41-2-117. Wyoming water development commission; membership; removal; terms.

(a) The Wyoming water development commission is created to consist of ten (10) members. The membership shall include:

(i) Nine (9) persons, two (2) shall be residents appointed from each water division of the state as defined in W.S. 41-3-501, at least one (1) will be a person having an adjudicated water right. One (1) resident of Wyoming shall be appointed at large and one (1) shall be an enrolled member of the Arapahoe or Shoshone Indian tribes who is resident on the Wind River Indian Reservation:

(A) They shall be appointed by the governor, after consultation with the superintendent of each water division and approval of the senate, and may be removed by the governor as provided in W.S. 9-1-202;

(B) Not more than seventy-five percent (75%) of the members shall be of the same political party;

(C) Appointments are for a term of four (4) years;

(D) Five (5) of the first appointees shall serve two (2) year terms and four (4) appointees shall serve four (4) year terms;

(E) No person shall be appointed for more than two (2) consecutive terms;

(F) If any member ceases to reside in or is absent from the division from which appointed for a continuous period of six (6) months or more, the governor shall declare his office vacant and shall appoint a successor from the same division for the unexpired term;

(G) The governor shall fill a vacancy for an unexpired term in a like manner to subparagraph (F) of this paragraph;

(H) The commission shall annually select one (1) of its members as chairman and one (1) of its members as secretary;

(J) To serve as consultants without vote the following are designated:

(I) The state engineer or his designee;

(II) The chief executive officer of the Wyoming business council or other person designated by the council; and

(III) A person with interest, training and expertise in water resource matters from the University of Wyoming or the Wyoming Water Resource Research Institute, appointed by the president of the university with the approval of the board of trustees.

(b) Members from the four (4) water divisions, the at-large member and the tribal member shall be voting members of the commission. Six (6) members constitute a quorum for the transaction of commission business.

(c) All grant and loan programs over which the commission has authority shall be administered by the Wyoming water development office.