In what is likely to be his final State of the State address as governor, Gov. Mark Gordon kicked off the 68th Wyoming Legislature’s budget session by arguing against big budget cuts proposed by some state lawmakers.
Gordon is termed out from occupying the governorship for more than eight years within a 16 year time period.
Members of the Joint Appropriations Committee (JAC) in January marked up Gordon’s budget proposal, altering or reducing his funding recommendations for the University of Wyoming (UW), state employee pay increases and technology upgrades for the state Department of Family Services, among other changes.
Appropriators also moved to defund the state’s economic development agency, the Wyoming Business Council, and forwarded a bill to the current session to dismantle the agency.
In his address to a joint session of the Legislature, including members of the judicial branch, Gordon referenced a budget surplus available to legislators thanks to investment income generated by mineral severance taxes collected in the Permanent Mineral Trust Fund. He said interest generated from the fund was “now the largest single source of state income.”
“I therefore ask you to restore my original budget recommendation and place $250 million of the surplus into the permanent savings this year, beyond the reach of current temptation,” said Gordon.
Some members of the JAC asked for the money to be deposited into temporary savings to allow the Legislature the ability to spend it later.
Wyoming’s governor also addressed economic development.
“Using ‘no’ as a club is not how America became great,” Gordon said. “Today, we are presented with an amazing range of opportunities that, if done well, will inspire our children to stay in Wyoming, and allow them to make a good wage and raise families. Here is the challenge we face. We are in real competition with other states and nations.”
He asked lawmakers to consider convening a task force to “rejuvenate, renovate and reimagine” the Wyoming Business Council as opposed to shuttering the agency.
“In the end, the talk of killing the Business Council has already put a chill in the air, a closed for business sign, if you will,” Gordon said. “Our competitive neighbors are already salivating. Let's not feed their ambition.”
Gordon then turned to the JAC’s reductions to funding for SUN Meals, lunches distributed to K-12 students across Wyoming during the summertime.
“What kind of people are we if we won't feed our kids?” he said. “Why wouldn't we do this? Which is why I am asking you to restore my recommendation for the summer feeding program. You know it as SUN Bucks.”
Gordon also discussed Wyoming’s status as an upper Colorado River Basin state. Referencing that the river has been “over appropriated for decades,” he reiterated his budget proposal ask for the addition of two natural resource attorneys for state Attorney General Keith Kautz’s staff to handle legal discussions about the river.
And he asked for funding to shore up the State Engineer's Office, “in concert with additional funding for contracts through the office of the attorney general, to protect Wyoming's water use.”
“We are out-manned and out-gunned by virtually every other state on the Colorado River,” he said.
In addition, Gordon asked lawmakers to consider passing a constitutional amendment that would put the subject of whether or not to ban abortion in the state to voters and “provide … a clear, irrefutable, durable and morally sound resolution to this fraught issue.”
As of this story’s publishing, no lawmakers had filed any such constitutional amendment through the nonpartisan Legislative Service Office. House Speaker Rep. Chip Neiman (R-Hulett), a member of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus, is sponsoring a bill that would ban abortions when the fetus has a “detectable heartbeat.” That bill includes an exception for medical emergencies, but no exception for rape or incest.
Neiman told a town hall in Newcastle in January that he was uncertain if a constitutional amendment was the right way to ban abortion.
Gordon repeated a request to lawmakers to fully fund Medicaid rate payment increases for OB-GYNs and behavioral health providers.
“I am … saddened as governor and angry as a husband, father and grandfather to report expectant Wyoming mothers and families are finding fewer and fewer places that offer experienced obstetrics care,” he said. “Too often, they must travel great distances or even out of state on winter roads to receive care. It's unacceptable.”
Gordon said low error rates in the state’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Medicaid payments were reasons to support the work of state employees.
“These error rate accomplishments would not be possible without our dedicated employees and because of the wise use of and investment in technology,” he said. “This is why the Department of Family Services's data enterprise system must be upgraded, to keep this high level of service and avoid costly penalties for increased errors that will only cost the taxpayer.”
He asked the Legislature to reinstate his request for the technology upgrade as well as meet the software requests for all state agencies.
Gordon closed out his remarks by referencing those watching the Legislature’s work this session.
“We do not owe them promises or platitudes,” he said. “We owe them a future built on the opportunity to learn, to work, to build a business, to raise a family and to grow old with dignity in the communities they call home. The choices we make today will either widen that horizon or close it off.”
State of the Judiciary
After Gordon stepped away from the podium, Chief Justice Lynne Boomgaarden stepped up to deliver her first State of the Judiciary as chief justice.
Boomgaarden walked the audience of legislators, justices and executive branch leaders through her branch’s functions, including an explanation of the Judicial Nominating Commission, which sends three-person lists of possible judges to the governor. The governor then picks one.
The commission is made up of the chief justice, three attorneys selected by members of the state bar association and three non-lawyer members appointed by the governor.
The commission’s existence was debated by lawmakers on the Joint Judiciary Committee during the interim. At that time, some electeds argued for a bill to require Senate confirmation of state Supreme Court justices. That draft bill failed to make it out of committee.
Since then, the Supreme Court in January struck down two near-total abortion bans, a move that was condemned by members of the anti-abortion Wyoming Freedom Caucus.
Boomgaarden addressed lawmakers’ discussions about the judiciary.
“I would feel cowardly and complicit if, at this point, I didn’t address an uncomfortable reality,” said Boomgaarden. “Recently, the public has heard rhetoric suggesting retaliation or defunding of courts because of the outcome in one high-profile case. There is no greater threat to a stable system of government than weakening the judicial branch for political gain.”
She went on.
“Healthy tension between branches of government is useful and expected. Efforts to punish or politicize the courts are not.”
Boomgaarden ended her speech by arguing Wyoming’s judiciary is strong.
“The justice we administer is guided by the pursuit of truth in the law, courage in our convictions to find that truth and hope that we may foster confidence in all Wyoming citizens that the judicial, executive and legislative branches are working together, for them.”
Freedom Caucus rebuttal
The state Freedom Caucus, which holds a majority in the House between official members and allies, held a press conference outside the state Capitol building following the governor’s and Supreme Court justice’s speeches.
They reiterated points they’ve made leading up to the session, including keeping state spending at pre-COVID levels.
“The Governor’s budget, characterized as only funding the ‘essentials,’ suggests that government is supposed to be all things to all people,” a press release from the caucus states. “It has been said that Wyoming is not facing a fiscal crisis, so we should continue spending more while hoarding hundreds of millions into state savings accounts. ‘No fiscal crisis’ is not a spending mandate. In fact, this kind of thinking is how financial disasters are created.”
After Boomgaarden and Gordon’s remarks, the Legislature began voting whether to kill or introduce legislation for the budget session. All bills require a two-thirds majority vote to be introduced.
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.
