budget

Gov. Mark Gordon has signed the state budget for the next two years. He thanked the Legislature for its effort in helping provide adequate funding for the state government.

The department’s director said "draconian cuts” may happen if they don’t get the funds. He also pointed to a new survey of Wyomingites showing the state wants UW athletics.

Wyoming’s attorney general wants to prepare for legal battles over the Colorado River Basin and the State Building Commission wants to update the Veteran’s Home of Wyoming.

The Wyoming Business Council asked likely voters what’s working and what’s not in their local communities. Investing to avoid brain drain was a common theme.

Lawmakers axed $30 million from the governor’s proposed supplemental budget earmarked for wildfire recovery, and changed a relief program for landowners from grants to loans.

The Wyoming Department of Health is asking for over $18 million in its supplemental budget request. A majority of the funds would go toward increasing Medicaid reimbursement rates in an attempt to retain physicians.

On Saturday, March 23, Gov. Mark Gordon signed the budget presented to him by the Wyoming Legislative 67th budget session.But, his final signature came with many line-item vetoes. Almost immediately, the Wyoming Freedom Caucus called for a special session to respond to those vetoes.

On the last scheduled day of the session, the House and Senate were able to come to an agreement over a $1.1 billion difference between their original budgets.The evening before, Gov. Mark Gordon sent out a strongly worded letter to the President of the Senate Ogden Driskill (R-Devil’s Tower) denouncing that he has yet to see the budget.

Every other year, the Wyoming Legislature goes into a budget session. That means lawmakers spend four weeks working to pass a state balanced budget. The budget session is unique because bills require a two thirds majority to make it to the next step. But this year, an unprecedented number of committee bills were killed through that two thirds majority.

Gov. Mark Gordon has released a "conservative" budget proposal that he’ll present to state lawmakers early next year. He said it funds some of Wyoming’s most pressing issues, including property tax relief, mental health and economic development.