WY Legislature Delivers Balanced, Conservative Budget

FY 17/18 Budget Manages the Current Revenue Shortfall while Meeting Wyoming Citizen’s Needs

 

Cheyenne, WY -- The Wyoming State Legislature concluded the 20-day budget session today after providing the Governor with a balanced, conservative budget. The budget meets the needs of the state and its citizens while aligning its spending with the projected continued drop in energy prices.

The Legislature has taken the long view when it comes to managing the state’s finances and this budget is no different. With projections of energy prices staying low for the next six to ten years, curbing Wyoming’s spending was imperative.

“We’ve been here before, we know that we are in a cycle right now. However, we have a historical prospective, we know how to handle this and we know that there is light at the end of the tunnel,” said Speaker of the House Kermit Brown.

Wyoming lawmakers have long balanced the needs of the citizens with the knowledge that a majority of the revenue stream is from one-time commodities. When times were flush, the state was able to invest large amounts of capital in education, local government, infrastructure and economic development. Investing in Wyoming people, while taking a fiscally conservative approach to managing one-time mineral revenue and allocating excess funds to savings and investments is how Wyoming is able to curb the catastrophic effects that can be felt in a boom and bust economy.

The one-time revenues from mineral extraction were directed to the Legislative Stabilization Reserve Account (LSRA), which holds approximately $1.8 billion dollars. For specific one-time projects and expenditures, funds were taken from the LSRA. Otherwise, the budget was balanced by reducing state government funding that comes from the general fund.

To mitigate the impact of reduction in agency budgets, the Legislature implemented a Penny Plan that will scale back budgets over the biennium. Nearly all state agencies will experience a one percent trim to their budgets in Fiscal Year (FY) 2017 and a two percent reduction in FY 2018.

This Budget Bill continued to support Wyoming’s citizens. Education funds were allocated at the levels dictated by the External Cost Adjustments. Towns and counties received $105 million and senior centers and developmental preschools saw an increase in funding.

“Wyoming’s greatest asset is its people,” said House Majority Floor Leader Rosie Berger, “Meeting the needs of Wyoming’s citizens has never taken a backseat. This budget makes sure that Wyoming meets all of its obligations and continues to be the best state in the nation.”

During budget sessions, bills that are imperative to the well being of Wyoming’s peoples are also considered. This session bills were passed that ensure school facilities continue to be built, provides veterans recognition for their service through hunting licenses and that allows local towns and counties to invest their funds in order to generate larger revenue streams.

 

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Hulett Students Champion Bill Designating Big Sagebrush as State Shrub

Students & Teachers Travel to Cheyenne for Historic Bill Signing

Cheyenne, Wyoming – Students from Hulett School in Crook County can claim passing legislation among their many accomplishments this school year.

A group of students from Hulett School, working in conjunction with Senator Ogden Driskill, helped craft legislation that was signed into law today designating big sagebrush as Wyoming’s official state shrub.

“Proud doesn’t cover it when it comes to describing how I feel about these kids,” said Senator Ogden Driskill who worked with the students to write and implement the bill. “The students from Hulett School worked tremendously hard to get this measure passed – researching the issue, writing letters in support of the law and lobbying members of the legislature. In my book, they all earned an ‘A+’ in civics.”

Today, Governor Matt Mead signed into law Senate File 52, legislation declaring Wyoming big sagebrush as the state shrub. The measure was sponsored by Senator Ogden Driskill and Representative Tyler Lindholm, legislators who both represent Crook County.

“This is really a historic day,” said Representative Tyler Lindholm. “For a group of students from Hulett to have the opportunity to write, lobby for and see passed into a law a bill of their own creation is truly amazing. These students represent the very best of Wyoming.”

Nearly all of the 7^th - 12^th grade students from Hulett School traveled to Cheyenne today for the bill signing. Students, teachers and faculty from Hulett had the opportunity to visit with Governor Matt Mead, U.S. Senator Mike Enzi, Secretary of State Ed Murray, Superintendent of Public Instruction Jillian Balow and legislators from both the house and senate.

The legislation signed today, which becomes effective July  1, 2016, states that “Artemisia tridentata wyomingensis, commonly known as Wyoming big sagebrush, is the state shrub of Wyoming.”

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WY Senate Signs Off on Bill to Ensure Stable Source of Funding for Community Colleges

Cheyenne, Wyoming – Aiming to ensure continued educational opportunities for all Wyoming citizens at the state’s community colleges, the Wyoming Senate approved legislation today to provide a stable source of funding for Wyoming's community colleges based on realistic enrollment levels.

“Wyoming’s community colleges are not only a critical linchpin in our education system, but they play a big role in supporting our local economies,” said Senator Bruce Burns “They’re training Wyoming citizens for the jobs we have available right here, right now, as well as those we’ll have in the near future.”

House Bill 80, Community College Recalibration, was unanimously approved by the Senate today. The bill was previously unanimously approved by the House of Representatives and now awaits signature from Governor Matt Mead to become law.

“This bill is a win-win for the people of Wyoming,” said Senator Hank Coe, a sponsor of the bill. “Not only do we ensure that our community colleges have a reliable source of funding, but we as a legislature will be better prepared to budget for their needs.”

Enrollment growth funding for community colleges, considered each biennium as one-time, exception budget funding, is the current mechanism set up in the statutes to provide operational revenue for the community colleges to cover the costs of enrollment growth over the base period of 2004-2005. Unfortunately, as one-time funding, it does not support stability, and the colleges cannot plan for its receipt and usage for long-term initiatives.

HB 80 sets the new base at the Governor's recommendation for 2017-2018, and then allows the legislature to recalibrate for 2019-2020, with subsequent recalibration every four years after that. Although the new base period recognizes the dramatic growth the colleges have experienced since 2004-2005, it is not the peak period of growth since then.  

“HB80 reflects years of hard work and provides a vehicle for reliable and predictable funding for Wyoming's community colleges,” said Erin Taylor, Executive Director of the Wyoming Association of Community College Trustees. “The beauty of the bill is that when enrollment goes up, the funding increases. In a similar manner, when enrollment goes down, the funding will decrease.”

In addition to serving many traditional college-aged students, 30% to 40% of the students on community college campuses are adults who have been in the workforce for five, ten or more years.
Community colleges help nearly 700 Wyoming students earn their high school equivalency certificates through one-on-one and group classes and provide testing services for another 500 students. The 1,200 high school equivalency certificates awarded each year by Wyoming’s Community Colleges make community colleges the state’s largest producer of high school graduates.

“We have worked for a long time on this funding issue for a community college system that is among the best in the nation,” said Senator Bill Landen, a sponsor of the bill. “In any given year nearly 40,000 students are taking courses or enjoying lifelong learning at one of our colleges across the state. This consistent funding formula will help the colleges and help policy makers at the same time going forward.”

Governor Signs Asset Forfeiture Bill into Law

Measure Strikes a Balance Between Law Enforcement Needs & Personal Property Protections

Cheyenne, Wyoming – Wyoming Governor Matt Mead signed legislation into law today that aims to safeguard citizens against unnecessary asset seizures while ensuring law enforcement officers have the tools and resources they need to pursue criminal cases and keep Wyoming citizens safe.

“The Joint Judiciary Interim Committee worked hard to craft a measure that strikes a balance between meeting law enforcement needs while also protecting personal property rights,” said Senator Leland Christensen, Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee. “Under this law, the onus is on the government to show clear and convincing evidence that a seizure is warranted.”

Senate File 46, Asset Forfeiture, a bill sponsored by the Joint Judiciary Interim Committee, was signed into law today by Wyoming Governor Matt Mead. The bill was unanimously approved in the House and Senate. SF 46 amends procedures and requirements for forfeiting and seizing property under the Wyoming Controlled Substances Act.

Under the state’s current asset forfeiture law, property can be seized as long as there is probable cause that the asset was used in connection with a crime. Under Senate File 46, additional steps must be taken by the court system before a judge can order assets to be seized. Law enforcement officials will now be required to contact the Attorney General before seizing any assets or property. A hearing would then be scheduled within 30 days to decide whether there is sufficient probable cause to proceed.

Senate File 46 is the result of two years of work by the Judiciary Committees, the state legislature and key stakeholders to reform Wyoming’s asset seizure and forfeiture laws.

Governor Mead also signed Senate File 8, Bicycle and Pedestrian System Task Force into law. The measure creates a task force to study the benefits and opportunities of bicycle and pedestrian pathways and natural surface trails across Wyoming.  

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Ross & Harshman: Budget makes people a priority

With falling state revenues and an economic forecast that looks increasingly cloudy, Wyoming State Legislators have been forced to make some tough decisions in recent weeks. In these times of declining revenues, there seems to be two approaches we’ve seen this session. One is the ‘chicken little’ approach; the other is to bury one’s head in the sand like an ostrich.

That false choice is for the birds.

As the branch of government that is charged with appropriating public funds and setting fiscal policy, we simply cannot afford to run around screaming, “the sky is falling” while boarding up the windows and shutting down the state for business. Nor can we bury our heads in the sand saying, “this is not happening.” The reality is, we must navigate these uncertain economic waters with an approach that is somewhere in the middle.  

The budget presented by the Joint Appropriations Committee, amended by the House and Senate, and currently being reconciled by both bodies does just that.  There has been a great deal of rhetoric this session that the budget prioritizes "projects over people.”  These are the same arguments we heard ten years ago when we saved our surplus and created the Hathaway Scholarship program, quintupled our Permanent Mineral Trust Fund and established the Legislative Stabilization Reserve Account (commonly referred to as the ‘Rainy Day’ fund).

The critics said then that we are stuffing money in the mattress and not using it for people. Today, we hear much of the same. However, this budget indeed prioritizes people, with increases for many of Wyoming’s most important citizens. We increased funding for senior centers; the disabled and developmental preschools, among others. 

This is a unique budget session in that we have a windfall of one-time revenues. The budget proposes using these one-time monies to rebuild the facilities at our state mental hospital in Evanston and the state training school in Lander.  If we are not going to use these one-time monies to rebuild these 80-year-old buildings, when will we do it? Should we wait ten years from now, when they are 90 years old?  

As lawmakers, we have a constitutional duty to care for Wyoming’s most vulnerable citizens. And the investment of these one-time dollars in these facilities will last several generations. Our forefathers built these facilities for us with an eye on the future.  It’s now our turn.

Looking at jobs, in this budget, we only displaced one current government job and a handful of contracts. What we did cut were vacant positions. However, we also need to consider the jobs in the private sector and those people. The people who will be laying the foundations, installing the plumbing and electricity, and all the good jobs that will support Wyoming working men, women and their families. These are people too.

The mission is not to continue the size of government by continuing to fund vacant positions. To suggest that we use one-time dollars to backfill vacant positions is not reality.

The false argument of ‘spend it all or save’ or ‘projects over people’ is the same tired argument and the people of Wyoming recognize that.

We live in the best state in the United States, and in the best country that God has ever created. While drafting the state biennial budget, we continued to reflect and be thankful that we saved some money during the good times. It is because of these savings that we are able to have this gentle glide into a trimmer budget. And we did it by cutting vacant positions, a few programs and implementing the Penny Plan.

Our most vulnerable citizens are well taken care of; we have the best funded K-12 system in the country; we have great programs for our kids; UW is one of the greatest institutions in the United States; and our community colleges are funded 500% better than our neighbors. The citizens of this state have done a great job and I think it reflects all around our state.

Every town has new schools and new facilities, our roads are in top shape, our services are great and our benefits are fantastic. Furthermore, our 4.3% unemployment rate shows there are a lot of people working in this state and we’re going to keep this state open for business.

This budget is a long-term plan and it has been in the works for a long time - for over ten years, since we started saving for it. And thank goodness for that.  It makes us think of the old bumper sticker that says, “Lord just give me one more boom. I promise not to waste it.” Thankfully, we haven’t.

JAC Co-Chair, Senator Tony Ross

JAC Co-Chair, Representative Steve Harshman

Education Doesn’t Take a Back Seat in Lean Times

There are very few issues – if any – nearly all lawmakers in the Wyoming State Legislature can agree on. The one exception would likely be that we all want Wyoming students to have the very best education possible.

This means providing world class primary education, well-rounded curriculum, engaging classes, safe environments conducive to learning and the opportunity for vocational and technical training. No matter the economic climate, these shared goals remain a top priority for legislators in Cheyenne.

Education is perhaps the single greatest investment our state can make. Giving the next generation of Wyoming leaders the resources and tools they need to compete in a global economy will pay dividends for our state in the not-too-distant future. This requires not only an investment of dollars, but an investment of our time and talents in prioritizing education.

And invest we have. Over the last two decades, since the Wyoming Supreme Court definitively put the responsibility for K-12 education operations and capital construction in the states’ hands, the Wyoming State legislature has invested over $22.3 billion in education. Wyoming school districts will have received over $19 billion for K-12 operations and $3.3 billion has been appropriated for the maintenance and construction of school district facilities.

We’ve supported the University of Wyoming and community colleges, grown scholarship funds, prioritized early childhood education and expanded vocational and technical training opportunities. We’ve opened more than 24 new schools and renovated hundreds more, making great progress on the large backlog of school facility projects across the state.

We’ve also worked to protect education for the future by creating the School Foundation Reserve Account to shield school funding from losses of mineral revenue.

As a result, Wyoming has consistently ranked as one of the top investors on education funding per student. In recent years, Wyoming has spent approximately $15,700 per student, making us the seventh best state in the nation in terms of education spending.

What’s more, Wyoming recently ranked eighth in the nation in Education Week’s 20th annual report card on education quality. The 2016 rankings are based on three key factors: the Chance-for-Success Index, K-12 Achievement Index and school finances.

When state coffers have been flush, the legislature spent funds judiciously and strategically on education and school facilities. We made this a top priority, and rightfully so.

Facing revenue shortfalls that will likely continue for several years, the state legislature has had to slow increases in expenditures and, in some cases, trim funding, across the board. The state legislature has never been a borrowing operation. We live within our means, just as Wyoming families have to do every single day. 

However, education remains a top priority for lawmakers and its stability remains paramount. While we simply cannot afford to support every single request, we’re continuing to fund our school facilities, community colleges, the University of Wyoming and many critical educational programs at levels we can sustain for the long-term. 

Our commitment to education goes beyond dollars. There are several bills still under consideration in the House and Senate that would help improve and expand our state’s education system. 

House Bill 80, Community College Recalibration, aims to provide a stable source of funding for Wyoming's community colleges based on realistic enrollment levels. Wyoming’s community colleges enroll 62% of the state’s college enrollment - the highest level of two-year college participation in the nation. Ensuring our community colleges have a steady source of funding they can rely on is critical.

With the goal of providing diverse educational and training opportunities for Wyoming Youth, Senate File 11 would extend the Wyoming National Guard Youth Challenge program through 2025.  

While our funding opportunities are not what they have been in the past few years, one thing has not changed: the Wyoming State Legislature’s commitment to arming our young people with the education and experience they need to be successful. A strong educational foundation opens doors for our citizens, adds value to our local economies and enriches our communities.

Drew Perkins, Senate Vice President

Tim Stubson, House Speaker Pro Tempore

Hans Hunt, House Majority Whip