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.
