The recently-ended Wyoming legislative session was less than stellar, according to area Sens. Tim French and R.J. Kost.
Kost said there were three things that made the session difficult. First off was the pandemic and the frustrations people face in dealing with it.
“It was a challenge to make sure the bills we were dealing with weren’t going to put citizens in a bad situation. Like who makes decisions [as in the case of closures or health orders]? Should it be just people in the county?” Kost asked. “Not knowing what situations we could be facing in the future, we had to be very careful with the bills.”
He also said it was difficult to deal with the bills on voter identification because there was so much division on the 2020 presidential election.
Other contentious matters included the budget shortfall the state is facing.
“Knowing we were up against a budget crunch and up against a national and international situation with the environment, it created a real challenge to try and keep our natural resources available, with the rulings and executive orders coming down with no drilling or leases,” Kost said, wondering, “should we try and tax wind [energy production]?”
Perhaps the biggest disappointment from the session was the impasse reached on funding education. “We cut $430 million from general spending but we were not able to meet a consensus on education. That made it difficult, too,” he said.
Kost, who’s now in his third year in the Legislature, said it was one of the more stressful sessions he has been through, just because of those difficulties.
As for French, the freshman said the first difficulty he faced was the format for the session.
“It was hard for a brand new member to split it up, some on Zoom and then 30 days or so live,” he said. “It would have been better if it had been normal, but it wasn’t a normal year.”
Some of French’s disappointments were the failure of a SAPA — Second Amendment Protection Act — and a repeal of gun-free zones that he supported. Both measures died in the House.
French, did not support or agree with a pair of successful bills that redefine how the state treasurer’s office handles investments. The legislation outlines who should or could be part of the state’s investment strategy, but French said that should be part of the treasurer’s job; if the people do not like the treasurer’s investment strategy, French said they can vote the treasurer out and elect one more aligned with their outlook.
He said perhaps the most important bill was HB 173, dealing with school finance. French was disappointed the House defeated the Senate’s bill, followed by the Senate stripping a tax from the House bill, intended to keep the state reserves from dropping below a certain level. It also cut 3% from school funding in an effort to try and help balance the state’s budget.
“We just could not work it out, so it’s status quo,” French said of the funding. “I had hoped we could get something done because we could be looking at a 30% cut in three years, and that would be devastating.”
But both of the Powell area’s Republican senators saw some bright spots during the session as well.
French said he was enthusiastic about passage of a “born alive infant” bill, which demands that, if a child is born alive following an abortion attempt, the same care must be given to that infant as any other. Another bill French signed on to adds a second count of murder if someone kills a pregnant woman and her unborn child. French also supported — as did Kost and most of the Senate — a bill that requires voters to present a form of identification before casting their ballots in-person.
Kost had some bills he was pleased to see pass as well.
Some were those allowing physicians’ assistants, optometrists and athletic trainers to do a few more simple procedures or increase the level of care they provide. Another allows teachers to be more flexible in how they spend time with their pupils, whether virtual or in-person, or even in work study, while not decreasing the amount of time required in instruction. Kost was delighted to extend the Hathaway credit to middle school students.
Kost also championed use of federal funds to help residents who want to open small meat processing plants.
“Wyoming has great meat. This is a way to get it to more people around the state and capture processing that is leaving the state,” he said. There is also a facet that assists those who want to donate animals to school districts. The state will match a share of the processing costs paid by the districts or donors.
“This is better protein and better food for students at a better price,” Kost said. Another agricultural bill he endorsed allows residents to sell eggs at farmers’ markets with fewer hoops to jump through.
Both legislators said they intend to go to Cheyenne for the summer special session, although Kost has some reservations.
“I’ll go, depending on what others do,” he said. He could not justify spending the money to travel if everyone else intended to go virtually.
French said he was planning on going in person. The session is intended to work out how to allocate the federal funds coming to the state.
“We only have an estimate of how much we’re getting and we won’t know what strings, rules and regulations there are. By then [July] we’ll know what can and cannot be done with it,” French said. “We don’t know all the fine print yet.”
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April 15, 2021 at 09:20PM
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Senators describe legislative session as dissappointing, difficult - Powell Tribune
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