Text of Compact. The Interstate Compact for Jurisdiction on the Colorado River is as follows:
1. The legislature finds that law enforcement has been impaired in sections of the Colorado River forming an interstate boundary because of difficulty in determining precisely where a criminal act was committed.
2. The legislature intends that a person committing an act which is illegal in both states not be freed merely because neither state could establish that a crime was committed within its boundaries.
3. The Interstate Compact for Jurisdiction on the Colorado River is enacted to provide for enforcement of the laws of this state with regard to certain acts committed on the Colorado River, or any lake formed by or a part of the Colorado River, on either side of the boundary line with an adjoining state.
As used in this compact, unless the context otherwise requires, “party state” means a state which has enacted this compact.
1. If conduct is prohibited by two adjoining party states, courts and law enforcement officers in either state who have jurisdiction over criminal offenses committed in a county where the Colorado River, or any lake formed by or a part of the Colorado River, forms a common interstate boundary have concurrent jurisdiction to arrest, prosecute and try offenders for the prohibited conduct committed anywhere on the body of water forming a boundary between the two states.
2. This compact does not authorize:
(a) Prosecution of any person for conduct which is lawful in the state where it was committed.
(b) Any conduct prohibited by a party state.
This compact is ratified by enactment of the language of this compact, or substantially similar language expressing the same purpose, by at least two states of which the Colorado River forms a common boundary.
Last modified: February 25, 2006