A Call For Special Session Of Wyoming Legislature Failed

April 2, 2024 |

Photo – Capitol building in Cheyenne – Bigfoot99 file photo

A call for a special session of the Wyoming Legislature failed over the weekend. A vote to call a special session to override some of the governor’s vetoes of legislation passed during the 2024 session, failed in the House on a 53-40 vote.

The Wyoming senate narrowly passed call for a special session on a 16-15 vote. The Legislative Service Office reported the final results Sunday evening.

The presiding officers of the Wyoming Legislature, Senate President Ogden Driskell and House Speaker Alber Sommers, stood opposed to the special session.  Driskell and Sommers were officially no votes.

Governor Mark Gordon’s veto of Senate File 54 was the trigger point for a call of the special session. SF54 would have applied a 25% exemption to the first $2 million of a home’s fair market value, providing property owners much needed financial relief in a time of rising mortgage rates. The legislation passed by overwhelming margins in both houses—61-1 in the House on March 7^th, and 29-2 in the Senate on February 27^th.

The governor vetoed the bill on March 22^nd. In a letter to the Secretary of State on March 21 explaining his veto, Governor Gordon called for a more equitable tax bill that would provide relief for all property owners. The governor said, “This bill would have provided a temporary and very expensive tax exemption to all Wyoming homeowners at the expense of other taxpayers in our energy industries, retail and manufacturing sectors. Universal property tax ought to be universal, not simply advantage property owners at the expense of other taxpayers.”

In his letter explaining the veto, the governor states that voters will have an opportunity to amend Wyoming’s Constitution later this year to create a new classification for residential properties that would allow the legislature to a better way provide tax relief.

Meanwhile, state lawmakers were back at work on Monday discussing the topics to be covered by committees during the upcoming interim session.