February 27, 2023 |
Down to the final week of lawmaking, it’s crunch time at the Wyoming Legislature. The Joint Revenue Committee spent the weekend weighing the 21 vetoes the governor made to the supplemental budget bill.
Governor Mark Gordon explained the vetoes in a letter to House Speaker, Albert Sommers, in a nine page letter on Friday. The governor generally applauded the budget passed by the legislature, saying his vetoes represent “honest disagreements” over details, mostly the separation of duties between the legislative and executive branch. The governor said the budget attempts to legislate through spending footnotes that provide specific directions to state agencies over how and when to fill positions.
The supplemental budget, which outlines the appropriations for operating state government from July 1 of last year through June 30, 2024, authorizes 17 new full-time positions while placing over $1 billion into permanent savings.
“This is a good budget,” Governor Gordon said in his letter Friday to the House Speaker.
The governor praised the legislature for striking a balance between setting aside money for the future while addressing immediate needs. The governor noted that for every dollar of state revenue spent, the supplemental budget saves $3.50.
In addressing immediate needs, the governor pointed to the legislature working to provide property tax relief and for making market adjustments in compensation for state workers and teachers.
The governor also applauded the legislature for transferring $750 million from the Legislative Stabilization Reserve Account, also known as the Rainy Day Fund, to various permanent accounts where the money can’t be spent. The governor noted that the legislature had salted away more money into permanent savings than his $600 million recommendation. The governor also applauded the legislature for passing the budget in record time.
The joint revenue committee is reviewing the vetoes to see which ones, if any, they want to fight this week during floor sessions in each chamber.
The 2023 general legislation session must adjourn by midnight on Friday, March 3.
In a second sweeping veto Friday, Governor Mark Gordon struck down Senate File 71, Enrolled Act 38 because of provisions in the farm loan program. Governor Gordon called the loan program as designed “socialist” in nature and out of synch in a “capitalist state in a capitalist nation.”
Senate File 71 set the interest rate for farm loans equal to the yield on a U.S. Treasury Security but not less than 3%.
Governor Gordon, in a letter to Senate President Ogden Driskill, noted that the low interest rate would put the state in competition with banks. The governor noted that the program was created to help farms and ranches when high interest rates set by the Fed threaten the viability of agriculture.
The governor applauded the bill for reducing the amount of funding available for state farm loans from $275 million to $50 million. The $225 million could be diverted to diverted from low-performing assets to investments that produce a better return, the governor said in his letter to the senate president.
The governor said while he supports the notions of the bill, he noted that the loan program smacked of “politically directed cheap money.”
