By Jasmine Hall
Jackson Hole News&Guide
Via- Wyoming News Exchange

JACKSON — As Gov. Mark Gordon laid out his spending priorities this past week, he zeroed in on wildfire protection, property tax relief and funding for legal battles.

The governor outlined his request Monday to the Wyoming Legislature’s Joint Appropriations Committee.

A “supplemental” budget is designed to fill gaps in the two-year “general” budget passed last year. Gordon’s request is “addressing issues unknown a year ago, those requiring immediate attention or those requested by the Legislature,” he said.

He asked the Appropriations Committee to add close to $692.3 million to the $10.39 billion appropriated in the 2025-26 biennium budget bill. Whether his requests will be honored will be up to a committee experiencing a high turnover in members following the 2024 election.

While negotiations and compromises are common, Wyoming Freedom Caucus members also made clear during the four-and-a-half-day meeting marathon that they might hold the state’s purse strings tight, even in emergencies.

Among Gordon’s priorities, wildfire protection saw one of the largest requests with the governor seeking $50 million for firefighting and $130 million for restoration.

In 2024, Wyoming saw close to 2,000 wildfires that burned more than 850,000 acres, Gordon said. About 70% of that acreage was on private and state lands, and fire suppression efforts cost more than $55 million. That drained state emergency and contingency funds.

If more money is not set aside, Gordon warned that the state would not be prepared to respond to future fires or other possible emergencies like massive winter storms or flooding.

Ultraconservative lawmakers weren’t the only legislators questioning Gordon’s spending plans. Sen. Mike Gierau, D-Jackson, is one of two Democrats on the committee, and he had his own questions.

Historically, the governor has been given a lot of latitude in executive branch spending, Gierau said. For example, the Legislature has approved money for the governor to use for lawsuits and to defend states’ rights.

“It’s all about these land use issues, and then all of the sudden I see us spending our time, money and energy in disputes about immigration,” Gierau said. So instead of giving the governor a lump sum to use at his discretion, Gierau wants to see the governor come back to the Legislature to ask for funding for specific lawsuits.

On Monday, Gordon requested $75 million for litigation funds to “ensure Wyoming has the resources to protect all of its natural resources from federal overreach.” The funds are needed to battle an “onslaught of federal regulations and land management decisions,” he wrote.

Already, $1.2 million that was previously appropriated is “nearly exhausted” because of state efforts to protect Wyoming’s coal industry by opposing the Buffalo Resource Management Plan and other federal regulations targeting coal production, the governor argued.

The supplemental budget is 659 pages and includes requests from the governor, state agencies and communities. Ultimately, the Legislature will decide whether to fund those requests during its upcoming two-month session, which starts in January. Gordon also requested an additional $10.5 million for the state’s expanded property tax refund program, which is underfunded.

This year, close to $14.3 million has gone to property owners seeking help in paying their 2023 property tax bills.

He also asked for money to increase Medicaid rates paid for obstetric care and mental health providers.

“Since the last interim meeting, Wyoming will lose OB services in another Wyoming hospital effective December 31st of this year,” Gordon wrote to lawmakers. “Evanston Regional Hospital is the latest to join hospitals in Kemmerer and Rawlins in removing labor and delivery services. This is a complicated issue that we continue to evaluate and develop recommendations to address.”

“It’s interesting that we’re now going to put money to try to keep OB/GYN doctors in the community at the same time we’re passing laws to make them felons when they do their job,” Gierau said, referring to abortion bans passed by lawmakers.