Representative JD Williams House District 2 Legislative update

The 2 month long general session of the Wyoming State legislature wrapped up last Thursday.  The Legislative Services Office drafted over 800 bills and over 1500 amendments.  Of the 347 House Bills numbered for introduction, 95 were not considered for introduction which means they never made it out of the speaker’s drawer.  Of the 209 Senate Files numbered for introduction, all were considered for introduction.  The number of bills that die in the speaker’s drawer, or any drawer for that matter, is often used as a political cudgel but is nothing new and often over-emphasized.  That is the speaker’s option, or the majority floor leader’s option, or even a committee chairman’s option.  They prioritize the bills and if there are too many bills to be considered in the time allowed, some must die.  What is disappointing to me was the fact that committee bills that had much time and money invested in them over the interim were given less priority than national social issue bills carried by freshman legislators.  If committee bills aren’t going to be heard, then perhaps the value of legislative committees meeting throughout the year should be re-evaluated.  23% of the House Bills passed both houses and 47% of the Senate Files passed both houses.  These numbers suggest the Senate was turning out a little higher quality of policy work, as their success percentage was about twice that of the House.  Some of that may be attributed to the high percentage of freshmen legislators in the House and the trend of running national hot-button bills that we have a hard time applying to Wyoming.  There were many bills we discussed that were pretty similar to each other and similar to existing law but were discussed again because of out of state influence.  Probably not the best use of our time. 

There are a few bills still sitting on the Governors desk that he has a couple weeks to sign or veto.  Regardless of the Governors actions, I will not be voting to have a special session to deal with Governor vetoes.  If there is a special session, it will be to fix what we just messed up concerning how Wyoming counties fund essential services.  There are half a dozen property tax bills in play that have complicated the property tax conversation to the point that not even the Department of Revenue can accurately forecast their impact.  The one bill that the Wyoming people asked for (Constitutional amendment A on our last election) was not passed into law.  That bill was SF 153 which established a 4th class of property tax by separating residential property from “all others”.  Minerals are taxed on 100% of their value, industrial is taxed at 11.5% of assessed value and “all others” are taxed at 9.5% of assessed value.  This bill would allow the legislature to adjust the rate that residential property is taxed.  Until like legislation is passed, all of the existing residential property tax relief measures we have in place may have constitutionality issues.  The big winners from the 2025 General Session just might be the trial lawyers, as more than a few of these bills are heading straight to court.  Sessions like this cause us to ask the question “are we sending our brightest and our best to Cheyenne to represent us?” 

This session there was definitely a different focus in the House of Representatives than I remember from the past.  Traditionally, Wyoming has really focused on the future generations.  When we consider the wisdom of those past policymakers who established the Permanent Mineral Trust Fund (PMTF) that now provides 30% of Wyoming’s income from interest income; when we consider the public school system that the vast majority of us benefitted from; or when we consider the Hathaway Scholarship program it is evident that Wyoming is invested in the next generations.  But this year was different.  There is a new class of legislators who do not share that vision.  When I think of the some of the supplemental budget discussions we had, I wonder where we lost our way.  There was little or no appetite to support existing rural healthcare and maternity/OB services.  Likewise support for community mental health providers for adolescence’s garnered a minority of votes.  The amendment to support developmental disability preschools for ages 0-5 which supply screenings/services for speech therapy, occupational therapy,  vision therapy, hearing therapy, and developmental delays passed by a narrow margin and was later discarded when the supplemental budget was scuttled. Amendments of support for mental health, vulnerable adults, adult protective services, and the elderly were consistently voted down.  I understand that the state cannot be everything to everybody, but there was a time when we were willing to do what we could where we could.  This General Session had a different feel.  On the other hand, the majority of the House of Representatives enthusiastically supported legislation tailored around national political issues.  Many of these bills could probably be best described as “resolutions”, as they make a political statement but won’t really have a noticeable impact on Wyomingites daily lives.  I have had the opportunity to spend time in your communities most Saturdays for the last few months.  This has helped me stay focused on the issues that concern you, rather than get too obsessed with out of state issues.  Thank you to all of you for your perspective and support.  jd.williams@wyoleg.gov  307.340.6006