Idaho : 2026 Regular Session : BILL H0977
Amends existing law to revise provisions regarding cloud seeding.
Sponsor: Rep Clint Hostetler
Bill Details
CLOUD SEEDING -- Amends existing law to revise provisions regarding cloud seeding.
GeoLawWatch Bill Summary
Idaho H0977 amends Idaho Code § 42-4301 to substantially restructure state oversight of cloud seeding. The core new rules are:
No cloud seeding program or project may be implemented without prior legislative approval. The Water Resource Board's former authority to independently authorise, sponsor, or develop cloud seeding programs is eliminated.
State funds are prohibited from being used on cloud seeding programs. (Prior law permitted expenditure in basins with insufficient water supplies; that conditional permission is removed entirely.)
Before the legislature may authorise any future cloud-seeding activity, it must first receive an independent third-party report that includes an environmental impact assessment. The subsection, as drafted, conditions the legislature's power to authorise programs on receipt of a report indicating the program "should not continue or be allowed to commence" — a notable drafting ambiguity that appears to invert the intended logic.
The Water Resource Board is directed to assess basins and propose (not implement) cloud seeding programs for legislative approval. The prior language saying the legislature "recommends" this assessment is upgraded to "requires."
The liability shield that formerly protected state-funded or Water Resource Board-authorised cloud seeding from nuisance and trespass claims has been removed. Such activity may now be the basis for civil liability.
A new criminal penalty provision designates unauthorised cloud seeding a felony, with a maximum of one year imprisonment and/or a fine of up to $50,000. Note: under Idaho law, a felony is defined as a crime punishable by imprisonment in the state prison. Capping a felony at one year is atypically low and inconsistent with how Idaho felony sentences normally operate; a maximum of one year is the standard threshold for misdemeanour treatment in many states, and this provision appears to contain a drafting anomaly.
Fog suppression and frost prevention for orchards and crops remain excluded from the chapter's coverage.
Water generated through cloud seeding continues to be distributed under the prior appropriation doctrine.
Effective date: July 1, 2026, via emergency declaration. Notably, July 1 is Idaho's standard default effective date, making the emergency clause effectively redundant — it does not accelerate the bill's operative date.
The bill directly incorporates findings from the 2024 Government Accountability Office report on cloud seeding, which found that, accounting for uncertainty, cloud seeding's estimated effect on precipitation was statistically indistinguishable from zero at a 95% confidence level. This citation is embedded in the legislative findings themselves, making a federal audit's sceptical conclusion part of Idaho statutory text.
History
House Bill 977 was introduced on April 1, 2026, by Representative Clint Hostetler and referred to the Joint Rules and Administration committee for printing, with a printed copy filed with the Office of the Chief Clerk the same day. No committee hearings or floor votes have been recorded. The bill's introduction came just nine days before Idaho's 2026 regular session is scheduled to adjourn on approximately April 10, 2026, leaving an extremely narrow window for the bill to advance through committee, floor debate, and a Senate concurrence before the session ends. Bills that do not pass both chambers before adjournment die at the session's end, as Idaho does not carry legislation across the two-year cycle between regular sessions.
- Wed 01 Apr 2026 Introduced, read first time, referred to JRA for Printing
- Wed 01 Apr 2026 Reported Printed; Filed in the Office of the Chief Clerk
Consolidated Bill Text
Sixty-eighth Legislature Second Regular Session - 2026
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
HOUSE BILL NO. 977
BY HOSTETLER
AN ACT RELATING TO CLOUD SEEDING; AMENDING SECTION 42-4301, IDAHO CODE, TO REVISE PROVISIONS REGARDING CLOUD SEEDING; AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Idaho:
SECTION 1. That Section 42-4301, Idaho Code, be, and the same is hereby amended to read as follows:
42-4301. CLOUD SEEDING. (1) The legislature finds that:
(a) Idaho's economy and the welfare of its citizens depend upon a reliable and sustainable water supply. It is essential, therefore, that the state water resources are hereby declared to be a public use subject to the regulation and control of the state in the manner prescribed by law.
(b) The cloud seeding program developed and implemented by the Idaho water resource board, in cooperation with interested stakeholders, has insufficiently proven to be a sound investment of state resources.
(c) Augmenting water supplies through cloud seeding is in the public interest. Public benefits of cloud seeding include drought mitigation, protection of water rights, protection of municipal and business activities dependent on water, water quality, recreation, and fish and wildlife. While augmenting water supplies is in the public interest, insufficient data exists to establish the effectiveness or safety of cloud seeding to augment water supplies.
(d) Data accumulated and analysis undertaken since the initiation of the cloud seeding program demonstrates that cloud seeding has not reliably resulted in an annual increase in the water supplies in the basins in which cloud seeding has been performed. According to the 2024 government accountability office report on cloud seeding technology that assessed its effectiveness, "when uncertainty was considered in estimates of cloud seeding effectiveness, the estimated effect was not distinguishable from zero with a high degree of statistical confidence (e.g., with 95 percent confidence)."
(e) The legislature shall reevaluate the cloud seeding program and may suspend or authorize future cloud seeding projects or programs after receiving an independent, third-party report, which includes an environmental impact assessment, that indicates the project or program should not continue or be allowed to commence.
(f) The legislature recognizes that expansion of the cloud seeding program may benefit basins throughout the state that experience depleted or insufficient water supplies, and the legislature requires that the water resource board complete an assessment of basins and work with affected stakeholders to propose a cloud seeding program in basins that would benefit from the program, for approval by the legislature.
(2) As used in this chapter, "cloud seeding" means all acts undertaken to artificially distribute or create nuclei in cloud masses for the purposes of inducing precipitation, cloud forms, or other meteorological parameters. Cloud seeding for the suppression of fog and frost prevention measures for the protection of orchards and crops are excluded from the coverage of this chapter, including for suppression measures and frost prevention measures.
(3) A cloud seeding program or project shall not be implemented without first receiving legislative approval. The legislature may contract any individual or organization for consultation and assistance in developing cloud seeding programs or in furthering research related to cloud seeding experimentation.
(4) State funds shall not be used or expended on cloud seeding programs.
(5) Water generated through cloud seeding shall be distributed in accordance with the prior appropriation doctrine.
(6) The act of cloud seeding pursuant to a project funded in whole or in part by the state of Idaho or authorized by the state water resource board may be the basis of any claim of liability, including but not limited to trespass or public or private nuisance, and shall not require any state or local permits.
(7) An individual who authorizes or engages in cloud seeding without legislative approval is guilty of a felony and shall be subject to imprisonment for up to one (1) year or a fine of not more than fifty thousand dollars ($50,000), or both.
SECTION 2. An emergency existing therefor, which emergency is hereby declared to exist, this act shall be in full force and effect on and after July 1, 2026.
Supplementary documents
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE RS33165C1 / H0977 This legislation revises Idaho Code Section 42-4301 to clarify state policy and legislative oversight of cloud seeding activities. While acknowledging the importance of a reliable water supply, the bill recognizes that current data does not conclusively demonstrate the effectiveness or safety of cloud seeding. The legislation requires legislative approval for any cloud seeding program, mandates independent third-party and environmental review, and authorizes the legislature to reevaluate, suspend, or prohibit such activities. It also prohibits unauthorized cloud seeding and establishes enforcement provisions. The purpose of this act is to ensure that weather modification activities in Idaho are subject to clear oversight, independent evaluation, and accountability. FISCAL NOTE This legislation causes no increase or decrease in revenue, or additional expenditure of funds at the state or local level of government; therefore, this legislation has no fiscal impact. DISCLAIMER: This statement of purpose and fiscal note are a mere attachment to this bill and prepared by a proponent of the bill. It is neither intended as an expression of legislative intent nor intended for any use outside of the legislative process, including judicial review (Joint Rule 18).