By Carrie Haderlie
Wyoming Tribune Eagle
Via- Wyoming News Exchange

CHEYENNE — Wednesday evening, Senate leaders announced that they will not pass a supplemental budget bill this session.

The purpose of a supplemental budget is to “respond to emergency shortfalls in the biennium budget,” according to a Wednesday night news release.

“The Senate has concluded that now is not the time to increase spending needlessly,” according to the release, which did not list any senator besides Senate President Bo Biteman, R-Ranchester, by name. “The 2025-2026 biennium budget provides the necessary funding to run the state. With only eight months until budget discussions begin, now is not the time for this supplemental agreement.”

Senate leadership acknowledged that issues like the external cost adjustment for K-12 education are critically important, but said “the Senate has taken the appropriate steps to ensure those items are covered in stand-alone legislation without adding hundreds of millions of dollars to the budget.”

Biteman told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle after the announcement that House Bill 316, “School finance model recalibration-2,” now includes $48.8 million, the amount approved by the Appropriations Committee, not the full amount that was recommended in the governor’s supplemental budget request.

“There will be an opportunity to adjust that amount accordingly,” Biteman said.

The announcement continued that “it is important that while the Wyoming State Government is debating historic tax cuts and requiring local governments to make difficult decisions, the Wyoming Legislature should do the responsible thing and keep our spending under control as well.”

“Both chambers of the Wyoming Legislature are working hard to deliver property tax relief, and with that comes serious considerations on what we can afford and how. As fiscal conservatives, we know that spending hundreds of millions of dollars while debating massive tax cuts is not the conservative thing to do,” Biteman said in the release.

“The Senate determined that we need to hold off on the budget until we know what the impact of historic property tax cuts and the successful rightsizing of the federal bureaucracy by the new administration (will do),” he continued.

“This is not a decision that was made lightly, but after careful consideration, and discussions with our senators, we have reached a consensus that this is the correct choice for the correct time,” the release concluded. “We look forward to working with our honorable colleagues in the House to reach a deal on substantive property tax cuts, and the next biennium budget.”

In the House lobby Wednesday night, Majority Floor Leader Rep. Scott Heiner, R-Green River, told the WTE that he was “speechless” following the announcement.

“I don’t know how the House will respond,” Heiner said. “We were just talking in caucus about the supplemental budget. It is a surprise to me.”