The Voice of the Community Since 1909, Serving Moorcroft and Pine Haven, Wyoming
The Voice of the Community Since 1909, Serving Moorcroft and Pine Haven, Wyoming
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On Friday evening, we gaveled a close to the 67th Budget Session in the Wyoming Senate and House. It was a tumultuous budget year. Yet, despite political differences and policy disagreements, the Legislature passed a conservative, balanced budget that addresses our state's needs and invests in the future. Those investments include funding for nursing homes, preschool for developmentally disabled children and home services for senior centers. The budget supports mental health efforts and funds...
Last week, the Wyoming Legislature marked the halfway point, or “crossover,” of the 67th Budget Session. Both the Senate and House worked late nights to complete final readings of our respective budget bills, which will now head to joint committees for further negotiations. There’s a lot of work to get done, and the hardest is still ahead. Media reported last week that there is a “massive fiscal rift” between the Senate and House budget bills – about a $900 million difference. This owes to a hard right turn by some members of the Senate and...
By Senator Ogden Driskill This week I had the privilege of convening the Wyoming Senate for the start of the Budget Session of the 67th Legislature. Budget sessions occur on even-numbered years, and, as the name suggests, the primary purpose is to approve a balanced budget, as required by the Wyoming Constitution. As the President of the Senate, I am committed to passing a responsible and fiscally conservative budget that invests in our state's needs to today and saves for the needs of tomorrow. Just as Wyoming's hard-working families have to...
During and shortly after the Pandemic, much of Wyoming saw significant in-migration of people from other states. This movement of people into Wyoming was a result of our scenic beauty, rural nature, freedoms, and a general sense of restlessness in the nation. The influx of people created a hot real estate market and higher home prices, which resulted in higher residential property taxes, as assessed values skyrocketed in select areas. The increases in assessed value and property taxes, however,...
As the Wyoming Legislature readies for 20 days of discussion and debate ahead of the 2024 Legislative Budget Session, we prepare for this work as servants to the people of our communities. Over the past eight months, legislative committees have held 62 standing committee meetings around the state. At these meetings, committees gathered public input and industry perspectives to draft common sense conservative solutions to the problems we face together. As the presiding officers of our respective...
On March 3, the Wyoming Legislature gaveled out the end of the 67th General Session. The work your elected officials achieved was remarkable. As the leaders of the House and Senate chambers, it is our privilege to report out the accomplishments of this body’s work, which are strengthening the future of Wyoming, starting with strong investments in education. Educating Wyoming’s children is perhaps the single greatest investment our state can make. Public education is the crucible of democracy and the very foundation of our system of government....
With just a couple of weeks left of the Legislative Session, I am happy to report that good, steady work continues at the Capitol. This has been one of the smoother legislative sessions I have been a part of, and we have mostly been able to work out problems without too much hassle. I hope the House and the Senate will keep on finding ways to work together and compromise. If that happens, there is a chance we will get all of our work done early and come home. Updates on a few key bills follow: Budget: The House and Senate agreed on a final...
As the Wyoming Legislature passes the halfway mark, I am taking the time to think about the past month and the remaining weeks ahead. As we started out, we set the stage by focusing on the kitchen table and pocketbook issues that Wyoming people are faced with today. As the Senate President, I set the expectation that the members carry out this good work on behalf of Wyoming folks while showing respect and treating each other well. I am proud of where we stand today. Serving in the Wyoming Senate for over ten years now, I have seen just about ev...
As I report at the end of week four of the 67th General Session of the Wyoming Legislature, the Wyoming Senate is in the middle of third reading debate on SF0001, also known as the supplemental budget bill. Budget debate signals perhaps the Legislature’s most important responsibility: balancing our state’s checkbook and allocating taxpayers’ hard-earned money. Unlike many recent sessions, this year lawmakers start with the fortunate question of how to appropriate a nearly $2 billion surplus. That’s a big change from only two years ago, when ou...
As you may have seen on FOX News and other major media outlets, Wyoming experienced quite a week in the national news spotlight due to a resolution brought forward in the Senate. Senate Joint Resolution SJ0004 Phasing out new electric vehicle sales by 2035 pushes back against bans on new sales of cars with internal combustion engines in states like California and New York. Although it's a bit of a tongue-in-cheek statement – and not an actual ban – I am pleased to see that this resolution struck a chord with the rest of the country. Such ban...
As you may have seen on FOX News and other major media outlets, Wyoming experienced quite a week in the national news spotlight due to a resolution brought forward in the Senate. Senate Joint Resolution SJ0004 Phasing out new electric vehicle sales by 2035 pushes back against bans on new sales of cars with internal combustion engines in states like California and New York. Although it’s a bit of a tongue-in-cheek statement – and not an actual ban – I am pleased to see that this resolution struck a chord with the rest of the country. Such bans...
I am writing this on the Saturday before the primary election on Tuesday. Win or lose, I wanted to thank the voters of Senate District 1, for their support and help through the years. I truly did (do) the best I can to represent their views and wishes. It is a tough job, making many constituents feel hurt, abused and angry. There is almost never a bill that all feel happy about. I truly do not know of a single legislator that I have worked with in my 12 years that didn’t think they were doing the right thing for the State of Wyoming and their c...
As we near the finish line of the 2022 Legislative Budget Session, there is still plenty of work to do as we head into the last week. The legislative session is always busy, particularly in a budget year, but this year we had a few additional topics to work through, including redistricting and allocating the one-time American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) dollars. There were also a slate of committee and individual bills to address the most pressing issues. This week the Senate passed the redistricting bill – HB100. Every ten years, the State is requi...
Its mid-morning Monday and I am racing to meet this week’s paper deadline. We have had a crazy busy two weeks of session – now starting the third week at a run. We are finishing the last of the Senate files this morning. Major bills we have heard to date: • SF 1 Budget of the State of Wyoming – this bill has passed the Senate and House and will go to a conference committee. As a whole the bill went smoothly and I expect that the differences will be worked out easily. It was a frugal budget presented by the Governor and the bodies kept most am...
Every session for the past several years, the Wyoming legislature has endured one push after another for Obamacare Medicaid expansion. For my part, I have held steady against expansion in every debate. My position has brought no end of criticism from the media, certain special interests and many of my less conservative legislative colleagues. Fortunately, a majority of senators have had the courage to stand up against those special interests that are pushing Medicaid expansion on Wyoming. It has not been easy, especially since last year the...
A quick update on the session. I will follow with more in-depth information in future releases. We finished our session on April 7. It has been both a productive session as well as a frustrating one. This portion of the session began with a virtual session early and committee meetings being held virtually prior to this session. That led to a very compact session that was challenging and fast moving. It ended up with a budget being passed by both bodies and signed into law by the Governor. The budget was cut an additional $430 million from the...
We started our virtual session on January 12, gaveling in for a one-day start on the session. Bills were read in and assigned to committees and then we gaveled in with our committees, meeting virtually on January 19,20 and 21. The bills were all interim committee bills. We then reconvened on January 27 to work around 55 bills split between the House and Senate. The session was available either virtually or in person. I have attended both the gaveling in on the 12th and the session from January 21 to February 5 in person in Cheyenne. The senate...
Hello all, just a quick update on the Wyoming Legislature. Now that the dust has settled at least at a state and local level on the elections I felt it was appropriate for an update. There will be lots of new faces when we get to the capitol. Congratulations to all who had the courage to run and took the time to offer up their service to the local area. I was lucky enough to not to have to run for reelection, but did put my hat in the ring for Majority Floor Leader of the Wyoming Senate. I was unanimously elected, making me #2 in Wyoming...
