The Wyoming Legislative session has ended. In his closing comments to lawmakers, Governor Matt Mead acknowledged that lawmakers had a difficult
“I asked in my state of the state for 6 percent budget cuts and you delivered that,” Mead said. “I asked in my state of the state to provide some flexibility in terms of where we go in the future in large projects. You provided that. I asked for in my budget to fund landfills, a Gillette-Madison water project, the School of Engineering. You addressed all of those.”
The Senate Education committee killed a bill that would have allowed those with concealed weapons permits to carry guns in schools and on Wyoming College campuses. The bill died after nobody made a motion to consider it. A number of educators at all levels testified that the legislation was a bad idea and that such ideas should be left to local school districts to consider. University of Wyoming President Tom Buchanan testified that the allowing guns on campus could lead to problems.
The Wyoming Senate defeated a bill dealing with seismic exploration, reconsidered it, and then passed it.
Supporters say that the goal of the legislation is to set tiered bonding for seismic exploration.
Wyoming Stockgrowers Association Executive Vice President Jim Magagna says the bonding will be based on the size of the acreage being accessed. He says that the bill was amended to say that when seismic
A Wyoming House committee has voted to defeat a bill that would have made it felony for an abortion to be performed after an embryo or fetus has a heartbeat.
Representative Sue Wallis of Recluse testified that she’s had an abortion and it is nobody’s business but hers.
"Thank God this travesty of state-sponsored intrusion into my difficult decision at that time was not in place," Wallis said. "And I pray that it’s not foisted on my daughters or granddaughters."
A House committee has approved a bill that would raise the cigarette tax by five-cents-per-cigarette and a dollar a pack. Republican Representative Gerald Gay of Casper is the main sponsor. He says money from the increase will help offset rising Medicaid costs.
“And tobacco is related to that because tobacco has such a profound impact on health care," Gay said. "So we figured out a way to sort of frontload health care costs against one of the biggest health care users that there is.”
The Wyoming Legislature will take on just about every possible hot-button social issue this week, hearing bills on guns, abortion and same-sex marriage.
House Speaker Tom Lubnau, a Republican from Gillette, says he's scheduled all the contentious social issue bills for hearings this week to save money on security.
Lubnau says the Legislature always increases its security when lawmakers consider gun and abortion issues because of the large crowds that typically turn out.
The legislative panel responsible for drafting a supplemental Wyoming state budget bill recommends that lawmakers reject Gov. Matt Mead's proposal to cut the flow of energy revenues going into permanent savings and school construction.
Mead wants Wyoming to build up its so-called rainy day fund in case the state needs ready cash to deal with projected flat energy revenues in the years to come.
The Wyoming legislature wraps up its second week today. Wyoming Public Radio's Bob Beck is covering the session and joins us now to talk about lawmakers' attempts to restructure how the state's schools are governed.
Wyoming lawmakers are facing bills this session that would restrict access to abortion services.
Meanwhile, a group is capitalizing on the legal victory it won against the state last year that allows it to display an anti-abortion poster in a tunnel leading to the state Capitol.
The anti-abortion bills aren't set for a hearing until late in January. Abortion rights groups say they're gearing up for a fight and similar bills have been defeated in recent legislative sessions.
A bill that changes the qualifications for the position of Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission Supervisor has unanimously passed the State Senate.
The bill changes the requirements for the Supervisor from a registered professional petroleum engineer or geologist, to an engineer or geologist with ten years of experience in his respective field of expertise.
Energy and Legislative advocate with the Wyoming Outdoor Council, Richard Garrett, says it may be valuable to consider applicants’ assets fully.
A state lawmaker from Jackson is proposing some changes to Wyoming's tipping laws.
One bill introduced by Rep. Ruth Ann Petroff would make all tips exempt from sales tax. Currently tips automatically added to a bill, usually for large groups, are subject to sales tax.
Another bill from the Republican would allow restaurants to pool tips from everyone waiting on tables and then split the money among its employees. However, an employee couldn't be forced to contribute more than 15 percent of their tips to a tip pool.
The Wyoming Legislature is set to convene at noon today for the first day of its general session, which is set to run through early March.
Lawmakers generally take care of housekeeping matters on the first day and won't get down to business until after Gov. Matt Mead delivers his annual state of the state address tomorrow morning.
Wyoming House Speaker-elect Tom Lubnau says crafting a supplemental state budget will be the "overriding concern" as lawmakers open the 2013 session tomorrow
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State financial analysts are warning that Wyoming needs to brace for flat revenues for years to come, given the slumping national demand for coal and increasing natural gas production in other states.
Gov. Matt Mead presented a budget proposal to lawmakers last month calling for cutting state agency budgets by an average of 6.5 percent.
The Legislature’s Joint Judiciary Committee will introduce a bill that would modify bonds for seismic exploration for oil and gas on private land. If passed, companies doing any seismic exploration would have to put up a $5,000 bond for the first 1,000 acres being explored, with increases for acreage beyond that. The outgoing chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Kermit Brown of Laramie, said there have been complaints about the current regulations.
The President of the University of Wyoming says while the six percent budget cuts are better than the eight percent the Governor had previously proposed…he says they will still cause pain.
President Tom Buchanan told the legislature’s Joint Appropriations Committee that the cuts could cost U-W 60 to 95 employees and added that some may have to be layoffs. Buchanan also made the case for increasing U-W’s faculty and staff salaries by three percent.
State Senator Charles Scott of Casper is facing a challenge from veteran Representative Bob Brechtel. The two are competing in the Senate District 30 Republican Primary.
Many people hope that Wyoming’s uranium industry will become much more active, as interest in nuclear energy grows.
University of Wyoming Ag Economist Tex Taylor says there is a lot of potential for increased employment and tax revenue for the state. But Wyoming Senator Eli Bebout, who chairs the Senate Minerals, Business and Economic Development Committee, says new and smaller companies are often stymied by the state and federal permitting process and other regulatory hurdles.
Wyoming lawmakers are considering further reforms to the state’s pension system. This year, the legislature lowered pension benefits for new employees and changed the way cost-of-living adjustments are made.
But Cheyenne Representative Bryan Pedersen says he is convinced that even with the changes, Wyoming won’t have e
“This will at best float us three to five years. It’s a band-aid that will kick the can further down the road. And that’s with the plan fully performing at the eight percent estimated average annual return.”
A recent report from the Center for Public Integrity ranks Wyoming 48th in the nation when it comes to accountability in state politics. According to the report, Wyoming and a number of other western states seemed to operate with a live-and-let-live attitude when it came to government, stressing a strong preference for informal societal controls as opposed to legislative actions that regulated oversight.
Gordon Witkin is with the Center for Public Integrity. He says Wyoming is too relaxed when it comes to oversight and auditing processes.
