Dollars will drive 2007 session, legislators say
JOAN BARRON Star-Tribune capital bureau | Posted: Sunday, January 7, 2007 12:00 am
CHEYENNE - Dollars will drive the 2007 legislative session and will force legislators to prioritize spending on roads, other infrastructure, health care, child care, local government aid and the community colleges.
Key legislators say the general session that opens Tuesday for a maximum of 40 days will be just another budget session, but longer.
Senate President John Schiffer, R-Kaycee, and other legislators generally agree that the money issues will include the debate over the amount of savings to be invested in the Permanent Mineral Trust Fund, but at a lower decibel level than last winter.
The Legislature last winter allocated $200 million to be deposited into the trust fund, the state's primary savings account, in two payments this year and a third on June 30, 2008.
Schiffer said the Senate in general has never been married to setting aside the a set dollar number for deposit in the trust fund.
But while spending on roads and other infrastructure needs, such as water and sewer lines for affordable housing, is tops on the legislative list, Jodale Russell has a different set of priorities.
"I really don't think the roads in the state of Wyoming are that bad," Russell said Thursday.
She wants the legislators to make permanent the sales tax exemption on groceries.
Russell, who farms and ranches between Wheatland and Chugwater, also would like to see money invested in restoration of historic sites such as the old Swan Land and Cattle Co. property at Chugwater through local historical societies.
Elonore Walker of Casper, a member of the Wyoming League of Women Voters, has five priorities, "and it's hard to rank one above the other," she said Thursday.
Unlike Russell, Walker puts funding road improvements on her list.
It also includes raising the minimum wage; laws to protect the environment while accommodating energy development; affordable housing; and a definite framework to attract permanent businesses.
"We hope they will listen to some of these," Walker said.
In addition to savings, Schiffer said, the Legislature has taken care of some of the needs in the state's operating budget for salaries and services.
"Those are pretty easy things to do. The hard part is to say, 'What do you need today to make sure that 10 or 15 years from now Wyoming is an attractive place to work and live?'" Schiffer said.
A possible 'sleeper'
Many sessions have a "sleeper bill," one that gets little attention in the beginning but manages to stir up a tempest before the end.
Schiffer said this session's sleeper could be a bill to exempt the state from daylight-saving time.
He said he has heard primarily from businesses involved in interstate commerce, including the mineral industry and tourism.
"They want to stay in step with the Rocky Mountain region," he said.
Schiffer said he told the opponents he believes the bill, sponsored by Sen. Stan Cooper, R-Kemmerer, will be heard in the Senate.
Revenue concerns
It's also possible the Legislature will need to make revenue adjustments at the start of the session because of lagging natural gas prices, Schiffer said.
A new report by the Consensus Revenue Estimating Group, a group of financial experts from the executive and legislative branches, is expected to be released sometime this week.
"The money is the big thing," said new House Speaker Roy Cohee, R-Casper.
"Any time we have excess revenues, there is always an ample group of folks out there that, if they can, provide some justification for a portion of it."
A contentious issue, Cohee said, is proposed changes to the state's eminent domain laws. Changes are being opposed by industry and supported by private property owners.
The University of Wyoming, meanwhile, is looking for money for salary increases; preplanning costs for a new College of Business building; and for phase one of a parking garage, Cohee said.
Also, the community colleges want money for capital construction and salary increases. Legislators will weigh various schemes to increase money to cities, towns and counties, Cohee said.
He said he believes the prevailing mentality in much of the Legislature is to save some of the mineral wealth money.
Cohee expects substantial interest in a bill to increase the fuel tax by a nickel, to be offset by a reduction in motor vehicle fees, and on several ways to make permanent the sales tax exemption on groceries and compensate local governments for the lost sales tax dollars.
Cohee said the grocery tax exemption, which currently is set to expire on June 30, 2008, would not even have been discussed eight or nine years ago when the state was nearly broke.
Now, with a budget surplus, he said, the idea is more popular, but there still will be a philosophical discussion on how to cover the lost revenue when the mineral wealth disappears.
As for the state paying for sewer and water lines for housing developments, Cohee said the idea has some "sticking points," namely regarding who owns the land and if someone could buy the house, keep it two or three years, then sell at a profit.
"There will be a big discussion over highway financing," Cohee predicted.
Pressure for dollars
New House Majority Floor Leader Colin Simpson, R-Cody, said the increase in the number of bills introduced by individuals and select committees along with task force recommendations in the last three or four years is changing the face of the Legislature by putting a lot of pressure on the staff.
Because these bills include money requests, the effect is to make every session look like a budget session, Simpson said.
"And dollars certainly bring out people's ideas, too," he added.
Budget sessions and general sessions alternate from year to year.
Simpson said he doesn't expect much of a push to add more dollars to the Permanent Mineral Trust Fund, given that nearly $350 million a year is going in that fund now.
"The wild card out there is the potential ruling by the Wyoming Supreme Court on school finance and specifically on school capital construction," Simpson said.
The Supreme Court has heard arguments in the case, but it is unknown when an opinion will be forthcoming.
Senate Minority Leader Ken Decaria, D-Evanston, said there remains much to be done in infrastructure for highways, local governments, and state and school buildings.
"To me, it always made sense to have a rational mix of those. And some of the money people would put in the Permanent Mineral Trust Fund, I always felt, could be invested in infrastructure, because it would be cheaper to build now than in the future," Decaria said.
"Once you put it in, you take if off the table," he said of the money that is deposited in the trust fund.
Decaria said the time has come for the Legislature to talk about long-term health care, given the state's aging population.
Decaria said he felt the battle over tort reform - limiting punitive damages in medical malpractice lawsuits - was so emotionally draining that many legislators shy away from discussing health care issues today.
Saying 'no'
Rep. Kermit Brown, R-Laramie, said the state doesn't have as much money as some people think. He said the amount the Department of Transportation needs for highways could more than eat up the current surplus, as could demands for water projects, and the millions requested for health and social services issues such as mental health care, long-term health care and quality child care.
"I see us saying 'no' a lot," Brown said.
"We need to get more money to cities, towns counties, water and highways. People have different ideas on how to do that," said Rodney "Pete" Anderson, R-Pine Bluffs, chairman of the House Revenue Committee.
"We'll be doing our usual dance with the Appropriations Committee," said Sen. Bill Vasey, D-Rawlins.
Vasey predicted the House and Senate will add back some of the cuts the Joint Appropriations Committee made in Gov. Dave Freudenthal's budget.
Sen. Tony Ross, R-Cheyenne, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, agrees with Simpson on the proliferation of task forces and select committees that result in bills this session with substantial price tags of $25 million to $30 million each.
"My hope is that we do some of this stuff, but I don't think we can do it all," Ross said.
His focus, he said, will be spending money on infrastructure and one-time spending on projects.
Capital bureau reporter Joan Barron can be reached at (307) 632-1244 or at joan.barron@casperstartribune.net.