A legislative committee that controls where state money goes has begun parsing the supplemental budget proposed by Gov. Mark Gordon.
The supplemental is meant for emergencies and special circumstances in the off years between legislative budget sessions, when the Legislature crafts the state’s biennium budget.
Senators and representatives on the Joint Appropriations Committee (JAC) are reviewing the governor’s budget proposals to fund a slew of different state agencies and will either strike funding they disagree with or approve it.
A big change to Gordon’s agenda came this week when the JAC voted for a $30 million reduction to the $130 million the governor wanted for wildfire aid and turned it from grant money to a loan program at 2% interest. Gordon described the past wildfire season as “historic.”
This year, eight of the committee’s 12 members are new to it. Wyoming Public Radio estimates at least six are endorsees or members of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus, which says it wants to thoroughly slash government spending.
The new blood has led to occasional procedural hiccups as incoming committee members learn more about how it operates.
“Again, I would say to the committee, if you have any questions, please do ask,” said Chair Sen. Tim Salazar (R-Riverton) after a botched roll call vote on Jan. 20. “This is too important to be voting and not knowing what we’re voting on. So please, don’t hesitate.”
Some Democratic legislators on the JAC who’ve served on it before have described the first few weeks as being “a little rocky.”
“Frankly, some of [the new members] are still in campaign mode,” said Sen. Mike Gierau (D-Jackson) outside the committee room. “I like to tell them, ‘Let’s start governing now. I don’t care how many doors you knocked on.’”
The committee already voted to “override” some of the governor’s line-item vetoes to the biennium budget from the last legislative session.
For instance, the body reversed Gordon’s initial veto of language that would’ve defunded all diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs at the University of Wyoming.
“I think [that] that’s great language,” said Rep. Scott Smith (R-Lingle). “Why do we take [the governor’s veto] out? We want to remove that philosophy, which is anti-American.”
Other lawmakers had different thoughts about the reversal.
“That impacts my community,” said Rep. Trey Sherwood (D-Laramie). “I think we're still recovering from our own shock about what that means for Laramie and the university. I’m assuming we’ll hear from the University of Wyoming this week, I would hope, on a response to that.”
For Gierau, the overrides were a new tactic for the JAC to use against the governor’s red pen.
“I’ve never done that before in my life,” he said. “Usually, we spend our time going through footnotes and making sure the footnotes are still relevant. [But] we hardly looked at them. Our House friends were more interested in looking at those where the governor made changes to the line items.”
The committee also voted to blot out the governor’s recommended funding for maternal health providers in Wyoming, which suffers from maternal healthcare deserts. An interim legislative committee that listed maternal health as a top priority leading up to the general session ended up drafting no solutions to the issue.
The JAC’s work is ongoing, culminating in a ‘budget week’ later in the session.
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.