State leaders grapple with budget

Alexis Barker
NLJ News Editor
 
The 2020 general session of the 66th Wyoming Legislature reconvened on Jan. 26 in a virtual session via Zoom. During the virtual portion of the session, Sen. Cheri Steinmetz, R-Lingle, said that the House and Senate will deal with committee bills passed during the 2020 interim committee work. 
—-The session can be viewed online by visiting the State Legislature’s YouTube channel, found at wyoleg.gov.
“Important bills such as the Omnibus Water Bill, major maintenance and local government distributions, which are essential for the operation of government will be addressed in this part of the session, Steinmetz said in an email to the News Letter Journal. 
According to Rep. Hans Hunt, R-Newcastle, the Omnibus Water Bill, brought annually by the Select Water Committee and the Agriculture Committee includes $17,590,170 in funding. The bill passed the House on third and final reading on Friday, Jan. 29. 
“It funds all state water development projects, and includes everything pertaining to water for irrigation districts and municipalities,” Hunt said. “Numerous projects around the state are funded, including the drilling of new wells, replacement of old water lines, and capacity enlargement ponds and reservoirs.” 
Sen. Ogden Driskill, R-Devils Tower, said the Legislature will address the funding for cities, towns and counties during the virtual session. 
“Probably the highest profile was the funding for the cities, towns and counties. The Senate as of Friday (Jan. 29) passed the bill out with the Governor’s recommendation – Which was a cut of $10 million from a $105 million dollar appropriation,” Driskill said in an email. “This will have a direct impact on all of our communities.” 
According to City Clerk-Treasurer Greg James, Newcastle will most definitely feel the effects of these cuts. 
“Best case, it looks like we’ll lose around $73k, worst case from the direct distribution, around $120k,” James said. “At this point it is too early to tell exactly where the cuts in our general fund might be. Also it is too early to tell if the legislature is done making cuts that might affect the city. But yes, it will hurt.” 
Weston County Clerk Becky Hadlock reported that currently the county has not been affected by these cuts. 
“We are facing unprecedented tough budgetary times,” Driskill continued. “Even with cuts in the hundreds of millions, the state is facing a shortfall of $250 to $350 million. This amount will come from the Legislative Stabilization Reserve Account.”
According to Driskill, the reserve account has worked well to cushion the blow of steep budget reductions. After this biennium, however, the fund will have about $1.2 million left. 
“At the current rate, it will be empty by the 2025-2026 biennium and we will be faced with a hard cliff on government funding,” Driskill said. “The governor and appropriations committee have cut another $400 million from the state budget, making it the smallest budget in at least a decade.” 
Also troubling is the funding for K-12 education. With a hard blow to the oil and gas industry from the Biden administration, funding for the state’s K-12 education will continue to decline, Driskill said. 
“Funding education continues to be a huge challenge — there are many working on it, looking for solutions,” he said. “We have a special school recalibration committee that will make recommendations on school funding for the next biennium.” 
Another proposal from Rep. Dan Zwonitzer, R-Cheyenne, according to the Wyoming Tribune Eagle, would be the potential consolidation of Wyoming’s 48 school districts into 24. House Bill 77 would initiate a study into any cost-saving benefits of consolidating the state’s school districts. 
After finishing the virtual portion of the session on Feb. 5, the Legislature will reconvene on March 1 to address the budget and various other bills.  
“We intend to have an in-person, five-week session March 1 to April 2 for the entire Legislature; there, we will work the budget and individual bills along with a few committee bills,” Driskill said. 
At this time, Rep. Chip Neiman, R-Sundance, said the Legislature will consider some of the most controversial bills for his constituents. 
“Some bills that I am hearing a lot of feedback on are House Bill 26, fuel tax, House Bill 37, road use charge, and House Bill 56, limitations of state health officer, to name a few,” Neiman said. “We have not dealt with these yet and will most likely see them during our in-person session in March.”