By Carrie Haderlie
Wyoming Tribune Eagle
Via- Wyoming News Exchange

CHEYENNE — The Wyoming Senate has approved the creation of a new statutory trust that advocates say could help secure the state’s financial solvency for decades to come. 

Passing in a two-thirds vote necessary to make a constitutional change, senators voted 29-1 for Senate File 197, “Wyoming generational investment account-2,” on third and final reading Wednesday.

State Treasurer Curt Meier said he believes the bill, as initially introduced, and the trust fund it creates, could offset potential loss of mineral royalties historically paid to the state.

SF 197 contains an annual transfer of $100 million from the state’s investment earnings to the proposed Wyoming Generational Investment Account, beginning on July 1. The transfer would occur annually, every July 1, until 2055. 

A second-reading amendment proposed by Sen. Larry Hicks, R-Baggs, passed on Tuesday. Hicks’ amendment sets a graduated transfer amount into the Generational Investment Account.

“The way the bill (before the amendment) is constructed, if you only have $300 million in the LSRA (Legislative Stabilization Reserve Account), $100 million would automatically transfer. I don’t think that’s good public policy. That is your rainy day account,” Hicks said.

As amended, SF 197 will mean a transfer of $100 million will occur only if the state’s rainy day account has a balance of more than $1.75 billion. If that account hits $1.5 billion, the transfer to the Generational Investment Account will be $75 million, and it would go down from there.

“These transfers only occur after all of the other obligations that we put on the LSRA are done,” Hicks said, saying those obligations include an automatic appropriation of $100 million to the School Foundation Program account.

Meier told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle he was disappointed about how the amendment would affect the bill. First, it would defer investment until 2026.

“The Senate file, after the Senate (amendment), is disappointing from the aspect of funding any investment in this year,” Meier said.

The amendment also has a “cumbersome methodology for future funding, which has no relationship to anything considered a best practice for the potential of eliminating future taxes,” he said.

SF 197 does provide the framework for asset allocation, which is a small step in the right direction, he added.

“We will see if the House has the courage to provide a clear direction for Wyoming, that will lead to a bright future with the hope of freedom from taxation and the yoke of the federal government on their way to insolvency,” Meier said. “I trust in the leadership of both the House and Senate to do what is in the best long-term interest of Wyoming’s citizens.”

On the Senate floor Tuesday, Sen. Ogden Driskill, R-Devils Tower, and Sen. Mike Gierau, D-Jackson, who have both advocated for the creation of the Generational Investment Account, said they would support the amendment.

“This really is transformational for the state. We are getting (the bill) to where it needs to be, and (the amendment) is a healthy addition,” Driskill said.