Greear gears up for 2017 legislative session
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CHEYENNE – With the 2017 Wyoming Legislative Session starting Jan. 10, area representatives are preparing to return to the Capitol to attend to the budget restraints currently gripping the state. For Representative Mike Greear (R-Worland, District 27), the new session means a chairmanship on the Minerals, Business and Economic Development Committee, and a renewed look at further budget cuts.
“The supplemental budget has already been presented and the governor’s budget requires no additional cuts, but a couple of agencies are heading for some cuts this session,“ said Greear. “Some agencies like the Department of Health have already taken drastic cuts, but there will definitely be up to $60 million left to cut somewhere.”
The Joint Appropriations Committee (JAC) met after Governor Matt Mead’s Oct. 24, 2016, press conference to discuss the latest update from the Consensus Revenue Estimating Group (CREG). The CREG’s October report is a projection of state revenues used to help shape the state budget.
The report shows a General Fund shortfall of approximately $156 million for the remainder of the 2017/2018 biennium. However, $104 million of that is due to a statutory requirement to refill a savings account leaving $52 million as the more accurate figure for the shortfall. Governor Mead reiterated he will not submit further budget reductions prior to the 2017 legislative session and he asked the Legislature to create guidelines for using the Legislative Stabilization Reserve Account, also known as the Rainy Day Fund.
“The fact of the matter, right now, is we can’t spend what we don’t have,” said Greear. “Our biggest goal is to keep education funded, and to maintain the major maintenance funds [for schools]. New facilities, [like the school planned for Ten Sleep] have been pushed down the list and will have to wait for better times.”
Greear pointed out that the bulk of improvement funding for schools would go to Laramie and Teton counties, where student overpopulation is necessitating the need for larger facilities. “As the state goes through a down time, the two outliers are always going to be Teton and Laramie counties,” said Greear. “They just have different economies.”
On the bright side, Greear believes the new administration in Washington, D.C., will help Wyoming pull out of a rut. “Commodities prices are bound to go back up eventually, and if we can refurbish and rebuild our coal infrastructure and start selling clean coal to Asia, then we can recover with some substantial impact.”
After the governor’s State of the State address next Wednesday, Greear hopes the outline will be a bit clearer. “We have to get through the training of the new legislators first, then we can take a look at the bills on Jan. 13. We’ll know where to go from there.”
