After hours of sometimes heated debate beginning on Friday, the Wyoming House finished voting on amendments to its version of the state budget bill on Saturday night. Lawmakers restored funding for state employee pay increases, and partially walked back cuts to the University of Wyoming (UW) and the Wyoming Business Council.
Other third reading amendments, many of which sought to restore funding recommended by Gov. Mark Gordon in his initial budget proposal, were killed. That included one that would’ve restored a $40 million cut to UW’s block grant pending a comprehensive review of the university’s structure to find increased efficiencies.
The lower chamber discussed and debated a total of 125 third reading amendments. Thirty-nine were withdrawn, 63 were killed and 27 were adopted, an increase from the 10 amendments House lawmakers adopted on second reading.
Earlier this week, the House and Senate began the amendment process by voting on second reading amendments to the budget. The Senate finished its work early on Wednesday, while the House found itself plodding through a record 122 second reading amendments during two marathon late-night days of lawmaking.
The Senate finished third reading amendments and passed its version Friday evening.
During House debate on third reading amendments on Friday and Saturday, Democratic representatives as well as Republicans not affiliated with the Wyoming Freedom Caucus frequently engaged in debate about reversing budget cuts made by the Joint Appropriations Committee (JAC) in the lead up to the current session. That coalition of Republicans and Democrats often mentioned that they were dissatisfied with the JAC’s explanations of the budget.
As a sign of just how hard lawmakers have been working, Rep. Dalton Banks (R-Cowley) collapsed while in the middle of speaking on an amendment he introduced in front of his colleagues. Those colleagues leapt up from their seats and rushed over to Banks. Rep. Jeremy Haroldson (R-Wheatland) later told the lower chamber that Banks was OK and had recovered from dehydration.
After lunch, Rep. Landon Brown (R-Cheyenne) entered a protest against the House.
“Our responsibility as a legislative body is to debate, not to rush, not to silence discussion, and certainly not to label disagreement as obstruction,” he said. “Calling an honest debate a filibuster undermines the very purpose of our representatives.”
Brown was responding to a remark made by Rep. John Bear (R-Gillette).
“I’ll just warn you all that we are pushing ourselves into a constitutional crisis if we filibuster our way out of getting a budget passed,” Bear said during a discussion on an amendment that would give some funding back to the state’s primary economic development agency, the Wyoming Business Council.
Bear continued, “As of today, we have gone longer than any other budget debate. So you could say this budget has been vetted more than any other. And for those that are wanting debate on this particular amendment and this agency, we spent some 45 minutes or so talking about it in the Committee of the Whole and on second reading, double that. So this particular issue has been debated.”
Brown disagreed and lodged the formal dissent.
“When you represent 62 different communities, Mr. Speaker, 62 different perspectives and 62 different priorities, thoughtful discussion isn't a delay topic. It is our job. The budget before us was deeply flawed from the start. It deserved scrutiny, amendments and open conversation so the people we serve have confidence in the outcome. Debate is not dysfunction. It is accountability. If we abandon our debate, we abandon our rep and our dully elective voices,” Brown said.
A protest is a formal procedural action to express dissent against another member of the body.
Beginning on Friday…
The House started working its way through third reading amendments on Friday morning.
Later, as the sun dipped below Cheyenne, Rep. Martha Lawley (R-Worland) defended an amendment that would’ve restored technology funding for the state Department of Family Services that the JAC had previously cut.
Lawley said that years ago, legislators upgraded the department’s IT system to protect it against fraud. That helped the agency to have one of the lowest error rates in the country in terms of distributing benefits to their intended recipients. f her amendment to restore that funding isn’t restored, she said, that IT system will not be maintained.
“You'll recall [that] when we had [the] original discussion by the JAC about the budget, going through it with us, I asked the question, ‘Did you talk with the agency about the effect on this particular agency and its core mission of how these cuts would affect them?’” said Lawley. “The answer was ‘No, we did not discuss it with the agency.’ So again, I want to think about what their core mission is. I want to talk in terms of need and essentials, because this is not a want. I believe it's a need.”
Lawley referenced reports of fraud in welfare programs in Minnesota, and said that if the error rates in Wyoming’s family services department go up as a result of out-of-date tech, “We can hold ourselves responsible.”
Rep. Ken Pendergraft (R-Sheridan), a member of the JAC and the Wyoming Freedom Caucus, said the notion that his committee hadn’t gamed out the impact of that cut was false. The caucus has a majority on the JAC between official members and endorsees. With allies, it also holds a majority in the House.
“The things that are said about not doing our homework are not true,” said Pendergraft. “I actually met with the director in my hometown. We spoke for quite a while. I went and toured one of their facilities, and we had a conversation about this very thing.”
But, he added, if the department really wanted to upgrade its technology, it could move money around from another division within the agency.
Rep. Lloyd Larsen (R-Lander) said the cut seemed like a simple mistake.
“I think it's fair to say that – not with malice intended – but that the removal of this from the agency's budget was just a mistake,” said Larsen. “The agency, when they presented their budget, was not asked a single question about this request. The director left thinking that they must be comfortable with it and found out later that it had been cut.”
Lawley said she hoped Larsen was right about that.
“Maybe this was a mistake, and I hope it was, because we can correct it right here and move on,” she said. “But if it's not a mistake, then it's the other. It's a deliberate decision, and those that want it that way, you'll be on the record. So either way, we'll know.”
The House voted 27 to 32 to kill the amendment.
University of Wyoming funding
Rep. Steve Harshman (R-Casper) introduced an amendment that would restore the University of Wyoming’s (UW) block grant funding. But it required UW to conduct a comprehensive review of its organizational structure and staffing patterns in all areas to find any cost savings and reinvestment opportunities. That report would’ve had to be presented to the JAC by Dec. 1, and if it didn’t save $5 million, then the university would be cut by the original proposed $40 million.
During the discussion, Bear said it was a good amendment but he just introduced a new amendment that is similar but an improvement. The chairman of the JAC is the only person who can introduce an amendment while the third reading is ongoing.
“This came about based on discussions between leadership and the university. So we heard the previous speaker, the bringer of this amendment, and he had good advice, I think, for this body when he stated that we need to have some contingencies, or at least these funds are contingent upon,” said Bear. “And so I agree with this amendment in that regard. [I] drafted one that matches that and works with the conversations that happened between us and the university, at least leadership in the university.”
The amendment Bear referred to would strip $20 million from UW, but would have the same stipulations.
Rep. Martha Lawley (R-Worland) still encouraged the body to vote for Harshman’s amendment since she said there’s no need for the $40 million cut and it would be a responsible way to improve the university.
“I would have loved for the JAC to have these kind of conversations with the university on the record. I am seeing a troubling trend here of a lack of transparency and discussions of private conversations,” said Lawley. “So, I really cautioned anyone to put their faith in someone, and I'm not saying anyone's necessarily misrepresenting, but we just don't have the ability to know what really happened there unless it's on the record. That's why we have public meetings. That's why we have public comment.”
Harshman’s amendment passed, but immediately after, Bear’s amendment passed, which nullified Harshman’s.
Wyoming Business Council
Rep. Rob Geringer (R-Cheyenne) introduced an amendment that would fund the state’s primary economic development agency for one year. It would take out some programs like the Wyoming Business Ready Community grant and loan program, satisfy statutory obligations and allow time to figure out the Wyoming Business Council’s next step.
“We can figure out if we need to keep this agency or not, and what parts of it we need to keep,” said Geringer. “Because, body, I’m going to point out here, and maybe we can get some clarification from committee number two (JAC) as to what the plan is if we only fund at the committee’s recommended amount. What happens to all the statutory obligations? We have nothing. We have a reduction in financing with no indication of what is to happen if that is adopted.”
The amendment passed.
State employee wage increases
Toward the end of Saturday night, Rep. Trey Sherwood (D-Laramie) walked over to a lectern to present a budget amendment that would raise state employee pay wages to 2024 levels.
“[It] helps them to restore purchasing power that’s been eroded through inflation,” said Sherwood.
A similar amendment sponsored by Rep. Steve Harshman (R-Casper), died by a vote of 28 to 31 during second reading earlier in the week.
Sherwood’s amendment also gives retirees an additional retirement benefits paycheck to be distributed on July 1, 2026, to help with inflation.
It passed by a vote of 31 to 29.
Wyoming Public Media
An amendment brought by Rep. Elissa Campbell (R-Casper) to remove a line that would not allow any state funds to go towards Wyoming Public Media failed without much discussion.
Now what happens?
The House and Senate’s amended versions of the budget bill have significant differences that will need to be reconciled before a single, unified bill can go before the governor.
To work those differences out, leaders in both chambers will each send five of their members to take part in a joint conference committee (JCC). If that committee fails to come to an agreement, a whole new JCC will be appointed with new members. It’d also operate under new rules.
“The second and any successive committee, third, fourth, fifth, have a free committee, which means they can go into any agency, any budget, and make increases or decreases as they see fit in order to come to an overall agreement,” said Don Richards, the nonpartisan Legislative Service Office’s budget administrator. Richards spoke to Wyoming Public Radio in December 2025.
Passing a biennial budget is the one constitutionally required tasks the Legislature must complete during the ongoing session. Both chambers will gavel back in on Monday morning.
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.
