Showing posts with label 2025 Wyoming Legislative Session. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2025 Wyoming Legislative Session. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 19, 2024

The 2025 Wyoming Legislative Session, Part 1. And we've already started. . .

 


April 4, 2024

Eh?  2025?  Didn't the 2024 session just wrap up?

Yes, yes it did, and:

Lawmakers begin work on new bills after voting against special session

It seems like we're getting closer and closer to a full-time legislature, which is a bit scary.

June 18, 2024

From: Subsidiarity Economics 2024. The times more or less locally, Part 3. The Decarbonizing the West and Electronic eartags Edition.

Related to this, and acknowledging that electric vehicles are coming, a draft bill for the 2025 legislature proposes to tax electric vehicle charging.  While that sounds punitive, the thought it that it will make up for lost gasoline taxes used for roads.  The introductory part of that bill:

September 24, 2024

The final makeup of the 2025 legislature isn't known yet, but as some other things posted today demonstrate, its fairly likely, although not certain, that the Wyoming Freedom Caucus, a populist (not conservatives) entity that's really a political party in its own right, will control the House.

If this comes to pass, it'll make for a massively contentious legislative session. The populist have already been extremely disruptive in the legislature, and now they'll be expected to advance their agenda, which in some instances are actually completely unworkable.  Should their views on taxation advance, for instance, it'll bankrupt local governments and reduce Wyoming to an overall sort of Appalachia in terms of government services.

Additionally, the hypocrisy of Wyoming positions on the Federal government will rapidly come to the forefront.  Can we really give the US government the middle finger, while accepting highway and disaster money?

Are we going to fight wildlands fires on our own?

Indeed, the Wyoming Freedom Caucus may be the biggest  gift to the Wyoming Democratic Party imaginable.

In the meantime, it's the outgoing legislature, not the incoming one, that's working on bills for the 2025 session.  These are the ones being considered right now.

Appropriations

Select Committee on Blockchain, Financial Technology and Digital Innovation Technology

Corporations, Elections & Political Subdivisions

Minerals, Business & Economic Development

October 4, 2024.


November 17, 2024

Small coal fired power plants? 

Seriously?

November 19, 2025

Making driver's licenses busier:



Wednesday, September 25, 2024

The Wyoming Freedom Caucus and the 2025 and 2026 Legislatures. Some things to keep in mind.

 The 2025 Legislature is a general session, not a budget session The budget won't be considered.  Only conventional legislation will be.

The bills that make it to the committees after November 4 are those, to a fairly significant degree, that are being advanced now. That means that a full bore populist agenda won't be considered in 2025.  A partial one will be, but the populist party that claims to be conservative, but which isn't, and which claims to be Republican, but which isn't really, by traditional standards, won't be calling all the tunes.

That leaves it ample room to be disruptive and to complain, which it excels at.  The problem is, for it, is that people will conceive of it as being "in power".  It won't pass all of its agenda, maybe any of iit, and will have to explain why it couldn't.

The Senate and the Governor will be who it blames.

The 2026 legislature will be a budget session, and that's where the rubber will really meet the road.  At least in the past, WFC members have backed wiping out property taxes (a moronic idea) and cutting the state's budget by 30% (another moronic idea).

That would wipe out much of the funding for education and decimate the primary schools, the University of Wyoming and the community colleges, some of which I'd guess will not survive.  When UW starts to teeter, which it'll start too soon, second glances will really commence.

"What do you mean that we're going to Division l700 F in football?"

What'll also start to be impaired is all the emergency funding and the highway funding.  We'll rely, ironically, very heavily on the Federal Government for that which, if it takes notice, may very well require the state to get its tax act together.  

Frankly, it'll be a disaster for the state.

I'd like to be more optimistic about 2026, but I really can't.  The Freedom Caucus won't get everything it wants, but it'll damage things enormously.  Maybe enough that the intellectual poverty of much of its positions will become exposed and we can hope for a better 2026 set of results.

Monday, September 9, 2024

Something for Wyoming populists to consider.

Last week Governor Gordon asked the Federal Government for emergency funds due to the recent fires.

In today's Trib we learn that Park County, Lincoln County, Rock Springs, Carbon County, Albany County, Converse County and the city of Sheridan are sharing $3M in Federal grants for safer streets.

Nearly every sizable community receives Federal grants for Emergency Services.

Harriet Hageman, in the primary, noted the money she'd "brought back" to Wyoming, which was a neutral way of saying the money she'd brought in. The state brings in more money than it sends to the Federal government.

So, with populists about to take over the state House, maybe, it'll be interesting to see how they approach this.  With Federal money comes Federal influence. Will they eschew it, ignore it, or migrate towards the middle?