A landmark property tax relief bill passed both chambers of the Wyoming Legislature on Feb. 19, following hours of contentious debate on 21 amendments.
After House lawmakers amended SF 69 last week to make the property tax cuts more targeted for individual counties, they voted to undo those changes this week and bring the bill closer to its original language.
The bill now exempts 50% of residential property up to a home’s first $1 million in assessed value. After two years, the tax cut would go down to 25% with no sunset date.
The bill would have the state partially reimburse counties for tax revenue losses, known as a backfill, providing about $200 million over two years.
But some representatives worried that the backfill wouldn’t come close enough to helping local governments retain services in the long run.
“I believe our county commissioners when they say that they're going to have to cut services,” said Rep. Karlee Provenza (D-Laramie). “I believe my sheriff when he says that he’s already been unable to get mental health services for the next year, because he doesn't have the money that he thinks that he will need to fund that. I'm going to vote no on this bill, because I think it's the best thing for our communities, and I think that's what they want. They were sold a lie: that property tax [relief] comes for free.”
Earlier in the week, firefighters from Yoder visited the Capitol building to hold a press conference on their concerns about the bill’s potential impacts on counties and local services.
Some representatives publicly theorized that Wyoming Freedom Caucus members met behind closed doors between last week’s county-by-county amendment and now, and decided to dramatically change course.
“This is what happens when you bring politics into the decisions that are going to shape our children's future,” said Rep. Cody Wylie (R-Rock Springs) on the House floor. “This is what happens when you make a decision in a meeting room somewhere not on this floor.”
A caucus-endorsed representative took umbrage with Wylie’s assessment, calling for a “point of order” to House Speaker and caucus member Rep. Chip Neiman (R-Hulett).
“I believe that the last comments were impugning the motives of what we're trying to do here,” said Rep. Ken Pendergraft (R-Sheridan). “What we're trying to do here is find something that we can all agree on, and get it passed.”
Supporters of the bill, like Pendergraft, said they were voted into office to deliver substantial property tax relief.
But in a press conference on Feb. 21, Rep. John Bear (R-Gillette) told Wyoming Public Radio that House leadership, all of whom are Freedom Caucus members, had met with some lawmakers to strategize about SF 69 after last week’s amendment.
“I would characterize it that leadership met with legislators and developed a plan to provide a bill that really reflected the body,” said Bear.
Speaker Neiman chimed in, too.
“[The amendment] wasn't equitable,” said Neiman. “You had different counties receiving different levels … of help. And so then the immediate question was, ‘Is that something that can be [legally] challenged?’”
House leaders pointed to SF 153 as another opportunity to deliver on the Freedom Caucus’s Five and Dime promise of property tax relief or reform, should SF 69 fail to make it through the legislative process in time.
After the House voted to pass it, SF 69 returned to the Senate for concurrence. Ultimately, senators voted against concurrence due to significant differences between the House and Senate versions, and a Joint Conference Committee was called to reconcile differences between the two iterations. The committee will be made up of three members of each 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.
