for the payment of water charges may be given to irrigation districts in amended contracts under the Act of May 15, 1922; but extensions of time to water users associations may be granted only under the terms of the Act of March 31, 1922, as amended. Solicitor Edwards Opinions, M-11120 and M-12181 (April 17, 1924). 11. Water users, effect on The relationship of creditor and debtor between the United States and individual water users continues to exist after the care, operation and maintenance of a project has been transferred to a water users association or an irrigation district under the authority of section 5 of the Reclamation Extension Act of 1914, but is terminated where contracts or amended contracts have been entered into with an irrigation district pursuant to the Act of May 15, 1922. Solicitor Edwards Opinions, M-11120 and M-12181 (April 17, 1924). Sec. 2. [Patents and water-right certificates for lands in irrigation districts— Liens-Release.]-Patents and water-right certificates which shall hereafter be issued under the terms of the act entitled "An act providing for patents on reclamation entries, and for other purposes", approved August 9, 1912 (Thirtyseventh Statutes at Large, page 265), for lands lying within any irrigation district with which the United States shall have contracted, by which the irrigation district agrees to make the payment of all charges for the building of irrigation works and for operation and maintenance, shall not reserve to the United States a lien for the payment of such charges; and where such a lien shall have been reserved in any patent or water-right certificate issued under the said act of Congress, the Secretary of the Interior is hereby empowered to release such lien in such manner and form as may be deemed effective; and the Secretary of the Interior is further empowered to release liens in favor of the United States contained in water-right applications and to assent to the release of liens to secure reimbursement of moneys due to the United States pursuant to water-right applications running in favor of the water users' association and contained in stock subscription contracts to such associations, when the lands covered by such liens shall be subject to assessment and levy for the collection of all moneys due and to become due to the United States by irrigation districts formed pursuant to State law and with which the United States shall have entered into contract therefor: Provided, That no such lien so reserved to the United States in any patent or water-right certificate shall be released until the owner of the land covered by the lien shall consent in writing to the assessment, levy, and collection by such irrigation district of taxes against said land for the payment to the United States of the contract obligation: Provided further, That before any lien is released under this act the Secretary of the Interior shall file a written report finding that the contracting irrigation district is legally organized under the laws of the State in which its lands are located, with full power to enter into the contract and to collect by assessment and levy against the lands of the district the amount of the contract obligation. (42 Stat. 542; 43 U.S.C. § 512) EXPLANATORY NOTE Reference in the Text. The Act entitled "An act providing for patents on reclamation entries, and for other purposes", approved August 9, 1912 (Thirty-seventh Statutes at Large, page 265), referred to in the text, appears herein in chronological order. Sec. 3. [Contracts with irrigation districts subject to act of August 11, 1916.]-Upon the execution of any contract between the United States and any irrigation district pursuant to this act the public lands included within such irrigation district, when subject to entry, and entered lands within such irrigation district, for which no final certificates shall have been issued and which may be designated by the Secretary of the Interior in said contract, shall be subject to all the provisions of the act entitled "An act to promote the reclamation of arid lands," approved August 11, 1916: Provided, That no map or plan as required by section 3 of the said act need be filed by the irrigation district for approval by the Secretary of the Interior. (42 Stat. 542; 43 U.S.C. § 513) [Mortgages for farm loans.]-The term "first mortgage" as used in section 12 of the Federal Farm Loan Act, approved July 17, 1916, shall be construed to include mortgages on farm lands under United States reclamation projects, notwithstanding there may be against such lands a reserved or created lien in favor of the United States for construction or other charges as provided in the act of June 17, 1902, and acts amendatory thereof and supplementary thereto, known as the reclamation law: Provided, That such lands are otherwise eligible for loans under the Federal Farm Loan Act: And provided further, That the amount and date of maturity of such liens shall be given due consideration in fixing the value of such lands for loan purposes. (42 Stat. 542; 12 U.S.C. § 773) EXPLANATORY NOTES Reference in the Text. The Act entitled "An act to promote the reclamation of arid lands," approved August 11, 1916, referred to in section 3, popularly known as the Smith Act, appears herein in chronological order. Reference in the Text. Section 12 of the Federal Farm Loan Act, approved July 17, 1916, referred to in section 3, is found at 39 Stat. 370, 12 U.S.C. § 771. The term "firstmortgage" is defined in section 2 of the Act, 39 Stat. 360, 12 U.S.C. § 642, as to include such classes of first liens on farm lands as shall be approved by the Farm Credit Administration (formerly the Federal Farm Loan Board), and the credit instruments secured thereby. Legislative History. H.R. 4382, Public Law 219 in the 67th Congress. H.R. Rept. No. 662. S. Doc. 198 and H.R. Rept. No. 978 (conference reports). 300 INTERIOR DEPARTMENT APPROPRIATION ACT FOR 1923 [Extracts from] An act making appropriations for the Department of the Interior for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1923, and for other purposes. (Act of May 24, 1922, ch. 199, 42 Stat. 552) [Boise project-Drainage expenditures.]—Boise project, Idaho: * * * Provided, That the expenditure for drainage shall not exceed the amount paid by the water users pursuant to the provisions of the Boise public notice dated February 15, 1921, *** (42 Stat. 584). [Appropriation for Baker project.]—Baker project, Oregon: For investigation, commencement of construction, and incidental operations, $400,000. (42 Stat. 585) [Emergency repairs.]-Ten per centum of the foregoing amounts shall be available interchangeably for expenditures on the reclamation projects named; but not more than 10 per centum shall be added to the amount appropriated for any one of said projects, except that should existing works or the water supply for lands under cultivation be endangered by floods or other unusual conditions, an amount sufficient to make necessary emergency repairs shall become available |