Concentration at Crossover



Legislature continues hard work as bills leave their house of origin

Cheyenne – The 2015 Legislative session is at the halfway point: crossover. In this session, the House sent 157 bills to the Senate and the Senate sent 103 bills to the House. A bill relating to asset forfeiture was the first bill to pass both legislative bodies and is on its way to the Governor’s desk.

“I am incredibly proud of our legislators, they are working hard and putting in the long hours to make sure that we continue to move Wyoming forward,” said Representative Rosie Berger, Majority Floor Leader. “We heard 257 bills in committees and on the floor and have moved 157 bills to the Senate and have already begun to tackle what they have sent our way.”

This session saw 24 bills related to education in the House and the Senate. The topics ranged from curriculum, to testing, to standards reviews, to the creation of a distance education task force. Wyoming’s most valuable resource has always been its people and its children are the future of this great state. The Legislature’s commitment to providing them with a world-class education is unwavering.

Speaker of the House Kermit Brown has passionately argued on behalf of the children of Wyoming multiple times this session. “We need to prepare our kids for the global marketplace, and that means giving them access to all the information that is out there and teaching them how to interpret what is in front of them.”

The Legislature continues to take a proactive role in supporting and developing Wyoming’s energy industry, as well as providing policy that encourages entrepreneurialism and business recruitment to the state. Ensuring Wyoming has a thriving economy is of the highest priority.

The support for Wyoming’s energy industry continues with a bill looking to create a task force to study and make recommendations for a fair, viable, and simplified system of valuation and taxation for minerals.

The House passed a repeal of malt beverage tax, encouraging and promoting the growing industry of microbreweries as well as continuing to support the state’s hospitality industry. With the passage of Senate files that give preference points for the use of Wyoming materials, give exemptions for commercial driver’s licenses to local companies, and authorize worker’s compensation coverage for all county officials, it’s clear that Wyoming is open for business.

Infrastructure is a key component of providing a business friendly climate. Landfill remediation bills are working their way through the session this year, as is the extension of the Wyoming Telecommunications Act.

“Building a brighter future for Wyoming is the goal of every legislator here,” said Senate President Phil Nicholas. “We have worked on major bills that will increase jobs, improve infrastructure, and continue to evaluate how to use the taxes from our mineral industry most effectively. We are currently working on SF 122, named Vision 2020, which would create a modeling tool so in the future the Legislature can make data-based decisions on how much money to spend versus how much money to save.”

The House and Senate began debating this year’s Supplemental Budget bill yesterday. The funding strategy put forth by the Joint Appropriations Committee would have programs receive payment in stages, as capital gains become available in 2015 and 2016. This plan will slow down the growth of the state’s rainy day account but will ensure that capital construction projects continue to be funded over the following two to six years. The budget bill is presented in mirror sessions to both legislative branches.

“Our priorities with this supplemental budget were to take care of Wyoming’s most vulnerable, to take advantage of programs that had matching funds available, and to provide funding for one-time expenditures,” House Speaker Pro Tem Tim Stubson explained.

Providing additional health care programs and resources has been a major issue this session and has seen a multitude of bills related to the matter. Bills include permitting health care sharing, extending the Wyoming Health Insurance Pool Act, providing some compensation to hospitals for uncompensated care, and providing nursing education programs are all still being worked on by the Legislature.

As with all sessions, the Legislature continues to fight for state sovereignty rights and continue to support local governments and the personal freedoms of Wyoming citizens.

The belief that the federal government is broken is wide-spread through the Legislature and it has become apparent that some are done waiting for the problem to be fixed in Washington D.C. Two bills came out the House that call upon Congress to pass a balanced budget amendment.

While pushing Congress to balance its budget, Wyoming continues to follow its own methods of ensuring local governments have a high level of autonomy and the funding they need to function effectively.

“We continue to stop federal overreach from Washington D.C. and to solve Wyoming problems with Wyoming solutions,” said Senate Majority Floor Leader Eli Bebout. “We appreciate and support Wyoming’s citizens’ right to personal freedoms and our policy efforts prove that. We also agree with the notion that the best government is closest to the people and fund local government projects and their initiatives. The most important thing for Wyoming is jobs and a thriving economy.”

Personal freedom bills that are going through the Legislature include bills relating to trespassing issues, protecting land owners from pipeline incidents, allowing for the sale of locally grown food to individuals, and the protection of personal assets from seizure.

The Legislature entered this session with a handful of priorities and a clear vision of what they wanted to accomplish; thoughtful of how they could best represent the citizens of Wyoming and what kind of legacy they wanted to leave for future generations. At the halfway point of the session, it’s clear that it is full steam ahead.