Every Wyoming legislative session contains fireworks, and this year was no exception. Lawmakers added to the drama this go around by saving the pyrotechnics for the very last day, grand finale style, when House and Senate negotiators let the gavel...

In the last four years the federal government has both cut government revenue and dramatically increased spending. It’s an unsettling combination, the precise long-term results of which will be debated by economists like myself until the cows come...

The $1.9 trillion stimulus plan’s full implications for Wyoming are too numerous and nuanced to know yet, but the import of one facet is already clear: The roughly $1.3 billion it provides Wyoming’s state, county and local governments will go a...

Not all tax bills are created equal. Some increase the amount of money flowing into the state’s coffers with new taxes, higher rates or repealed exemptions. Others, however, reduce the state’s income with new exemptions and credits or lower...

Some hefty matters await Wyoming lawmakers when they reconvene March 1 for the final stage of this most unconventional 2021 legislative session. The supplemental budget bill looms large, and with good reason: The state is in the midst of a historic...

By now, even casual observers recognize that Wyoming’s near single-minded reliance on mineral revenues leaves the state vulnerable to wild swings of boom-and-bust volatility and makes funding the basic functions of government a dicey proposition...

Well-considered comments and e-mails following the discussion of Wyoming’s excess tax capacity, and the one-page legislative document that measured it, differed widely and reflected all of the various political positions one might expect. But a...

The legislature’s budget and fiscal staff recently prepared a very novel one-page document that merits the attention of every Wyoming lawmaker and citizen. “Wyoming Estimated Tax Capacity” asks and answers a seemingly simple question: How much...

Wyoming’s fiscal situation has grown very stormy in 2020. The state has already administered a 10% cut across all agencies, followed by another $500 million this fall, with possibly more to come. It now looks like we’ll have to reduce the two-yea...

The Legislature’s Select Committee on School Finance Recalibration rarely makes headlines. Its meetings are lengthy, the subject matter is complex and tangible results are slow-developing. The vast majority of time during early committee meetings...

The COVID-19 CARES Act is so involved, complex and voluminous that — just as the speaker of the U.S. House famously said of another bill a few years ago — Congress may have had to pass it to see what all was in it. The relief package is broadly...

If there was anyone left in Wyoming who hadn’t yet gotten the memo, lawmaker activity during current legislative session has made it abundantly clear: The state needs to find some funding solutions. Toward that end, lawmakers have considered bills...

Some pieces of legislation receive far less attention than they deserve. House Bill 171 – Wyoming gaming commission, sponsored by the travel committee, looks to be one such under-the-radar measure this session. Early legislative comments focused...

So many bills, so little time. Most veteran lawmakers would agree that the condensed 20-day budget sessions — like the one Wyoming’s 65th Legislature enters into this week — are much more demanding and stressful than the 40-day general...

If you’ve been wondering why there’s been so much talk of budget negotiations in the Legislature this year — a supposedly non-budget year — you’re not alone. During my 12 years of service in the House, I sensed that the most difficult...

The pursuit of a sensible public policy for wind power in Wyoming has become an unsettled, decade-long saga. Most other states in the region have already figured out how to appropriately regulate and tax wind resources, but it seems Wyoming...