An update from the House

Regarding the supplemental budget which we worked on this past week.  The Governor makes a recommendation to the legislature and the Joint Appropriation Committee (JAC), who is made up of appropriators from the House and from the Senate, who then mark up the Governor’s recommendation.  The House Appropriations Committee then brings the JAC recommendation to the House of Representatives and likewise the Senate Appropriations Committee presents the JAC recommendation to the Senate. There were no amendments during Committee of the Whole as it was used to introduce the supplemental budget.  There were 85 total amendments to the supplemental budget in the House of Representatives on second and third reading.  Some amendments were brought to put money back in the budget that the JAC had cut out of the Governor’s suggested budget.  A few amendments were to add money to the budget that the Governor hadn’t suggested.  There were attempts to legislate through the supplemental budget and there were some amendments considered that attempted to address the damage inflicted on county budgets that the property tax relief bills will cause if they pass.

During second reading the House of Representatives voted to support funding for developmental daycare and voted not to support delivery/maternity care funding for rural hospitals.  Additional funding requests for public health nurses, and senior nursing positions at safety net facilities such as the state hospital and veterans facilities were voted down.  Additional funding for the 988 suicide hotline was voted down.  Amendments to strengthen our bargaining position with the Senate were attempted but were resisted by the majority of the House.  Amendments to supplement funding to attract energy industry through the energy authority and to defend energy industries through natural resource litigation account were voted down.  Local issues like the funding for the Gillette high school construction project, the shooting complex near Cody, and the ongoing Bitter Creek revitalization project in Rock Springs which seeks to address challenges associated with residential areas located on a flood plain were all addressed with different amendments to the supplemental budget with no substantial changes in existing funding.

During third reading the House voted to support Search and Rescue that will be hurt by property tax cuts and to support charter school administration staff.  The Department of Ag needed legislative approval to address some housekeeping issues with the Weed & Pest, Wyoming Beef Council, Wheat Market Commission, Dry Bean Commission, and Leaf Cutter Bee Commission (or Council…I can’t remember…)which the House granted after some riveting debate.  The House also narrowly supported natural disaster mitigation, specifically an invasive grass loan/grant program that would assist in fire recovery efforts.  The most significant amendment of the supplemental budget in my opinion was a backfill provision that would partly mitigate the impact of property tax cuts to the 8 poorest counties in Wyoming,  3 of which are in HD 2.  This amendment backfills 75% of the county budget deficit in these counties and addresses special districts shortfalls all across the state.  It possibly won’t survive our negotiations with the Senate but it is the best I could do with what I had to work with.  I ran an amendment both 2nd and 3rd reading to add Mineral Royalty Grant (MRG) funding back into the supplemental budget that the JAC had cut out but was voted down both times.  Small towns in HD 2 rely on the MRG program to fund urgent needs that come up such as replacing an ambulance, a firetruck, or repairing failed infrastructure like water mains or emergency generators.  This program is usually underfunded and that won’t change in the next year.  Most amendments failed for obvious reasons but one that failed that would have benefited HD 2 was Representative Lawley’s amendment to fund School Resource Officers (SRO’s) for small communities that are grappling with the changes that HB 172 will present when schools are no longer gun free zones.  I voted for this amendment but was on the losing side.

This Saturday, the property tax issue dominated my constituent meetings.  Your perspective is very valuable and interesting to me as I am your representative and it is my responsibility to carry your concerns to Cheyenne.  Many of you in House District 2 consider property taxes to be more of an election issue than a main street issue.  Many elections were won and lost on the property tax issue because everyone likes to hear about lower residential property taxes, but the conversation we had on Saturday wasn’t about anyone being taxed out of their home.  In fact, a couple of you mentioned you knew of no one who had been taxed out of their home.  Rather your attention was focused on the services that will be cut when property taxes are cut.  We spoke about the budgets for our sheriff’s office, our road and bridge, our fire departments, our rural hospitals, and our senior centers.  Some of you mentioned that it is easy vote for property tax cuts but not when you understood the vital county services that those taxes fund.  We talked about how you are proud of your schools, how you trust the ambulance will arrive when your parents or your grandkids fall, how thankful you are for your local fire districts.  Seniors came to the meetings inquiring about the senior citizens center.  You are conscious how thrifty your county governments and special districts are with your money. Your opinion on backfill options illustrated your understanding that backfill is not sustainable and is only a band-aid on a very large, self inflicted wound of property tax cuts.  You also asked the question “is the majority in the house of representatives really interested in addressing the property tax conversation? Or is it a political weapon they are using to stay in power.  Good question.  Please realize that we are unique in HD 2, in that we haven’t had as large of an increase in assessed valuations that other parts of the state have had.  Also, we do not have the mineral or residential property tax base that can absorb the proposed 50% property tax cut.  I would appreciate your input if I am missing something or if you have perspective to add to the conversation.  jd.williams@wyoleg.gov 307.340.6006