Tuesday was another busy day for the Joint Appropriations Committee.
Lawmakers spoke with the Department of Agriculture about state meat inspection and with Wyoming Wildlife and Natural Resources Trust, a board that helps fund projects to enhance and conserve wildlife habitat and natural resources, about land management.
However, it was wildfire response that took the majority of time and interest.
After a prayer led by Sen. Tim French (R-Ralson), the Office of State Lands and Investments was first to speak to the committee. The office is made up of different divisions that deal with land and conservation issues, like community loans to improve drinking water and managing the Mineral Royalty Grant program. The State Forestry Division, which oversees fire and state trust lands management, also made its funding pitch.
The total budget request for the office is over $80 million. For any other department or agency, that would be quite a bit, but the office noted that this year they had 1,621 fires. A big part of fighting those fires was Wyoming’s growing fleet of air assets, assets that provided support for 76 missions. That helped keep fires small and prevent them from turning into the level of burns seen during the 2024 fire season.
“Hopefully we don't find ourselves in the ‘24 fire season again,” said Kevin Hibbard, director of the State Budget Department. “..The average fire years are a little bit more expensive for us for all the obvious reasons, plus the fact that we are equipping ourselves to get there quicker and put the fires out faster.”
Legislators like Sen.Ogden Driskill (R-Devils Tower) were supportive of a request to refill $20 million to the Emergency Fire Suppression Account and reapprove borrowing power of up to $30 million. Driskill said people don't really want to put money into permanent funds like the Mineral Trust Fund right now, but added “fire makes sense” if they are not going to permanently invest those funds elsewhere.
The office asked for 12 firefighting field positions, a public information officer and a fire business agent. Rep. John Bear (R-Gillette) was vocally supportive and also supported the governor’s budget recommendation in some cases.
"I think the governor's probably heading in the right direction,” said Bear. “I, too, am hoping that we're creating methodology to avoid another 2024.”
However, Bear would also like to see all the preparation and support eventually result in lower costs for the state. When asked what State Forester Kelly Norris might do with all these extra people should suppression costs come down over time, she said there’s always work to be done in account, billing and communicating with the public.
“There is quite a bit of grants that we could be continuing to apply and oversee and have oversight over, when it comes to fuels mitigation grants, when it comes to prevention grants, as well as other avenues that we've been working through in fire. The fire revolving account itself has really started to grow in the workload that we have been doing and that may or may not ever go away,” said Norris.
Norris added that the governor’s budget proposal was ultimately in the interest of lowering suppression costs regardless.
Fire bills
The committee ended its day six hearings by looking at bills previously worked on during the interim.
One bill, 26LSO310: Forestry conservation program wildland fire module, would take money from the general fund to fund full-time employees for the Wyoming Smokebuster inmate firefighter program. After requesting more information from Norris, the committee decided to table the bill until Friday.
Another bill draft, 26LSO0311: Smokebuster module leader, would take $750,000 from the general fund to fund 12 employee positions as part of a wildfire fighting module. Rep. Jeremy Haroldson (R-Wheatland) took the lead on amending the bill, changing "seasonal at-will contract” to “temporary full-time employees,” alongside a change in their start date. Haroldson wanted state forestry to have more leeway to help train their module leaders, and he said they can do so with more working months and a start time outside of fire season. The change means the bill draft needed a fiscal note update, a change from $1.58 million to $2.572 million. Rep. Ken Pendergraft, a (R-Sheridan), threw his support behind the bill despite the price tag.
“I consider myself as frugal and as much a budget hawk as anybody in the room,” said Pendergraft. “But when you've gone as far as we've gone with the idea, and the experts in the room suggest there's a better way to do it, I'm going to defer to them and therefore I would be an aye vote on this increase.”
The bill passed a roll call vote, with only French voting “no.” Bear set the bill to be introduced in the House of Representatives during the upcoming budget session.
Rep.Trey Sherwood (D-Laramie) presented two pieces of draft legislation. Both bills were aimed at keeping Wyoming competitive against federal plans and benefits packages.
Norris joined Sherwood at points to help express the need for competitive packages and benefits.
“We've seen the staff that have the fire skills go to the agencies that have the fire benefits,” said Norris. “Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Alaska, Arizona – they all have hazard pay…. We don't do hazard pay. We currently don't have a firefighter retirement. We also don't yet implement paid leave after a fire assignment.”
Norris added, “The Wyoming Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an excellent recruiter of the Wyoming State Forestry Division.”
Sherwood’s first bill addressed some of Norris's concerns directly. 26LSO301:State Forestry division-retirement plans would move some employees into better retirement plans and offer others the option to join. Specifically, six current full-time employees would gain access to the state’s law enforcement pension and eight would join the Air Guard firefighter plan. The bill would additionally authorize firefighters to participate in retirement systems within the state. The bill saw no amendments made, and once again passed with only French voting “no.” Bear once again set the bill to be introduced in the House during next year’s budget session.
Sherwood’s second bill, 26LSO302: Firefighters-paid leave and hazard pay, was also created to increase competitiveness in the job market. It would give firefighters two days off for every 14 days in the field and would provide hazard pay to Wyoming Smokebusters. Again, the bill passed a roll call vote, with only French voting “no” and Bear again setting the bill for presentation in the House.
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.
