State faces difficult session

A Green River legislator expects a difficult budget session in February.

Rep. Stan Blake, D-Green River, said budgetary problems the state is reacting to will make the session more difficult, as legislators for the past 10 years have worked with budgetary surpluses.

“There will be people who don’t want to touch the ‘rainy day’ fund and do cuts,” Blake said.

Budgetary shortfalls are being anticipated throughout the state as funds in mineral production, mostly in the oil and gas industries, has dropped off. Sweetwater County currently anticipates a $6 million shortfall for the 2016-2017 budget year, while the state anticipates a $160 million shortfall in the current biennium.

While Blake isn’t dismissing the idea that some departments should take budget cuts, he does draw the line at cuts for human services, such as those for seniors, disabled and children.

“When you start cutting programs, people below the poverty line get hurt,” Blake said.

However, Blake says one of the larger problems the legislature has is the amount of money it places into savings accounts like the so-called “rainy day account,” officially called the Legislative Stabilization Reserve Account, which had a balance of $1.8 billion in March. While discussion increases about a potential use for the LSRA, some Democrats are calling for better savings policies that don’t automatically dump funds into various accounts.

Citing a Casper Star-Tribune column written by Rep. Cathy Connolly, D-Laramie, Blake said any surplus funds collected by the state are immediately placed into savings accounts like the LSRA and the Permanent Mineral Trust Fund, which is the largest fund the state has at approximately $7 billion. The surpluses don’t get applied to budgetary deficits, which has resulted in a hiring freeze and discussion of budget cuts.

“We used to be flush with money,” Blake said. “Now we’ll have to go through these agencies.”

One of Wyoming’s key priorities right now is finding customers for Wyoming coal.

Blake recently attended a tour of two ports capable of shipping coal to China, a country Blake says is very interested in Wyoming coal.

He said the country would mix the coal with coal mined from Indonesia and Australia to reduce emissions as Wyoming’s coal has lower sulfur content than other varieties.

“We want to ship that coal,” Blake said.

However, that idea isn’t without its opponents. Blake said those opposed to transporting coal from Wyoming to China, such as environmental groups in Washington state, claim coal dust could pollute land and waterways near the ports used for exportation.