After the Wyoming Senate declined to pass the supplemental budget bill on Feb. 26, legislators in both chambers are scrambling to find new homes for funding priorities in existing bills.
That includes money to restore land damaged by wildfires. Wyoming’s last wildfire season was “historic,” according to the governor, who asked the state Legislature for $130 million in wildfire aid and another $50 million to replenish an exhausted emergency account.
Funding to accomplish a similar goal was added to a Senate bill, SF 152, which would establish a wildfire management task force to evaluate impacts and fire response tactics.
The amended measure would allow for $100 million in loans for wildfire mitigation to individuals and local governments.
It would also add one full time employee and four part time employees to the Office of State Lands and Investments for fire response.
And it would deposit about $49 million to the Wyoming Wildlife and Natural Resource account for grants to conservation districts trying to restore grasses damaged by fires.
The amended Senate bill was sent to the governor on March 3 for his signature or veto.
Gordon recently let a separate Senate bill, SF 195, become law. It creates an emergency loan program for businesses hit hard by natural disasters.
Aside from wildfire response funds, legislators’ policy rehoming extended to healthcare monies, too.
One such appropriation gives nearly $8 million in state and federal dollars to provide services to Wyomingites with developmental disabilities who might otherwise not be able to afford some healthcare. The money was originally found in the supplemental budget bill.
Those dollars were amended into a Senate bill, SF 125, which defines abortion as not being healthcare.
But Rep. Ken Chestek (R-Laramie) said during debate on the House floor on Feb. 27 that the amendment has a big flaw.
“This amendment is a different topic than abortion,” said Chestek. “It is a completely different topic. If we put this into this bill we have a two-subject bill, which violates the Wyoming Constitution.”
Appropriations that ordinarily would’ve been in the supplemental budget can only be attached to other bills if they’re germane to the individual issues those measures seek to address, according to the Wyoming Manual of Legislative Procedures. Other representatives objected to Chestek’s reading of the rules.
“The title of the bill is ‘Defining health care and protecting the people’s welfare,’ so I believe this amendment is appropriate,” said Rep. Clarence Styvar (R-Cheyenne).
The amendment later passed.
The bill itself passed the House and had its amendments approved by the Senate in a 26 to 5 concurrence vote on March 4. It now heads to the governor for his signature or veto.
If the measure becomes law, it would function as a trigger law that would go into effect once the state Supreme Court rules on the legality of two near-total abortion bans, changing how the state defines “abortion.”
In a Senate leadership press conference on March 3, Senate President Bo Biteman (R-Ranchester) told Wyoming Public Radio he “didn’t think” there was any chance of the supplemental budget bill being revived and passed by the upper chamber.
This reporting was made possible by a grant from the Corporation For Public Broadcasting, supporting state government coverage in the state. Wyoming Public Media and Jackson Hole Community Radio are partnering to cover state issues both on air and online.
