The Flathead water compact is likely headed for the Montana House of Representatives.

On Wednesday, the Senate voted 31-19 in favor of the compact on the second reading of Senate Bill 262, which would ratify the water rights compact for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes.

The compact is a settlement between the tribes, the state and the federal government. It attempts to quantify the water rights of the tribes needed to maintain fishing rights guaranteed to them by treaty, while providing certainty for non-tribal water users, particularly non-tribal irrigators on the reservation.

As an out-of-court settlement, it is an attempt to avoid the tribes’ threat of litigation, which could send thousands of existing water rights held by Montanans, from the Idaho border to Billings, back to the state’s water court.

Compact opponents have criticized the compact as “legislation by intimidation” for that reason. Nonetheless, bill sponsor Sen. Chas Vincent, R-Libby, closed the more than three-hour hearing by sharing his concern that he would have to explain that scenario to his constituents, should the compact fail.

“What do I tell them?” he asked. “You all need to be thinking about that, too.”

Sen. Bob Keenan, R-Bigfork, asked for an assurance that Flathead Lake’s depth would not drop below current levels as a result of the compact. Vincent said he couldn’t answer exactly, but noted the minimum pool elevation established by federal regulation was kept intact by the compact.

Sen. Jennifer Fielder, R-Thompson Falls, objected to several provisions of the compact, including the larger framework surrounding it.

“The state of Montana never started from a position of strength in these negotiations. The state never identified the purpose of the reservation and the amount of water necessary to fulfill that purpose,” she said, referring to the compact’s stated goal.

Vincent opened the hearing by anticipating attempts to amend the bill, a scenario which he and other compact proponents have stated would kill the compact. Because it is an out-of-court settlement among the state, tribes and federal government, any changes at this point would require the parties to renegotiate any new provisions.

“We’re talking about a process that has been long and exhaustive, we’re talking about a process that included members of this legislative body, on the compact commission, because they realized all the way back in 1979 that this was going to be an up-or-down vote,” he said, referring to the legislation that created the commission, tasked with negotiating water-rights settlements to avoid litigation.

Senate President Debby Barrett, R-Dillon, who served on the compact commission, reponded to Vincent’s argument that the compact is the product of a policy decision by the Legislature to pursue negotiated settlements in lieu of litigation.

“It’s true Montana has chosen to negotiate, rather than litigate... [but] I believe the compact became unacceptable to the Montanans who are forever going to live under this process, because the unified process of negotiation has been deviated from many times,” she said, citing technical reviews, granting of exclusive rights to the tribes and a failure to adhere to historic uses by non-tribal members.

During Tuesday morning’s finance committee hearing, two amendments were tacked onto the bill, but it was then tabled, requiring a blast motion by Vincent to pull it from committee in its original form. Sens. Janna Taylor, R-Dayton, and John Brenden, R-Scobey, attempted the same amendment maneuver on the Senate floor, but their three amendments failed by more than two-to-one margins.

The Senate will take its final vote on the bill during its morning session, at 9 a.m. today.

Reporter Samuel Wilson can be reached at 758-4407 or by email at swilson@dailyinterlake.com