Cheyenne, WY – The
Majority and Minority Leaders of the 63rd Wyoming Legislature held a
joint news conference following the Governor’s State of the State address today
and focused heavily on budget, and the sure to be ongoing debate of when to
save and when to spend.
“We have a lot of common goals with the Governor concerning
what we want to accomplish this session,” said Senate President Phil Nicholas,
“I am glad that he is not backing down on financial commitments that have
previously been made based on the anticipated downturn in energy prices.
Wyoming has experienced this before and we need to continue to keep a long term
view.”
“Adjustments will need to be considered this session, based
on our extremely volatile revenue streams, but we are in a position where we
aren’t talking about cutting programs,” Speaker Kermit Brown emphasized, “But
some of these spending debates come from opinion and not hard fact.”
Both President Nicholas and Speaker Brown are working on a
bill, titled Vision 2020, that proposes to develop a modeling tool to help future
legislatures make more data-driven decisions based on the state’s processes
supported by revenue streams. The modeling tool is intended to identify possible
risks associated with different funding sources. The Vision 2020 process is
intended to be an inclusive planning process adding, among other things, a plan
for long term savings and expenditures.
During the news conference, Senate Majority Floor Leader Eli
Bebout highlighted the strength of Wyoming, saying, “We are in a much better
position than we have been in the past to ride out this downturn in oil and gas
prices. We have a smaller and more efficient government and have made good investment
and saving decisions. Wyoming is open for business.”
It is expected that there will be a robust discussion this
session on what spending priorities should be, but one thing is for sure within
the Republican leadership; the sky in not falling.
