CHEYENNE—In the waning days of the 68th Wyoming Legislature’s general session, House leadership made one last plea with the Senate to resume supplemental budget negotiations.

“The House stands ready for the hard conversations that attend the annual task of developing a budget,” House Speaker Pro Tempore Rep. Jeremy Haroldson, R-Wheatland, said Monday in a statement from House leadership responding to the Senate’s Feb. 26 decision to end supplemental budget discussions.

But Senate leaders maintain the budget failed due to an unwillingness to compromise in the House, a propensity to shirk the rules of their own body and the House itself adding funding for non-emergencies to a supplemental budget bill.

Senate Majority Floor Leader Sen. Tara Nethercott, R-Cheyenne, said the state is well-funded through the fiscal biennium, which will not end until June 30, 2026, and there is no need to pass a supplemental budget bill this session.

“Everything is well taken care of; all programs are funded,” Nethercott said.

How the House and Senate got to this point

Sen. President Bo Biteman, R-Ranchester, has said that behind the scenes, a joint conference committee could not reach an agreement on a 2025 supplemental budget bill.

State operations are funded on a two-year biennium, and during a short, four-week session, lawmakers craft that budget. During a general session, Wyoming’s governor has historically made a request for supplemental funding, largely for emergencies not covered during the immediately preceding budget session.

“A supplemental budget should not be used as a continuation of another year of a budget bill,” Nethercott said. “Rather, it should be limited in scope to emergent needs [and] unforeseen needs. … That way we can have a normal session that is not consumed with another budget year.”

For the first several weeks of the session, the House and Senate discussed and amended mirror versions of a supplemental budget bill. However, the Senate and the House did not agree on the funding difference between the two bills: Haroldson said the House presented “a responsible, balanced budget proposal of $235 million less than the governor’s recommended budget, and $110 million below the Senate’s supplemental budget.”

Haroldson said that supplemental budget proposal “was rejected by Senate leadership without a vote by any single member of the Senate nor any vote of concurrence from the House,” and Friday, the House offered the Senate a budget that only contained items of which both chambers had approved.

“Again, three members of the Senate rejected it without discussion on either floor,” Haroldson said.

According to Nethercott, the state’s budget was balanced during planning for the 2025-26 biennium. The House’s position, she said, would have resulted in a total budget expenditure of $1.3 billion.

“That is what the House asked us to do,” she said on Monday.

Rather than agree, Nethercott said the Senate focused on funding three major needs until planning for the next biennium begins.

The first is restoring the full $66.3 million allocation for an external cost adjustment, or ECA, to the K-12 education resource block grant model, which was added to House Bill 316, “School finance-model recalibration-2.” Second is $2.75 million included in Senate File 152, “Wildfire management-amendments,” for direct fire response, as well as $49.5 million for conservation districts to restore grass, hay and other vegetation destroyed by wildfires. A final $10.5 million was added to House Bill 279, “Property tax exemptions-order of application,” to fund the state’s property tax refund program.

Several times in the days since supplemental budget negotiations have failed, the House has raised the possibility of a special session. On Monday, Rep. John Bear, R-Gillette, the former leader of the Freedom Caucus, said that if the chambers do not pass a “budget balancer,” Gordon could call lawmakers back to do just that.

“What the budget balancer is — it is where we remove money from our savings account into our checking account to cover our expenditures,” Bear said.

However, Nethercott said that because the 2025-2026 budget was balanced during the previous budget session, there is no need to do what Bear suggests.

“That is a lack of understanding of the budget. There is more than enough money in reserves to cover the expenditure of this [session],” Nethercott said.

‘Porking out’ bills with amendments

Haroldson said that adopting a supplemental budget “would have been the most transparent way to allocate taxpayers’ funds, and it would have demonstrated responsible governance.”

Instead, the Senate is now playing a “legislative shell game,” Haroldson said, in which the Senate is “busy slipping funding measures into a variety of other bills, effectively hiding from the public the expenditures that are normally contained in the budget.”

“The problem with this sort of gamesmanship is that it is reflective of D.C. politics, not Wyoming — a fact that saddens many members of the House,” Haroldson said.

But Senate leadership says the gamesmanship started in the House.

“This leadership has not attacked the House, it hasn’t attacked the House leadership. I think that is because everything is calm over here. We are doing the people’s business,” Senate Vice President Sen. Tim Salazar, R-Riverton, said on Monday. “We have rules, and we are trying to follow them, and the money is still available to get through the next eight months.”

When asked about whether the Senate is slipping funding measures into other bills, Nethercott said, “It is not happening at all.”

Biteman said that his body adheres to the Wyoming Constitution, which does not allow for unrelated amendments to bills that are limited to a single subject.

“These D.C.-style tactics are new this year, and I don’t like it,” Biteman said. “I don’t think the people like it.”

On Monday, Rep. Abby Angelos, R-Gillette, brought a failed amendment to the House floor on Senate File 10, “Settlement agreements for minors-parental authorization,” to add $3.86 million in general fund dollars to the Department of Health to provide payments to home and community-based service providers for those with developmental disabilities.

Rep. Karlee Provenza, D-Laramie, said that she supports the program but could not support it as a rider on SF 10.

“It doesn’t fit,” Provenza said, adding that the constitution stipulates no bill “shall be so amended as to alter its original purpose.”

“In this bill, I get that you can create a connection between the two, but I don’t think the court will,” Provenza said.

Rep. Martha Lawley, R-Worland, successfully amended Senate File 104 “Probate code revisions,” to add $180,708 in general fund dollars to the Wyoming Supreme Court administrative office for two full-time employee positions. That amendment carried a stipulation that if either chamber’s supplemental budget bill were to pass, the appropriation would be reduced dollar for dollar.

“These employees will effectuate the smooth running of our court system, including the probate the courts do,” Lawley said.

Rep. Ken Chestek, D-Laramie, said he would vote no on that amendment, for the same reason he had voted no on other appropriations added to bills following the Senate’s decision not to pass a supplemental budget.

“It is not only unconstitutional, in this case, I think it goes beyond that and it is confusing,” Chestek said.

Another bill, Senate File 17, “Carbon dioxide-enhanced oil recovery stimulus,” was amended in the House to include $10 million in funding previously appropriated by the House’s supplemental budget “for the design and engineering of a project that burns, combusts or gasifies Wyoming coal.”

That amendment, proposed by Rep. Scott Hiener, R-Green River, passed. The Senate failed to concur on that bill, and SF 17 went to a joint conference committee before it passed Wednesday.

Biteman said there are politics involved at every turn, and did not deny when asked if the House maneuvering could be aimed at gaining Senate seats.

“They have mastered the art of projection. They are projecting onto us what they are doing. They are the ones porking out bills all afternoon. We are not,” Biteman said.

Is there a path forward?

Biteman said that while the Senate will continue to follow its rules, which allow for the process to work, much of the messaging coming from the House is negative.

“We have accomplished so much collectively this session, but all you are hearing is the negative,” Biteman said.

Salazar said he’s proud of sweeping property tax relief passed this session.

“Property tax reductions were really critical, and it looks like we are accomplishing that. We also wanted to reduce spending, and I think we are in the process of doing that,” Salazar said.

Nethercott said that a tendency to “to blame others for their own failures” is an “unfortunate political tactic.” However, Senate leadership remained optimistic for the next round of budget negotiations, which will begin for the 2027-28 biennium next winter.

“I am very hopeful that we are going to work with the House on a good biennium budget,” Salazar said. “This is the first time the more conservative members of the House have taken a majority lead in that chamber, so we are kind of figuring out where we can work together.”

Nethercott said that she, too, is hopeful.

“A 2027-28 budget is a totally different analysis, and a new day,” Nethercott said. “We passed a thorough and healthy 2025-26 biennium budget, making the critical need of a supplemental budget less.

“I am hopeful … that we can re-evaluate a biennium budget, recognizing the critical time to establish a two-year budget is during the budget session,” she said.

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CHEYENNE – There is little hope a measure to change zoning protest requirements at the state level will pass in the final hours of the current legislative session, after an amendment was added in the House of Representatives to restrict mitigation fees on development.

“It is going to be harder and harder for us to build necessary housing that our folks need, so I was really hopeful that the bill would pass,” Cheyenne Mayor Patrick Collins said. “I am very disappointed this amendment ended up killing the bill.”

Senate File 40, “Zoning protest petition-amendments,” passed in both the House and Senate but stalled after a joint conference committee could not agree on the amended bill. As it left the House, SF 40 addressed the petition process for protesting local developments, and how such protests affect zoning changes in Wyoming cities and towns.

The bill said that 33% of resident neighbors in an area near a planned development must sign a protest petition and demonstrate harm to a planned project to be considered by a local body. Zoning changes to allow for development would have to be approved by a simple majority of a local body like a city council.

Current state law says that only 20% of owners in the area need to sign a protest petition, and that any changes must be approved by a supermajority vote. In Cheyenne, that means a vote of 8-2 by the City Council.

In the House, Rep. John Bear, R-Gillette, proposed an amendment to SF 40 that he originally proposed in the House Appropriations Committee, to prohibit governing bodies from imposing a monetary fee or non-monetary condition on residential or commercial development related to workforce housing. The House debated at length whether SF 40 was the correct place for that amendment, and ultimately voted in favor of it.

The House and the Senate could not come to an agreement in a joint conference committee over the amendment, which officials have said largely targets a practice in Jackson. Sen. Mike Gierau, D-Jackson, said the members of his joint conference committee were willing to accept any other changes made in the House, except for the mitigation fees amendment, which “significantly amended” the bill beyond its scope.

Bear’s amendment, which was adopted as a standing committee amendment on the House floor, “had nothing to do with zoning protest petitions, (and was) totally not a part of the bill,” Gierau said. Passing the bill with the amendment, Gierau said, would subvert the public process because there was no time for public comment on it.

Another piece of legislation related to mitigation fees failed in the House earlier in the session. House Bill 197, “Limits on property development exaction and mitigation fees,” dealt with the exact issue addressed in the amendment to SF 40. The House Judiciary Committee voted against that bill 6-3 on Feb. 10.

Majority Floor Leader Sen. Tara Nethercott, R-Cheyenne, said the ability to pass SF 40 lies “squarely in the House’s hands.”

“They have the choice to allow that good piece of legislation that was worked through the interim, fully supported by all the stakeholders, to pass, if they remove that non-germane amendment,” she said.

Sen. Bill Landen, R-Casper, said on the House floor that he went down the hall to the House to ask if an agreement could be made.

“There was no desire on the part of (the joint conference) committee to even sit down and talk about the language,” Landen said. “The other side refused.”

Senate President Bo Biteman, R-Ranchester, ultimately ruled that the mitigation fees amendment was not germane, and the Senate did not concur on the bill.

Collins said he is reluctant to criticize the city of Jackson for using mitigation fees to create affordable housing for its residents, but added that it was unfortunate a bill that was vetted through the Regulatory Reduction Task Force and the Appropriations Committee and received widespread public support would fail because of the amendment.

“I can’t go against those folks. It is so difficult for us to understand the complexity of the (housing) issue they face,” Collins said. “But I was disappointed that the amendment, which seems to be targeting one community of 10,000 in a state of 580,000, killed the bill for the rest of us.”

SF 40 was just one in a long list of housing-related bills that did not pass this legislative session. Some were killed in committee, and others were never introduced by House Speaker Chip Neiman, R-Hulett.

Renny MacKay with the Wyoming Business Alliance said he is now part of a group recommending the Joint Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Committee take up housing as an interim topic.

Collins said SF 40 had support from the task force, a Harvard working group focused on housing in Wyoming and developers, as well as others who spoke during the session.

“Everybody who studied housing has said that it is OK to have a protest process, but you can’t make it so onerous that you can’t get it through a governing body,” Collins said. “In Cheyenne, if we get a protest, we have to get eight of our 10 members to vote yes – present and voting yes. That is a pretty high bar.”

Collins said he’s afraid that with a real need for housing in Cheyenne, more zoning protests will pop up, and without SF 40, a few vocal opponents may stall good projects.

“Hopefully we can come back next year, run the same bill and have a clean bill go through,” Collins said.

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CHEYENNE—Gov. Mark Gordon has signed a measure to provide a statewide, 25% property tax cut for Wyoming homeowners, but vetoed a bill to ban DEI programming at Wyoming’s institutions of higher education.

Gordon signed Senate File 69, “Homeowner property tax exemption,” on Tuesday. His office said in a news release that the legislation will “provide permanent property tax relief to Wyoming homeowners.”

The same release announced that Gordon vetoed Senate File 103, “Terminating and defunding diversity, equity and inclusion,” a bill sponsored by Sen. Cheri Steinmetz, R-Torrington. That bill prohibited DEI efforts and mandates by state agencies and public educational institutions.

Property tax bill

SF 69 went through many iterations over the course of the 68th Wyoming Legislature’s general session, which is set to end Thursday. More than once, lawmakers amended the bill to offer a 50% property tax cut, and even tried to include a calculation of relief based on a five-year, county-by-county average increase.

SF 69 provides a 25% property tax exemption on the first $1 million of a single-family home’s fair market value and does not have a sunset date. The exemption takes effect immediately, with an owner-occupied requirement beginning in the second year.

“I have always supported tax accountability, and this bill provides tax relief without transferring the burden to our core energy industry,” Gordon said in the release. “This act, coupled with the bills I signed last year, responds to the call for property tax relief. Now the practical impacts of this legislation will need to be navigated by our cities, counties, special districts and citizens.”

In a second joint conference committee meeting last Thursday, Rep. Scott Heiner, R-Green River, asked that the Senate agree to provide backfill for local governments in the bill, as was the House’s preference. Senate Vice President Tim Salazar, R-Riverton, said the Senate could not agree to a deal on SF 69 that included backfill with a cut of only 25%.

Even as late as Tuesday afternoon, representatives in the House tried to add backfill amendments to other property tax measures. Several attempts were made to Senate File 153, “Residential real property-taxable value,” which would create a separate property tax assessment rates for residential real property.

“I think we should continue to stand for our position. It shouldn’t be about what the other body is going to do, or what the guy downstairs is going to do,” Rep. J.T. Larson, R-Rock Springs, said on the House floor. “We have to do what’s right for our constituents.”

All amendments to add backfill to SF 153 failed.

Terminating DEI bill

Falling back on an argument about local control, Gordon said in his veto letter on SF 103 that Wyoming has “long upheld principles of responsible governance, educational excellence, and local control.”

Gordon said that while he appreciated the Legislature’s “efforts to address concerns related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies within public institutions,” he had significant reservations with the bill in its current form. The bill, according to Gordon, “introduces ill-defined and overly broad restrictions, creates significant legal ambiguities, and risks unintended consequences that could negatively impact Wyoming’s higher education institutions and workforce development.”

The bill also included a late-stage amendment that was added on after the Legislature failed to agree upon a supplemental budget bill. Steinmetz initially recommended that the Senate not concur with the House amendment to SF 103 to include $550,000 to fund medical education for Wyoming students under an agreement with the University of Utah, but the Senate receded from nonconcurrence and sent the bill to the governor with the amendment.

Gordon said while he fully supports “training the future physicians Wyoming needs,” the funding “may be a more proper discussion for the Legislature to take up this fall in anticipation of the upcoming Budget Session.”

Other bills, he said, also address the same concerns regarding DEI activities in public institutions, including House Enrolled Act 67, which defines prohibited practices, ensuring consistency and reducing the risk of legal confusion.

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CHEYENNE—A bill to ban transgender athletes from participating in intercollegiate sports passed the House of Representatives on Tuesday, the last day for third reading of bills in the second chamber.

Senate File 44, “Fairness in sports-intercollegiate athletics,” was amended in the House during committee of the whole debate to include definitions of “male” and “female,” which lawmakers have added to other bills this session, starting with House Bill 32, “What is a Woman Act.” That bill also passed on third reading with no discussion in the Senate on a 28-3 vote. 

Several pieces of legislation would add definitions for a person’s sex at birth to state statute, stating that “female” means a person who “has, had, will have or would have had, but for a congenital anomaly or intentional or unintentional disruption, the reproductive system that at some point produces, transports and utilizes eggs for fertilization.” “Male” is defined as “a person who has, had, will have or would have had, but for a congenital anomaly or intentional or unintentional disruption, the reproductive system that at some point produces, transports and utilizes sperm for fertilization.”

Rep. Julie Jarvis, R-Casper, brought a failed third-reading amendment Tuesday to SF 44 to remove those definitions, and to instead rely on a person’s “official original” birth certificate to determine “biological sex.” Jarvis said that in speaking to attorneys and medical providers, she was told the definitions are “vague enough” that courts will have to decide who will make determinations on a case-by-case basis.

Jarvis continued that the medical providers she spoke with told her there is no non-invasive procedure for such a determination.

“That is an internal [pelvic] examination,” Jarvis said. “It is bimanual, or it is a transvaginal ultrasound.”

By relying on an “official original” birth certificate instead, which can be obtained by subpoena, invasive medical procedures could be avoided, she said.

“Even though we’ve used this definition on several other things, maybe we back out when we find a better definition … that is not requiring a bimanual examination or a transvaginal ultrasound in order to determine if you are a woman or not,” Jarvis said.

Rep. Martha Lawley, R-Worland, said she “strongly opposed” the amendment to remove definitions from SF 44. She was a driving force behind adding those definitions to Senate File 62, “Sex-designated facilities and public schools,” which requires public school children to use restrooms that align with their sex at birth, while providing “reasonable accommodations” for single-use bathrooms, if necessary.

“We have overwhelmingly approved these definitions in all the bills that we’ve passed in the area of gender issues,” Lawley said. “That was intentional. It is really important that Wyoming speak with clarity and consistency into this space.”

Further, she said the definitions of “female” and “male” had been vetted in committee and should not be changed on third reading.

Jarvis’s amendment to SF 44 failed in a voice vote, and the bill passed on third reading in a 52-8 vote. The bill has been sent back to the Senate for a concurrence vote. If it fails, it could be sent to a joint conference committee to work out the differences.

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CHEYENNE—Humming “Amazing Grace” and lying on the floor outside Gov. Mark Gordon’s office, a group of University of Wyoming students hoped to send the chief executive a direct message: Do not repeal Wyoming’s gun-free zones.

Staged as a “die-in” protest, students wore white T-shirts splattered with red paint and held signs that read “I’d rather not be a target,” “Books > Bullets” and “I don’t feel safe in school.”

House Bill 172, “Repeal gun free zones and preemption amendments,” passed on third reading Friday in the state Senate. On Monday, Senate President Bo Biteman, R-Ranchester, and Speaker of the House Chip Neiman, R-Hulett, signed the bill, which is now House Enrolled Act 24, heading to Gordon’s desk.

Students have repeatedly spoken at legislative committee meetings this session about their opposition to HB 172, which would affect the university, as well as Wyoming’s K-12 schools and other state-owned facilities. Still, students say they feel they’ve been largely ignored in the process.

“I was pretty disappointed to see [HB 172] pass with so little debate, with so little consideration for any amendments or the safeguards we’d been asking for,” Associated Students of the University of Wyoming Director of Community and Governmental Affairs Sophia Gomelsky told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle Monday afternoon.

“The fact that it flew through the House so fast is pretty representative of the fact that lawmakers are not listening,” she said.

Lying on the floor outside Gordon’s office was perhaps their last-ditch effort to be heard.

“We’re hoping to snap [lawmakers] back to reality to make them realize they have constituents they took an oath to serve. When we aren’t being listened to, we can’t just go on as usual, with legislation that is actively putting us in danger,” Gomelsky said.

Gordon vetoed a bill very similar to HB 172 in 2024, and many similar measures have failed to become state law over the years. Michael Pearlman, communications director for the governor’s office, told the WTE in an email Monday afternoon that Gordon had “thanked Sophia for exercising her First Amendment rights, and said he would take her comments into consideration.”

Gordon is still considering the bill and has until Thursday to act on it, Pearlman said.

Gomelsky said the governor did come out of his office Monday to speak with her.

“We have talked about issues that affect students quite a few times, and we talked about the implications of this bill,” she said. “We are asking for a veto. He vetoed the bill last year. It was a bad idea last year, it is a bad idea this year. It has hardly changed.”

UW undergrad Liz Pearson attended the protest, she said, because she believes adding more guns will only increase violence on campus, whether through misfires, suicides or other violence that could become a direct threat to the student body.

“I have actually heard students from where I graduated [Riverton High School] saying they are not going to want to come to UW if this passes. They don’t want to come to school where they feel unsafe,” Pearson said.

Jaycee Myrtle, a graduate student at UW, said not only does HB 172 threaten students, but many other pieces of legislation moving through the state Capitol has dampened morale at the university. A protest flier for the Monday event included reference to “legislation that will harm students, including allowing guns in schools and anti-LGBTQ+ bills targeting trans students.”

“I’m hoping that we’re heard and listened to, because we are out here being vulnerable … and with DEI [diversity, equity and inclusion programming] being taken away, it just feels so unsafe,” Myrtle said.

UW trustees voted not to allow concealed carry; lawmakers discuss making theirs an elected office 

Last November, the University of Wyoming Board of Trustees met several times, and held a series of public meetings to discuss allowing concealed carry firearms on campus. Ultimately that board, which is appointed by the governor, voted 6-5 on Nov. 22 against allowing concealed carry permit holders to take firearms into campus facilities.

Trustee Macey Moore said at the time that the entire process felt like a “giant disruption” to the university’s mission. Concealed carry permit holders are currently allowed to carry on university open space like Prexy’s Pasture, but not inside facilities, classrooms and faculty offices.

Monday morning, Rep. Rachel Rodriguez Williams, R-Cody, who leads the House Freedom Caucus, a group of hardline Republican lawmakers, presented House Bill 148, “University of Wyoming governance-elected trustees,” to the Senate Education Committee. Her bill would allow for seven elected UW trustees, which she said would “provide accountability without upending” the existing trustee structure.

“There is nothing that unifies Wyomingites like our university, regardless of disagreements on politics, religion and or the litany of other things that divide us today. We all love our Wyoming Cowboys,” Rodriguez-Williams told the committee.

However, she continued that many in her area are concerned about the leadership at UW and would like a say in how trustees are selected.

Sen. Charles Scott, R-Casper, pointed out that the Wyoming Constitution clearly states that university trustees “shall be appointed by the governor.” Gordon’s chief of staff, Drew Perkins, said in committee that his office agrees the constitution is “pretty clear” on the fact that that board shall be appointed.

“How can you construe that language as allowing for elected trustees?” Scott asked.

Rodriguez-Williams responded that she had vetted her bill through staff attorneys, who had no concerns, but that other lawmakers were “entitled to their opinion.”

Scott also pointed out that in recent years, the university has “steadily been getting better and better” at educating undergraduates and in its research areas. Sen. Wendy Schuler, R-Evanston, asked if the bill was brought forward by constituents.

“This was not a constituent bill … I would say it is more district-wide,” Rodriguez-Williams said. “I can tell you that being a parent of a high school student, and knowing many other parents in my district that provide input to their children as to where they should consider attending college, there is [discussion] of what experience other students have had” on campus that could steer parents away from UW.

“This bill allows for residents of Wyoming from across the state to elect representation on the UW Board of Trustees. It increases representation of the people and provides an opportunity for citizens of Wyoming to have a say in leadership of our beloved university,” she said.

But students on Monday said they’re the ones living on campus, directly feeling the impact of legislation this session.

“Parents across Wyoming, they’re not the ones on campus. It’s common for parents to say that university radicalizes kids, but I would not say that is the way it goes. Anyway, we’re the ones living there,” Katie Wilford, a UW undergraduate, told the WTE.

Pearson said she spoke last fall at least twice before the UW Board of Trustees about a campus-wide gun-free zones repeal, and felt heard in that process. Later, Pearson lay on the marble floor at the Capitol, quietly humming alongside fellow protesters.

Gomelsky said there was talk about “why there was not a permit for” the protest, but that she tried to obtain one and was told by the State Building Commission they do not issue permits for the Capitol lobby during the session.

“I do think the trustees listened to us,” Pearson said. “I think that we got through to them, and I am really hoping we can get through to (lawmakers) today. But we have realized that doing what we did with the UW trustees was not appealing to (lawmakers), so we are going to try something a little different.”

House Bill 148 passed in a 3-2 vote with a “do not pass” recommendation out of committee for debate on the Senate floor. Despite a majority of lawmakers saying they did not favor the bill, its fate will be left to the entire body to debate.

The fate of the gun-free zones repeal, however, is in the governor’s hands.

“It’s our lives at stake here,” first-year UW student Illyas Kahn said Monday.

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CHEYENNE—A Wyoming House committee has recommended that the Senate’s limitations on a bill to extend immunity for reporting an overdose incident be removed.

On Wednesday, the House Labor, Health and Social Services Committee voted unanimously in favor of Senate File 74, “Immunity for drug overdose reporting,” which would offer immunity to anyone seeking medical assistance for themself or another person during an overdose.

Immunity from criminal prosecution would only apply if the reporting person reasonably believed they or another person was experiencing a drug overdose, and if that person provided a description of the actual location of the drug overdose event. The reporting person would be required to remain at the scene of the drug overdose until a responding law enforcement officer or emergency medical service provider arrives, and would be required to cooperate with the responding officer.

Allen Thompson with the Wyoming Association of Sheriffs and Chiefs of Police told the committee that the immunity would extend to two misdemeanor offenses of possession of a controlled substance or use of a controlled substance. Misdemeanor possession offenses are tied to a low amounts of a controlled substance, or less than three ounces of marijuana and less than three grams of methamphetamine.

“Those are all low-level, user-type possession,” Thompson said. “Now, when you get into delivery of a controlled substance, or delivery of a controlled substance in excess of those amounts, felonies apply there, and those are not exempted.”

Rep. Rachel Rodriguez-Williams, R-Cody, asked Thompson how SF 74 would apply to a situation where an overdose victim did not necessarily know what substance they were using.

“What if there is a situation where you have a group that is using edibles with THC, and lo and behold, it is laced with fentanyl?” she asked.

Thompson said that in that case, the immunity would still apply.

“There are various things that can be in these substances because they are not regulated,” Thompson said, adding that Wyoming law enforcement is seeing carfentanil, a drug more powerful than fentanyl, in the state.

“They had what they thought was weed, somebody has an adverse reaction to it, and they are afraid to call,” Thompson said. “You are not going to be prosecuted with a misdemeanor if we just get people the help they need, and we are truthful about it. That is what we are trying to do.”

Committee: Remove Senate amendment

In the Senate, lawmakers approved limitations on immunity for reporting an overdose to twice a year, and included a provision that a person experiencing a drug overdose event would only be eligible for immunity after a second report once they complete drug treatment.

On Wednesday, House lawmakers and members of the public expressed concern that the limitations could create confusion, potentially delaying lifesaving care. Wyoming is the last state to consider immunity for overdose reporting, and only six states limit the times someone can receive immunity, Associated Students of the University of Wyoming Director of Community and Governmental Affairs Sophia Gomelsky told the committee. Gomelsky said the bill should be “as simple as possible.”

“Adding limitations like you can call for help once, and then maybe twice if it has been a certain period of time, might just make it too confusing,” she said. “If someone is panicked at a party, we don’t want them to be trying to Google on their phone what the statute is, or if they think it counted for them last time they called for help for somebody.”

Dr. Angela Farrand with the Wyoming Naloxone Project told the committee that to be effective, the Senate amendment would take work in the House.

“I know that there was discussion on the treatment provision, and who would be responsible for that, especially if there would be immunity. How they would get into the court systems to go into a court-ordered treatment program,” Farrand said. “I wouldn’t say those are problems, but those are likely barriers that need to be discussed further as the bill progresses.”

Rep. Ken Clouston, R-Gillette, moved to delete the Senate amendment.

“I think it confuses the issue. If someone has gone through this a couple times, hopefully they are getting treatment, but I don’t want people out there trying to determine ‘Johnny has already gone through this once or twice’,” he said. “The goal, for me, is to help people and save lives.”

Rep. Darin McCann, R-Rock Springs, said he could not support removing the Senate’s amendment on the grounds of keeping “personal responsibility” in the bill.

Rep. Joel Guggenmos, R-Riverton, said that he would prefer SF 74 include a requirement that statistics be kept on reporting incidents to track potential “repeat offenders.”

In the end, both McCann and Guggenmos voted in favor of advancing the bill with the Senate limitations removed. Guggenmos voted in favor of the amendment to remove the Senate limitations, while McCann did not.

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CHEYENNE—Senate measures dealing with bathroom use by transgender people and preferred pronouns have passed through House committees.

In a 7-1 vote Wednesday morning, the House Judiciary Committee passed Senate File 77, “Compelled speech is not free speech,” which would prohibit the state from requiring its employees to refer to people by their preferred pronouns. Representatives voted in committee to restore the bill to its original version, including penalty language that was removed by the Senate.

“During testimony on the Senate side … they took out a portion of the bill that I think was very, very, very important,” SF 77 sponsor Sen. Lynn Hutchings, R-Cheyenne, told the House Judiciary Committee.

Rep. Laurie Bratten, R-Sheridan, made a motion to add original language back to the bill such that a state employee who had lost their employment due to failure to use a preferred pronoun could seek compensatory damages, reasonable attorney fees and court costs.

“I do not think the state should compel speech, and in addition to that, I think that without (this language), the bill would leave an injured party with no ability to be made whole,” Bratten said. “People can lose their jobs, they can lose grants, they can suffer financial loss. We need to put those teeth back into the bill.”

Bratten further stated that as a former teacher, she wants to protect teachers from losing their job if the government “compels their speech.

Her amendment passed, and only Rep. Ken Chestek, D-Laramie, voted against forwarding the bill to the House floor.

During public comment, Wyoming Equality Director Sara Burlingame told the committee that in the “absence of the state mandating chromosomal or genital checks, all pronouns are preferred pronouns.” She continued that what has served us thus far is “our own good manners, and our own sense of decency.”

“This could lead to bullying and harassment. You may have a preferred pronoun of ‘he’ and ‘him’ … but I, your colleague, am going to choose to call you female,” Burlingame said.

Bratten responded later in the meeting that she feels the state’s “harassment law” already covers Burlingame’s concerns.

Meanwhile, in the House Labor, Health and Social Services Committee on Wednesday, lawmakers voted in favor of Senate File 62, “Restrooms in publicly funded schools-2.”

Bill sponsor Sen. Dan Laursen, R-Powell, explained that the bill would require that students born as female use the girls’ restroom at schools, and that those born as males use a boys’ restroom. Anyone who preferred not to use a group restroom, including transgender students, would be provided with a single-use, separate bathroom.

Earlier in the session, Sen. Chris Rothfuss, D-Laramie, pointed out that “separate but equal” has not held up in other instances, citing historic civil rights cases concerning race.

On Wednesday, Laursen told representatives that a superintendent in his area was reluctant to encourage local policymaking because of a fear of lawsuits, even though “young ladies had an encounter where there was a male student in the bathroom.”

As it stands, SF 62 includes cause of action and a misdemeanor penalty for school board trustees who violate the bill. When it was first introduced, the bill included a loss of district accreditation for violation, but the Senate removed that portion of the bill. Committee Chairwoman Rep. Rachel Rodriguez-Williams, R-Cody, asked Laursen if the Senate discussed any additional acceptable penalties.

“There weren’t other ideas, I think, that were proposed. They were reluctant to do that,” Laursen replied. “There are lower degrees of accreditation, and I thought that may be valid. … But I worry that the bill might be jeopardized if we put too much penalties in there.”

A Powell mother named Carrie Peters said she is strongly in favor of SF 62, after her daughter was one of the students affected by male students in her school bathrooms.

“Wyoming needs this bill. This is a good bill that protects girls, boys and trans students,” Peters said. “As it currently stands in my district, with no policy, there is absolutely nothing in place to prevent any male from entering female spaces.”

Peters said she and her husband “begged” the local district to enact a local policy three years ago, but the district simply passed a resolution asking for state legislation. 

Santi Murillo, also with Wyoming Equality, spoke against the bill. Murillo said that, if passed, SF 62 would require her, a transgender woman and Laramie basketball coach, to share a restroom with teenage boys.

“At the school where I coach … there are no single-use spaces,” Murillo said. “When I am coaching a basketball tournament for hours and hours and hours, this would force me to use a restroom with teenage boys, which I don’t think would make anybody comfortable. … there are also adult males in there, which is not always comfortable.”

Rep. Mike Yin, D-Jackson, asked how Laursen’s bill would interact with a similar bill, House Bill 72, “Protecting women’s privacy in public spaces,” proposed by Rep. Martha Lawley, R-Worland.

“I think if both passes, it doesn’t really make any sense,” Yin said.

Laursen responded that he has been following Lawley’s bill, but was not up to date on amendments made in the House to HB 72, as it heads to the Senate.

“We did discuss it a little bit. I do know hers is broader,” Laursen said. “I do want to make sure that we have one that comes forward, and that we give our school boards direction.”

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Bill to cut property taxes in half sails through House committee

CHEYENNE—A bill creating a two-year, 50% reduction in property taxes for Wyoming homeowners flew through the House Appropriations Committee Thursday morning.

Senate File 69, “Homeowner property tax exemption,” passed unamended in a 6-1 vote, just two days after passing the full Senate. Lawmakers have said that by passing SF 69, they’re listening to what their constituents want. 

The reduction in tax revenue collected by the state, which is in turn sent back to counties, school districts and special districts, is anticipated to be $225 million per year, according to Committee Chairman Rep. John Bear, R-Gillette. The bill in its current form does not include any backfill, or use of state savings, to pay counties back for revenue lost as a result of the tax cut.

“This is a good bill, and I want to emphasize that the sky is not falling,” bill co-sponsor Sen. Troy McKeown, R-Gillette, told the House committee Thursday. “They are not going to shut down police departments or fire departments with this.”

The anticipated amount of annual revenue lost to Laramie County, if the bill is passed in its current version — not including cuts to education, special districts and municipalities — is estimated at more than $7.3 million, according to Wyoming County Commissioners Association Executive Director Jerimiah Rieman. The total reduction in revenue for all taxing beneficiaries in Laramie County is estimated at $43 million a year.

Rieman told the committee Thursday that his organization understands families across Wyoming are having difficult conversations about rising property taxes.

“I also would share and suggest to you that those residents aren’t calling for a reduction in services, whether that be for emergency services, their roads and the other important things that [county commissioners] provide,” Rieman said.

The anticipated annual reduction in county commission budgets across Wyoming, Rieman said, include $2.5 million to Albany County, $2.1 million to Campbell County, $650,000 to Goshen County, $4.7 million to Natrona County and $3.4 million to Sheridan County.

Those estimates do not include revenue cuts to education funding, special districts and municipalities, he said.

“Those are going to result in reduction in services, unless there is some sort of mechanism to offset those [costs],” Rieman said.

Ben Moritz, executive director of the Wyoming Community College Commission, said that the anticipated annual revenue lost to community colleges across the state will be $11 million. Smaller institutions like Sheridan College and Eastern Wyoming Community College would have a higher proportional cut than others, Moritz said. Colleges have a statutory cap on what they can hold in reserve, so most do not have the savings to draw upon if SF 69 is passed without backfill.

Wyoming’s community colleges are the workforce training centers for the state, Moritz continued, and career and technical education courses often have the highest costs. With revenue losses projected under SF 69, coursework will be difficult to maintain, as will colleges’ “ability to employ people,” Moritz said.

Josh Van Vlack, division chief for the Laramie County Fire Authority, told the committee that special fire districts operate “on a shoestring budget as it is” and that any reduction in property tax revenue will directly result in a reduction in services.

“Every dollar does matter in our response, and our ability to assist those in our jurisdictions,” Van Vlack said.

Most districts have some funding in reserve, but it’s restricted, he said. Laramie County Fire Authority’s reserve funds are earmarked for replacement of an apparatus, for example.

“A new fire truck right now is running $1.1-1.2 million. That would wipe out our reserves,” Van Vlack said.

There are around 230,000 single-family residential homes in Wyoming, according to Brenda Henson, director of the Wyoming Department of Revenue. Senate File 69 would apply an exemption to single-family structures, as well as the associated land, up to $1 million in fair market value.

People who are eligible to receive the long-term homeowner credit created in 2024 will not be able to also claim exemption under SF 69, Henson said. In 2024, lawmakers also implemented a 4% cap on residential property tax collection, which extends into 2025.

“This is the first time ever that we have had multiple exemptions that are applicable to the exact same property,” Henson said.

Bear said that he may offer an amendment on the House floor to provide backfill to “hardship” communities, which include Bighorn, Campbell, Carbon, Fremont, Hot Springs, Johnson, Sweetwater and Uinta counties. Those counties collect less in property taxes today than they did in 2015.

“I am bringing an amendment — several different options for backfill — for those eight most hardship counties, and some of the special districts,” Bear said.

If the state must tap into its own reserves to backfill cuts to those counties, he’d like to know which counties have reserves, and which are assessing all allowable mill levies available to them.

Rieman said that 21 of 23 counties assess the maximum allowable mill levies. The two that do not are Campbell and Teton counties. Five counties, according to Henson, have offered their own property tax refund program in the two years since the Legislature gave counties that option. Those are Albany, Converse, Sublette, Lincoln and Teton counties.

“The county commissioners, out of their money, put in the budget, set aside an amount that can be available to refund to taxpayers that apply,” Henson said.

Only Rep. Trey Sherwood, D-Laramie, voted against SF 69 in committee, saying that she believes each county should be allowed to craft its own property tax refund program. Calling SF 69 an “affront to local control,” Sherwood said a top-down state decision would be “heavy-handed.”

“I believe that our counties are the best ones to determine what our refund program should look like,” Sherwood said. “They know what their reserves look like. They know what their budget is, and they know what kind of relief they can provide.” 

The bill now awaits debate in the full House.

Another ‘arrow in the quiver’: House committee passes 50% tax break on homes up to $200,000 

CHEYENNE—As representatives deliberated a bill that proposes one of the largest property tax cuts in Wyoming history on Thursday, another bill offering similar, yet smaller relief also advanced out of committee.

Rep. Scott Heiner, R-Green River, introduced a bill similar to Senate File 69 with his own House Bill 130, “Homeowner tax exemption-amendments,” in the House Revenue Committee.

Heiner told committee members he hoped to approach this property tax relief with a “win-win” mindset. House Bill 130 creates a 50% tax exemption for all homeowners up to $200,000 of the residential structure’s fair market value. Lowering the ceiling to $200,000 would lower the overall cost to both the state and local communities, Heiner said. The bill’s fiscal impact is a revenue loss of approximately $83 million per year, according to the Legislative Service Office.

Qualified homeowners must live in the home for eight months of the year, and the bill excludes residential land from the tax exemption. The bill is effective immediately and has a two-year sunset date, ending in the 2027 tax season.

“We’re putting a bunch of arrows in the quiver, and as we start going to the archery range, we’re going to see which arrow is closest to the mark,” Heiner said. “I know it’s difficult with all these different ideas. Some of them are similar, some of them are kind of radical, but that’s part of the act of legislation is finding the best fit.”

The bill also includes a $176 million backfill out of the state’s general fund. Heiner originally included funding part of this backfill from unencumbered energy matching and large energy matching funds. Wyoming Energy Authority Executive Director Rob Creager told lawmakers there’s currently $46 million left in energy matching funds and $100 million left in large energy matching funds.

These funds are pulled out of the state’s general fund. Heiner proposed using these monies as state backfill, and funding the remaining $30 million directly out of the state’s general fund. However, Petroleum Association of Wyoming President Pete Obermueller said this section of the bill is a “double whammy” on Wyoming’s fossil fuel industries.

“As this bill is written, it’s nothing but lose for oil and gas,” Obermueller said.

The severance tax paid by oil and natural gas companies is a major source of funding for the state’s general fund. Not only does HB 130 shift the burden to oil and gas, Obermueller said, but it also claws back an investment in industrial projects. So far, $98 million in energy matching funds have been used to fund projects, 75% of which are fossil fuel projects.

“This bill claws back an investment in projects that my members leverage to help us advance what we do, to provide more revenue to the state, provide more jobs and to ride to your rescue,” Obermueller said.

Committee members later removed this provision of the bill through an amendment, so the energy matching funds would not be touched to backfill lost property tax revenue to local communities and school districts.

Wyoming Farm Bureau Federation policy advocacy director Kelly Carpenter said her organization supported this bill, “as it is more targeted support for those truly needing relief.” She said more and more wealthy absentee landowners are acquiring large lots of land, and it’s been noted the agricultural industry pays the lowest amount toward the state’s general fund.

“It’s very reasonable to assume that agricultural land may very well be the next place to look to raise taxes sometime in the future, leaving a larger burden for those legacy ag operations that remain,” Carpenter said.

Converse County Assessor Dixie Huxtable said the bill poses a huge administrative burden on county assessors to implement it this year. She told lawmakers an estimated 275,000 applications are expected to be submitted for this tax exemption, and county assessors would only have a couple of months to design and process those applications.

“We would be happy to work on that for 2026, but for 2025, we just don’t think, as the bill is written, the application process that could be done,” Huxtable said.

Rep. Liz Storer, D-Jackson, proposed an amendment to delay the application period until next year, but it failed to pass the committee.

The bill passed 7-1, with one member excused. It will now be sent to the House floor for three more rounds of voting, with a chance for members to bring more amendments for debate.

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CHEYENNE—Many lawmakers want to see party affiliation in offices from the state’s top elected officials down to the local school board.

A measure to make the attorney general a partisan, elected official instead of one appointed by the governor has passed through a House committee. At the same time, a bill to add party affiliation to school board candidates on the general election ballot is moving through the Senate.

Wednesday morning, the House Judiciary Committee voted 6-3 in favor of House Bill 102, “Attorney general-elected,” co-sponsored by Rep. Scott Heiner, R-Green River. Heiner told the committee that the attorney general should be the “people’s attorney.” Currently in Wyoming, the attorney general is appointed by the governor.

“But how do we make sure that the people’s attorney represents, truly, the people? We have an appointed attorney,” Heiner said.

Over the last few years, Wyoming has been absent from many lawsuits, ranging in topic from immigration to health care, from the opioid epidemic and antitrust laws to environmental protection, put forward by Republican states against the federal government, according to Heiner.

“How many times have you looked at all these states that are suing on behalf of the people and their state, and Wyoming is conspicuously absent?” Heiner said.

House Bill 102 would create an elected office for attorney general following the 2026 general election, keeping in place an appointed attorney general until that time. That official’s salary would be $175,000.

Because the bill would increase the state’s current top elected officials from five to six, state statute would be amended to say that the State Building Commission would remain a board of five, including only the governor, secretary of state, state auditor, state treasurer and state superintendent, according to Heiner.

The bill also would change state statute dictating who could direct the attorney general.

“We would strike that the attorney general commences action when directed by the governor, and replace that with language stating that the attorney general would commence an action when requested by the governor, the Supreme Court or the Legislature,” Heiner said.

“That attorney general would represent all of us,” he continued.

Rep. Ken Chestek, D-Laramie, said that if he could ask every person who walks through the Capitol doors whether they want more politics in state government or less, he doubted many would say more.

“That is what this bill does. It creates a sixth political office, and it seems to me that it creates some conflict,” Chestek said.

Having an independent attorney general who may be at odds with the governor would create division, he said.

“The statewide litigation that you are suggesting we are not part of, maybe that is because we shouldn’t be party [to it],” Chestek said. “If the governor says we shouldn’t be a part of this lawsuit, and the attorney general says we are, we join the lawsuit. … Who represents Wyoming in that situation?” Chestek asked.

Heiner replied that having an elected attorney general would simply enhance the system of checks and balances in government.

“By having that difference of opinion here in the state with our electeds, that is a good thing,” Heiner said. “It provides that check and balance, so we don’t have one person directing the attorney general. It becomes a consensus by group.”

Committee Chairman Rep. Art Washut, R-Casper, said that currently, when Wyoming’s top five elected officials get together to discuss an issue, the attorney general serves as a resource for all of them.

“If you have an elected attorney general, then the attorney general is part of the decision-making cadre, as opposed to a legal resource,” Washut said. “All those dynamics change. Now they are part of the deliberative process, rather than the advisory process. That is my philosophical concern.”

Heiner responded that a legislative committee, like the House Judiciary Committee itself, includes attorneys, and having people with that background to testify and vote “strengthens” the committee.

Rep. Lee Filer, R-Cheyenne, said that he could not support HB 102 because it would mean an ineffective attorney general could keep their position until the next election.

“If we want to take issues to the governor or the attorney general right now, and they just push them aside … there are processes in order for the governor to ask for resignation, reappointment,” Filer said.

Betsy Anderson, general counsel and deputy chief of staff for Gov. Mark Gordon, said Gordon’s office favors the current system.

“[This] serves the state much better than a system where the attorney general is elected,” Anderson said. “An appointed AG is more independent and can focus their attention on the law, and legal concerns, instead of political concerns.”

Elected attorney generals are exposed to political influence and decision-making, she said, and can become beholden to those who support their campaigns.

Jenny DeSarro frm the Equality State Policy Center spoke against the bill, saying that the attorney general provides impartial legal opinions only to the elected and appointed officials and represents the state agencies in courts of law.

“This position is most effective when they are able to maintain an independent mind free from the confines of partisan platforms,” she said.

However, Rep. Tom Kelly, R-Sheridan, said that he would support HB 102.

“The consensus of those opposed to it is that this would introduce politics into that position. And my understanding is that means it’s introducing the will of the people into this,” Kelly said.

Should school boards be partisan as well?

On the other side of the Capitol, senators voted 15-11 in committee of the whole Tuesday in favor of Senate File 98, “School board trustees-party affiliation.” Bill co-sponsor Sen. Jared Olsen, R-Cheyenne, said the bill is “straightforward” and simply adjusts the general election ballot so that candidates for school board trustee have their political party affiliation printed alongside their name.

“Partisan labels help voters quickly identify candidates whose values and priorities align with their own political beliefs,” Olsen said, claiming that it could have the potential to increase voter turnout in local elections.

Sen. Dan Dockstader, R-Afton, said people can almost always tell what a school board candidate stands for, with just a little research, adding that he has concerns a mandatory party affiliation may alienate people who would otherwise run for school board.

“I am not sure this is as clean-cut as we want it to be,” Dockstader said.

Sen. Cale Case, R-Lander, said he was against the measure.

“Our children, and our education system, kind of requires us to rise above politics,” he said.

Parties are limiting, Case continued, and in Wyoming, only 25-27% of eligible voters actually participated in the last primary election.

“If you want to find out about people … you can find out,” Case said. “It is still Wyoming. You can always call every one of them up, and you can go to coffee.”

But Olsen said that it is a “farce” to believe that school boards are not already partisan.

“What the difference between this bill [and] the reality of what we operate in today is transparency,” Olsen said.

Sen. John Kolb, R-Rock Springs, also said that school board positions have already become political.

“Do you believe in having women, or men, in women’s locker rooms? This is one step further than we’re currently doing,” Kolb said, referencing several pieces of legislation moving through the Capitol that deal with issues of transgender children.

Sen. Dan Laursen, R-Powell, a sponsor of one such piece of legislation, said Olsen’s bill is “vitally needed.”

“People want to know. They want to know which party platform you might lean toward. That’s very important,” Larsen said.

Senate File 98 passed on third reading in the Senate and advanced to the House on Thursday.

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CHEYENNE—A bill to offer all homeowners in Wyoming a two-year, 50% reduction in property taxes has passed the state Senate.

Senate File 69, “Homeowner property tax exemption,” passed in a 23-8 vote on third reading Tuesday. Last week, the Senate voted to decrease the percentage of property tax relief to 25% of assessed value up to $1 million. This week, the Senate restored the bill to its original form, approving an amendment brought by Sen. Tara Nethercott, R-Cheyenne, in a 19-12 vote.

That amendment brought tax relief back to 50% for all homeowners, with no state backfill and a two-year sunset date.

Senate President Bo Biteman, R-Ranchester, said on the floor that the version passed Tuesday was the bill Wyomingites deserve.

“The people of Wyoming are tired of excuses. They want action, and they want us to deliver for them, finally,” Biteman said, adding that the Senate has been debating property tax relief for years.

“I have said repeatedly, the most difficult thing to do in the Wyoming Legislature is to cut taxes,” he said. “Hundreds of millions of dollars flies out of here every time we do the budget.”

Senate Vice President Tim Salazar, R-Riverton, said this was the Senate fulfilling its promise to provide much-needed relief to its constituents.

“We just passed historic property tax relief. We didn’t do it with trumpets. We didn’t do it with fanfare, but we passed it,” Salazar said.

Other senators worried that the tax cut could affect smaller, more rural communities — many of which have not experienced soaring property tax increases — in ways that it may not affect counties where property values have increased by double digits in recent years.

Sen. Stacy Jones, R-Rock Springs, proposed an unsuccessful amendment to use state savings to backfill, or pay back, local governments for 12.5% of the lost revenue under the cut. In Rock Springs, property taxes have only increased 19.5% from 2019 to 2023. Jones said a 50% cut there would devastate the local civic center, rec center, senior center and services like snow removal.

“What you do today affects all of the communities across Wyoming,” Jones said.

However, Sen. Chris Rothfuss, D-Laramie, who voted against the bill, also voted against Jones’ amendment. Rothfuss said the Legislative Stabilization Reserve Account, or the state’s savings, was not designed to pay back tax cuts for citizens.

Others said that they did not support a backfill, but for another reason: To show citizens that the taxes they pay do indeed go toward local services, and when they are cut, so are those services.

Sen. Larry Hicks, R-Baggs, said he could not vote for SF 69 because it created a “one size fits all” solution for all of Wyoming.

Instead, he said the Senate could have chosen to reduce only the assessed state mill levies, without cutting into those assessed by specific counties.

“We could have gone in … to the property taxes that this legislative body is responsible for, and stayed in our lane,” Hicks said. “But we couldn’t stay in our lane. We said, ‘We are going to usurp all those local governments. We are going to have a paternalistic point of view, and we are going to provide property tax relief. Damn with the local governments.’”

Sen. Eric Barlow, R-Gillette, brought forward an amendment that would allow taxpayers to pay the full amount of property taxes due, without the exemption, if they choose to do so. 

“I hear from folks who say, I need the services in my community. I want to have a way to pay if there is an exemption, a reduction,” Barlow said. “This says that if you get the tax bill, and say it is a 50% exemption, that I can pay the full amount without the exemption.”

That amendment passed in a voice vote.

No state ‘backfill’

Senate leaders told the media shortly after the vote they did not remove the state backfill “to make a point.” On the floor, some senators pointed out that removing this backfill would hurt city budgets and reduce local services.

“Our purpose wasn’t to inflict pain or to make a point. We don’t make a point in tax policy,” Biteman said. “It affects people’s lives, it affects the pocketbook. Good tax policy stands on its own. … If you’re going to cut taxes, cut taxes. You don’t take money out of one pocket, put it in the other, and call it a tax cut. And that’s the bottom line with the backfill.”

Nethercott added that it’s “not sustainable from a state fiscal perspective” to backfill lost revenue with state funds. Local governments need to be sustainable with their own revenues, through their own financial planning, she said.

Biteman said there are still some House members who are “hung up” on including a state backfill. However, the Senate president said those members are “coming off of that.”

“I don’t want to speak for them, but it sounds like things are moving,” Biteman said.

Nethercott said on the floor that a vote for the bill would not be a cut in education funding. One of the funding sources for the School Foundation Program is mill levies, which are paid for through property taxes.

Rothfuss agreed the loss in property tax revenue doesn’t cut education funding, but it would force the state to dip into its savings. Currently, the incoming revenue from property taxes matches the expenditure of education funds, he said.

“That’s a good situation to be in, when your revenue and your expenses are about the same,” Rothfuss said. “If we pass this legislation, then we are no longer receiving enough revenue to pay the full cost of the School Foundation Program.”

This would force the state to pull out of its savings account, Rothfuss said, instead of relying on existing revenue.

“That’s unsustainable,” Rothfuss said.

Before becoming law, SF 69 must pass the House and obtain Gov. Mark Gordon’s signature. If SF 69 passes those hurdles, the exemption would first apply to the tax year that began Jan. 1.

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