On day eight of the Joint Appropriations Committee's budget hearings, some lawmakers once again donned red jackets. Rep. Ken Pendergraph (R-Sheridan) gave a brief speech explaining why some members continue to wear red, citing forecasts from the Legislative Service Office (LSO) that suggest current spending could see the state go into debt, or “the red”, in just a few years. This time, however, two other lawmakers chimed in with the decision not to wear red jackets.
Sen. Ogden Driskill (R-Devils Tower) said the legislature has seen similar forecasts in the past. He said when he became president of the senate, the state put $2 billion in savings.
“We literally have the ability in Wyoming to cut our way into a budget crisis. Think about that,” said Driskill. “We have the ability to cause a budget crisis that makes this prediction come absolutely true. If we cut budgets to the point that they're to the bone and we had a downfall, which has happened over time, I can assure you we're in a budget crisis. Then we are looking at new taxes.”
University of Wyoming
The School of Energy Resources (SER) is a division of the University of Wyoming (UW) but it operates with its own budget and presents its programs separately. This year, the school is seeking to maintain its $21 million budget, but it’s also requesting an additional $10 million to support matching grants, enabling it to conduct more private fundraising.
Additionally, it wants more than $2 million for a coal research project that’s looking for non-energy uses for Wyoming coal. That $2 million would go toward a project that’s already underway in Gillette. Inflation has driven up the cost of that project, and the $2 million would cover that increase.
The school requested this $2 million last year, but that request, like every budget request last year, was dropped when the Wyoming Legislature failed to pass a supplemental budget bill.
UW President Ed Seidel outlined the university’s exception requests — additional asks above and beyond the institution’s standard budget. These exceptions total $44 million.
UW is asking lawmakers to support fundraising efforts, a new career and technical education lab, and critical minerals research. But Seidel said the university’s “true number one priority” is being able to raise salaries for faculty and staff. That request would have been included in UW’s official budget ask, but it was preempted by Gov. Mark Gordon’s request for employee raises across all state agencies, which, if approved, would include university workers.
UW’s standard budget, which it also hopes to see fully funded, is about $440 million.
Public Service Commission
Lawmakers also briefly heard from the Public Service Commission (PSC). The PSC regulates utilities, watches utility rates and sends engineers across the state to ensure facilities like pipelines and powerlines are up to code. Many of the commission’s requests were routine maintenance and light upgrades. The commission asked for funding to replace their Docket Management Systems, travel funding for inspections and the introduction of a credit card payment system on their website.
The Office of Consumer Advocate (OCA), a division within the PSC, told lawmakers they represent the legal interest of utility rate payers in Wyoming. The office said its role has somewhat broadened over the years and now includes ensuring heavy energy-use industries like data centres don't impact ratepayers.
Anthony Ornelas, director of OCA, said they are having issues retaining and attracting qualified workers.
“On top of our day-to-day administration of the agency,” said Ornelas. “The increase in our scope of work and the complexity of the issues that we adjudicate and the need to retain a specialised professional workforce to represent our rate payers is really the foundation of the OCA's budget request presented for your consideration.”
They're requesting a reclassification of two positions to help retain workers, citing one case where they lost a qualified attorney to a competing out-of-state law firm. Ornelas said the office is “turning over professionals every year or two.”
“Failure to approve [a reclassification of an attorney position] could significantly impede our statutory mission and perhaps effectively shut us down if we don't have any legal representation until we can fix that,” said Ornelas.
