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established in 1971 under Title II of the Water Resources Planning Act of 

 1965. The Comnussion: (1) coordinates all the water and related land 

 plans in the basin whether Federal, state, local, or private; (2) prepares a 

 plan of development for the use of the resources, and (3) recommends 

 priorities for implementation. 



The state members of the Commission are appointed by the Governors of 

 each state, while the Federal members are appointed by the Secretaries of 

 each Federal department. Typically the head of natural resources in each 

 state represents that state, and the regional director of each Federal agency 

 represents that state. A member of ORANSCO, the interstate group, also 

 sits on the Connmission Board. The Commission is chaired by a 

 Presidential Appointee. A small technical staff is employed by the 

 Commission. A Citizen Advisory Council with more than 120 members 

 also advises the Board. Comnussion funds come from assessments of each 

 state, matched by Federal dollars. At the time the article referenced above 

 was written, 2.5 Federal dollars were put in for every state dollar. 



One of the unique features of this Commission is that the authorizing 

 legislation requires that reconunendations of the Commission be made by 

 "consensus." The interpretation of "consensus" agreed to by the 

 Commission is that no member formally objects to the recommendation. 

 Since much of the impact of the Commission rests upon voluntary 

 implementation or the political credibility of Commission 

 recommendations, this consensus rule appears to be workable. 



Final Draft - September 15, 1993 99 



