JANUARY 16, 2025|
Photo – Governor Mark Gordon – Bigfoot99 file photo
Governor Mark Gordon addressed both houses of the 68th Wyoming State Legislature on Wednesday in the traditional State of the State address as he championed a $692-million-dollar budget request. The governor asked the lawmakers not to be “cheap” or “short-sighted” as they consider his proposal to fund state government.
Governor Gordon defended his proposal, saying that it recommends only essential ongoing or unexpected expenses. It also requests one-time expenses to restore 850,000 acres of lands burned in lasts summer’s slew of fires—more than 2,000 of them– across northern and western Wyoming.
Gordon described his budget proposal as “solid and balanced”.
The governor said Wyoming is poised to bounce back from the economic impacts of the Biden Administration, which was ideologically opposed to traditional energy sources like oil and gas.
The governor said it will take time to “unring the Biden bell,” but incoming President Donald Trump, who takes office next week offered Wyoming his full support when the pair met last week in Maro-lago.
Among his budget requests, Governor Gordon is requesting $7 million in inflation-connected expenses, $3.5 million to expand Wyoming’s coal litigation fund to underwrite ongoing lawsuits, and $20 million for the mineral royalty grant program to assist local communities.
Governor Gordon also requested $10.5 million to further expand the state’s property tax refund program.
In ending his address, the governor recalled the words of Wyoming’s famed historian—T.A. Larson.
