• 67th Wyoming Legislature began Monday.
Lawmakers are in Cheyenne for the 67th Wyoming Legislative session, also termed a budget session as they will be responsible for creating and passing the state’s expenditures before they leave next month.
“The first and most obvious difference is the budget session is a shorter session, we are only here for a month,” stated Senator Fred Baldwin who covers Senate District 14. This consists of pieces of Lincoln, Sublette, Sweetwater and Uinta counties. Baldwin spoke with SVI as part of the Weekday Wakeup program.
“That’s 20 actual working days as opposed to the 40-day session as part of the general session. That the most glaring difference. The second is that the most important piece of legislation we consider is the budget. No matter what else we do and no matter what other committee bills or individual bills we do we have to approve a budget or we can’t go home. The state constitution says we have to pass a budget. There are 250 some-odd bills filed and more are coming in the the next few days.”
Senator Dan Dockstader of Senate District 16 which covers portions of Lincoln and Teton counties, explained how the session works from its first day which was Monday of this week.
“The budget bill is a 160-page document that allocates the state’s money for the next two years,” he said. “The budget includes a variety of expenditures including funds for local government and the schools.”
Although the session is shorter, those on the floor of the House and Senate will be sorting through as many bills as possible.
“In addition to the budget, several property tax relief bills are up for consideration,” Dockstader continued. “Committee bills that will be introduced to start the session have been vetted through a series of meetings held in Wyoming over the summer and fall months. Those bills will receive priority for consideration.”
“Most of the committee bills have been placed on a consent list. The legislature can vote on these in one sweeping motion, expediting the process. Approved on introduction, they will be reassigned to their respective committees until another review before moving on to the House and Senate floors for a three-reading process.”
Legislators’ individual bills will be heard after the committee bills have been considered.
Dockstader also noted that Lincoln County Commissioner, Kent Connelly, made a pair of visits recently touting the importance of power generation in the area.
“Just prior to the start of the session, Commissioner Connelly and Chief of Staff Stephen Allen traveled to Cheyenne to meet with the Governor on the continued use of Kemmerer coal mine and power plant,” he said. “[Naughton] is a source of over 300 jobs and [a] tax base of several million dollars. Commissioner Connelly’s visit to Cheyenne was followed by a visit to the headquarters of Rocky Mountain Power in Portland where he explained the need for the Lincoln County facilities.”
Baldwin also pointed out one of the big items up for discussion will be property tax relief.
“Anything you can imagine has been filed as a property tax bill,” he added. “There are individual and committee bills. We are going to look at it from 30 or 40 different angles. Something will certainly pass. I won’t call it a crisis but I’d call it an emergency. Especially for long-time owners who can’t afford to pay for their homes. We are pricing people out because of property taxes has gotten so high due to the inflationary cost of homes and property in Wyoming.”
Interested parties can follow the legislative process online via the state’s website, wyoleg.gov and also via Youtube where they can watch the session in action.
“I would tell anyone interested in watching how government works to get on Youtube and watch how it works,” Baldwin said. “It’s fast and furious.”
The legislature saw 52 bills on Monday after the opening of the session.
