The Joint Minerals Business and Economic Development Committee ended its second meeting of the interim going over two potential draft bills related to the Wyoming Business Council (WBC). During their first meeting of the interim, lawmakers talked with WBC leadership, as well as associated agencies and community groups, to get a better understanding of the council’s role in Wyoming’s economic landscape.
During the second meeting, the committee moved to revive the consensus block grant funding program. Plus, the Legislative Service Office (LSO) was directed to draft a bill based on agency recommendations for reforms and removal of underutilized WBC programs.
Broadly, some on the committee wanted to know how the legislature can act to improve the WBC. WBC CEO Josh Dorrell wasn’t specific to statute, but instead asked the committee to take the future into account.
“Build in flexibility so that we have the ability to do grants when they're appropriate, to do loans when they make sense and make sure that the legislation is not so tight that we can't maneuver,” said Dorrell. “Because the challenges that we see today are not the same as they're going to be in 10 years.”
Consensus block grant funding (CBGF)
After hearing from the leadership of the WBC, the committee began suggesting changes and reforms to the agency. Some lawmakers wanted to address a perceived disconnect between the WBC and communities' needs, through an overhaul of how the WBC achieves growth in rural communities/small towns. Rep. Kevin Campbell (R-Glenrock) previously accused Dorrell of bringing in out-of-state corporations that “don’t fit” in Wyoming towns.
Eventually, they arrived at a state-to-local level funding program based on the needs of cities and determined by the county government as a whole. This program was previously known as consensus block grant funding (CBGF). Some lawmakers believed this would give towns and local governments more say in what projects they want to see funded in their area.
The CBGF program was last implemented in the 2014 budget, according to LSO. Previously through this program, commissioners gathered ideas for projects in their county, and then a consensus of 70% of a county’s population as represented by their local governing bodies would agree on a finalized list of projects. In the past, these projects tended to be public service facilities like water infrastructure, public waste disposal, senior citizen homes and jails. The finalized list were sent to the Office of State Lands and Investment, which then distributed the appropriate amount of funds to cities and towns within the counties.
Jerimiah Rieman, with the Wyoming County Commissioners Association, told the committee that “countywide conscious funding” helps communities to “bake the cake”.
“Some communities that's exactly where they need to be spending their investment and their time taking care of again that base infrastructure, roads, water, sewer, making sure that they’re family ready communities so that eventually they can become business ready communities and have that growth,” said Rieman.
Through the draft bill, lawmakers are trying to reintroduce that program with a few tweaks. First, the consensus percentage would be lowered from 70% to 50%. The availability of grants would be $100 million for the first two years. After the first two years, or one biennium, the amount of funds available for the grant would revert to $50 million per year, or $100 million per biennium. And lastly, a directive to revert nearly $2 million in unused funds from the WBC to the consensus block grant program.
The committee tabled the bill for the next meeting..
Recommendations for WBC reforms and removal of programs
Towards the end of the meeting, Sen. Chris Rothfuss (D-Laramie) briefly presented a request to LSO. He said based on WBC’s review and recommendations, public comments, and agency input, there are a lot of potential changes to WBC individual programs on the menu for lawmakers. For example, the WBC recommended ggetting rid of the Wyoming Community Facilities program, Wyoming Small Business Investment Credit and the Workforce Houseforce Housing program and moving the Energy Performance program to the jurisdiction of the energy authority, among other changes.
Towards the end of the meeting, Sen. Chris Rothfuss (D-Laramie) suggested the LSO draft a bill that provides a methodology to go through and act on those recommendations. The committee approved the bill draft motion.
The Minerals Committee will meet again on Aug. 26, for a joint meeting with the Appropriations Committee.
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