Wyoming has a budget for the next two years! After weeks of divisive lead up, how did we get here? Plus, the House issues its report on an activist handing out campaign checks on the House floor. WyoFile's Maggie Mullen and Wyoming Public Radio's Chris Clements break down the penultimate week of the budget session.
Maggie Mullen: This is the Cheyenne Roundup, a weekly look at Wyoming's legislative session, from Wyoming Public Radio and WyoFile.
Chris Clements: I'm Chris Clements with Wyoming Public Radio.
MM: And I'm Maggie Mullen with WyoFile. We're here in Cheyenne on Friday, March 6, at about 9 in the morning. Keep in mind, things may have changed by the time you hear this.
CC: And Maggie, we have a budget.
MM: Who knew it'd happen so fast? We spent the whole episode last week discussing this roughly $170 million difference between the House and the Senate's versions of the budget for the next two years.
CC: Some lawmakers described the gap as a philosophical rift.
MM: So we were gearing up for a very dramatic finale of the negotiating committee. But then, the lawmakers appointed to that committee came to an agreement very quickly in a sort of anti-climactic fashion.
CC: By Monday, the House and Senate approved the budget. This week, they also heard the House's final report on Checkgate. And there's a lot of other bills in the mix. But let's get into where budget items landed.
MM: Starting with the programs that survived.
In: the University of Wyoming (UW). It's just about fully funded for the next two years.
Also in: Wyoming Public Media. Its funding is back, so we can do Cheyenne Roundup again next year.
CC: Before we think about next year, I need to get through today, Maggie. But it's a nice thought. Back to budget items.
In, big-time: state employee salaries. The lawmakers who drafted an initial version of the budget on the Joint Appropriations Committee (JAC) cut pay increases for most employees except snow plow drivers and certain nurses. But a Democratic representative put an amendment forward to bring pay increases back for all state workers. It passed.
MM: In: the Wyoming Department of Health, which is interesting, considering a special committee was formed over the off-season for the sole purpose of scrutinizing the health department. That committee was aligned with the Freedom Caucus' call to "DOGE" Wyoming's budget.
Some lawmakers pushed back, warning the state has a constitutional obligation to care for those who cannot care for themselves, and not doing so could land the state in court.
That's all to say, we went into the session thinking the Department of Health would be at the center of a budget showdown.
CC: And, what happened?
MM: Well, if you include the Rural Health Transformation Program funding in some back of the napkin math, the department got more funding than it asked for in its request to the JAC. Part of that also has to do with lawmakers' decision to boost funding for a program that supports individuals living with intellectual or development disabilities, and certain adults with an acquired brain injury.
CC: Here's something that's not in but also not fully out: the Wyoming Business Council. That's the state's primary economic development agency. Its budget was cut in half.
MM: That leaves us with what is out: That includes SUN Bucks. This summer food program for kids, which would have cost the state around $1.8 million, was something the governor called upon lawmakers to fund during this State of the State address.
Mark Gordon: What kind of people are we if we won't feed our kids?
MM: The Senate included it in its budget, but not the Freedom Caucus-controlled House. So Wyoming will remain one of a dozen states that doesn't participate in this federal program to fill the gap for low-income kids who get school lunch during the school year.
CC: Last week, we took our crystal ball out from its mahogany case, lit a few candles, dimmed the lights and presaged that sticking points during budget talks would be social safety net programs, UW and the Wyoming Business Council. Clearly, our clairvoyance was clouded. So, what happened? How did they get to that agreement so fast?
MM: In a lot of ways, the House basically gave into the Senate's position, which was a bigger budget more closely aligned to what the governor had originally proposed.
CC: Just to say, the House, where the majority is Freedom Caucus lawmakers and their allies, wanted to stick more closely to the stripped down version the Joint Appropriations Committee had forwarded them.
MM: We started at $11 billion with the governor's recommendation. Joint Appropriations brought it down to $9 [billion]. The House stuck with $9 [billion]. The Senate pushed up to $10 [billion]. And the final budget that the governor signed, landed Thursday night, around 9:30. We'll bring you the final number next week. He was pleased about state employee raises and funding for developmental pre-schools.
CC: But he had some line-item vetoes, mostly focused on "protecting the constitutional balance of powers." Put another way, Gordon is asking lawmakers to back off and let state agencies do their jobs.
MM: Yes, and he specifically pushed back on demands put on UW and the business council. In his veto letter, he was also disappointed not to see funding for SUN Bucks, but he can't add money back in. His vetoes can only take stuff out.
CC: Remember, we're recording this Friday morning and the Legislature may try to override those vetoes later today. Check our websites [wyomingpublicmedia.org and wyofile.com] for the latest or tune in next week for a recap of what happened.
MM: Alright, so let's dive into how the Senate and the House agreed on the budget they sent to the governor.
CC: Sounds good. My coworker, reporter Jordan Uplinger, spent a lot of time this week chasing down lawmakers and darkening doorways to find out how we got to a unified budget.
Mike Gierau: You wanna know the truth of the matter? I think that we had very little to do with it.
CC: That's Sen. Mike Gierau, a Democrat from Jackson. He says the public made a lot of phone calls.
MG: And they let us know that we were mad. And I think what happened today [March 2] was a testament to the people of Wyoming engaging in the process, calling their legislators, telling them: I don't want this.
CC: Republican Sen. Ogden Driskill of Devils Tower had a similar take.
Ogden Driskill: Across the board, the public showed up and they said, Look. We want our services. We're not in a time of dire need.
CC: Jordan also talked to Rep. John Bear of Gillette, one of the House's main appropriators and the former chair of the Freedom Caucus. Bear said he had just as many people on the other side saying:
John Bear: Make some changes. The status quo is not acceptable.
CC: Bear told Jordan that when it came down to the numbers, he believes his caucus might not have "held the line" on slowing government growth and spending, but they nonetheless managed to move the needle on their goal to bring state spending back to pre-pandemic levels.
JB: We [the House] got a better position on Wyoming Business Council. And they [the Senate] got a better position on the — it's kind of a compromise on the university.
MM: So constituents contacting their representatives and senators seems to have had some kind of impact. How did we get from those phone calls to the agreement?
CC: That's a great question. Lawmakers told Jordan it was a lot of hallway chats and a private House caucus meeting, where members of the negotiating committee basically took the temperature of the room. According to Rep. Trey Sherwood, a Democrat from Laramie, the business council and UW became primary points of conversation inside that House caucus.
Trey Sherwood: I felt that it was truly to get the consensus of the body on, are we comfortable letting this position go to the Senate? And if not, I felt like the JCC [Joint Conference Committee] was ready to go back and renegotiate.
MM: Across the board with the budget and bills, one negotiating tool lawmakers use is to not do anything now, and instead talk about it more during the interim.
CC: They're talking about interim topics right now, so we'll see what makes the list.
Last week, we mentioned that Thursday was an important deadline for bills to clear final votes in order to make it to the governor's desk. And we have some updates there.
MM: First up, let's talk about Senate File 110, "Residential Property Tax Revisions." Chris, you and I were listening in from the House lobby when that bill died by a single vote on third reading. We haven't seen that many close votes this session.
CC: No, we haven't. That was a sweeping property tax reform bill. We've seen the Legislature try and pass a number of property tax cuts in recent sessions, which has left local governments — which depend on that revenue — to try and figure out how to make up the difference.
MM: Meanwhile, the heartbeat bill is headed to the governor's desk. The bill prohibits abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detectable. That can happen as early as six weeks with a transvaginal ultrasound. Opponents call this a de facto ban because women don't often know they're pregnant that early.
CC: Another bill that lived and has passed both chambers would require county clerks in Wyoming to hand count about 5% of all the ballots cast in their county during this year's upcoming elections. Then, county clerks would need to compare the results of the hand count to the results of the county's electronic voting equipment.
MM: As far as when the Legislature is expected to end, that's slated for Wednesday. However, after Friday, lawmakers will recess Monday and Tuesday, and then come back for one last day Wednesday. That way, they'll have the chance to override any vetoes from the governor.
CC: Finally, the House's investigative committee released its report about what happened with this incident involving hand-delivered checks on the floor.
MM: That committee held a public hearing that we talked about last week. The hearing started the clock on the deadline to release a report.
CC: And this week, that report became public. The committee put much of the blame on Rebecca Bextel, the Teton County conservative fundraiser who passed out checks to House lawmakers earlier in the session. Committee Chairman Rep. Art Washut of Casper read from the report.
Art Washut: Were it not for the actions of Rebecca Bextel on the House floor, the subsequent disruptions of the House calendar and public uproar would not have occurred.
CC: The committee determined the checks incident didn't constitute bribery or legislative misconduct, but called it "undesirable." But some, like Rep. Tony Locke of Casper, said the bad optics of the exchange wasn't the distribution of checks.
Tony Locke: Bad optics are when we take pictures and send out unverified accusations out into the media.
CC: That was an apparent reference to Reps. Karlee Provenza and Mike Yin, two Democrats who made the incident public.
Yin pushed back that he or Provenza did anything wrong, citing his First Amendment rights.
Mike Yin: That's what we are allowed to do.
CC: He mentioned that people saying he and Provenza should've relied on an internal, private process for bringing complaints forward were missing the bigger picture laid out in what's known as Joint Rule 22-1.
MY: 22-1 very specifically says there is nothing that prohibits us from doing our legislative business outside of that ethics complaint rule.
MM: Meanwhile, the Laramie County Sheriff's Office investigation is ongoing.
CC: We'll be back with one more episode to wrap up the 2026 legislative session. Jordan Uplinger will be taking the hotseat for me. Maggie, it's been an honor and a privilege to haunt the hallways of the Legislature along with you and the rest of the Capitol press corps.
Here's a random, parting thought for you: The Wyoming Capitol needs a cafe. Or at least an espresso machine. Or a Keurig. Anyways, that's all, folks.
Maggie: You've got my vote, Chris.
Thanks for listening to the Cheyenne Roundup, your weekly look at what lawmakers are up to from Wyoming Public Radio and WyoFile.
CC: Make sure to like this episode and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
MM: Editing and producing by Nicky Ouellet, Anna Rader, Jordan Uplinger and Tennessee Watson.
CC: Follow our ongoing legislative coverage at wyomingpublicmedia.org and wyofile.com. Thanks for listening.
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