Editor’s note: Following our newsroom’s protocol for reporting on our station’s finances, no Wyoming Public Media administrators reviewed this story before it was published.
This story was updated to include details about funding for Wyoming PBS, a public media outlet unaffiliated with WPM.
State funding to Wyoming Public Media (WPM) is still on the line as the Legislature continues working on the budget.
WPM receives about $800,000 a year through the University of Wyoming’s block grant, which accounts for roughly 17% of the station’s annual budget. It was cut from the governor’s proposed budget bill as part of $60 million in cuts to university funding.
Those cuts were the work of Wyoming’s Joint Appropriations Committee, and have been met with more enthusiasm in the House than the Senate.
In the Senate, lawmakers added the full $60 million back in, including the WPM portion, though some senators will likely bring amendments to change or reduce aspects of that funding during the budget bill’s third reading.
In the House, an amendment to re-add public media’s funding was withdrawn without discussion.
Now, as both chambers head into the budget bill’s third reading, slated for Friday, they will do so with radically different budget bills.
Nothing’s set in stone yet. On third reading, the House could still add the funding back in. The Senate could also take it out. Just as both chambers started with an identical version of the state budget bill, they will eventually have to agree to a single, unified bill before they can jointly send it off for the governor’s signature.
Meanwhile, both current versions of the budget bill include separate funding for Wyoming PBS, a public television outlet not affiliated with WPM.
Facing the same federal cuts as WPM, Wyoming PBS had requested $6.6 million on top of its standard $3.4 million request, to backfill the federal losses. The budget bill crafted by the JAC includes the standard funding but rejects the $6.6 million. An attempt to add some of that additional funding back in failed in the House.
