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January 23, 2007Day 11 – Tuesday INDEX OF BILLS COVERED IN TODAY’S REPORT HB 34: Jury Duty Pay TODAY’S ACTION ON BILLS HB 34: Jury Duty Pay HB 34 would increase the amount jurors would be paid from the current $30 per day to $40 per day. It was estimated this would cost an additional $20,000 to $30,000 per year in state court costs. Local court costs were not estimated. The House amended HB 34 to raise juror’s pay to $50 per day, and then passed the bill, 59-1. Representative Frank Philp (R-H34, Shoshoni) cast the single NO vote. The bill will now move to the Senate. HB 52: Game and Fish – License
Revenue Recoupment HB 52 would create a license revenue recoupment program, under which the Wyoming Game and Fish Department would be reimbursed from the general fund for license revenue lost as a result of statutorily designated free and reduced priced hunting and fishing licenses. The House Committee of the Whole passed HB 52 on Tuesday, and the bill will move on to second reading on Wednesday. HB 58: State Employee Longevity Pay HB 58 would permanently increase longevity pay for state employees from $30 per month to $40 per month for every five years of service. In the 2006 Budget Session, the Legislature passed an amendment to the budget bill that temporarily increased longevity pay to $40 per month, but that will revert to the $30 level at the end of the current two-year budget cycle (July 2008). The House passed HB 58, 58-1 (1 excused). Representative Frank Philp (R-H34, Shoshoni) cast the single NO vote. The bill will now move to the Senate. HB 62: Natural Resource Large Project Funding HB 62 would authorize funding for two large projects under the Wildlife and Natural Resource Funding Act that have been approved by the board of the trust fund. The Bates Creek Watershed Restoration project would receive $200,000 and the Lander Front mule deer project would receive $230,000. The House Committee of the Whole passed HB 62, and the bill will move on to second reading on Wednesday. HB 85: Game and Fish - Funding HB 85 would provide a one-year appropriation of $5.66 million from the general fund to the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, to be used for specified programs that benefit Wyoming citizens in general, regardless of whether they hunt or fish. The programs on which the general fund money could be spent would include sensitive species programs (including terrestrial and aquatic native nongame species and trophy game conflict resolution); habitat programs; conservation education programs; sage grouse planning and protection; and veterinary programs (including brucellosis, chronic wasting disease and other disease management programs). The House Committee of the Whole accepted the Appropriations Committee amendment to reduce the bill’s appropriation to $2.8 million, and then passed the bill. It will move on to second reading on Wednesday. HB 93: Sales Tax
on Food – Permanent
Exemption 2 HB 93 would permanently exempt groceries from sales taxation, and as introduced would have altered the sales tax distribution formula to partially reimburse local governments for the estimated revenue decrease they would otherwise experience as a result of the exemption. The House Committee of the Whole took the unusual step of refusing to consider the bill as reported out of committee, instead sending it back to the Revenue Committee with instructions to simplify and clarify it. The Revenue Committee passed a substitute version of HB 93, which would permanently repeal the sales tax on food and which contained no provisions for making up lost revenue to local governments. The House Appropriations Committee approved the $80,000 appropriation for additional staffing for the Department of Revenue. The House Committee of the Whole passed BH 93, and the bill will move to second reading on Wednesday. HB 95: Quality Child Care HB 95 would continue implementation of the quality child care program that was started by the 2006 Legislature, which authorized first year spending on the program to set up the program, develop rules for the quality rating system and devise the scholarship component of the program. HB 95 would authorize the Wyoming Business Council to fund child care facilities through the business ready community program. The bill would create a quality child care system to encourage the availability of high quality care for children in licensed facilities. The system would consist of a quality rating system; scholarships for families for higher levels of quality care; educational grants for child care providers; technical assistance, quality assessment and business management services; and capacity enhancement grants. Appropriations totaling $12.3 million to fund HB 95 were contained in a separate bill, HB 96 (Quality Child Care Appropriations). The House Labor, Health and Social Services Committee will continue its consideration of HB 95 on Wednesday after the House adjourns. HB 99: Hathaway Scholarship Program HB 99 would expand the Hathaway scholarship program to graduate and professional degrees and would extend the time students could attend post secondary educational institutions. HB 99 would clarify how to handle scholarships when a student attends more than one eligible school whereby the student would designate a home school that would be paid the entire scholarship amount granted to the student. The House Committee of the Whole passed HB 99 on Tuesday, and the bill will move on to second reading on Wednesday. HB 115: School Finance – Amendments HB 115 would address a number of matters relating to the financing of public schools in Wyoming. The bill would extend the summer school, extended day school, and instructional facilitator programs, would clarify the enrichment program part of the extended day program, and would direct the Wyoming Department of Education to recommend permanent funding for these programs for consideration by the 2008 Legislature. HB 115 would continue the ongoing review and evaluation of the at-risk program, and would initiate a review of distance education programs. The House passed HB 115 on second reading, and the bill will be heard on third reading on Wednesday. HB 120: Sex Offender RegistrationLSO Bill Info HB 120 would amend a number of provisions related to required registration of convicted sex offenders. The bill would reduce the time in which an offender must register, eliminate district court hearings to determine the level of risk for re-offense that an offender may pose, eliminate risk levels for re-offense, require all types of sexual offenders to register, make registration information about all offenders public, increase the time of required registration for offenders, and increase the penalties for failure to register. The House passed HB 120 on second reading, and the bill will be heard on third reading on Wednesday. HB 143: Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle Electric Generation HB 143 would exempt coal that is used for integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) electricity generation from all severance taxes except the one and a half percent that is required by the Wyoming Constitution. The House Minerals, Business and Economic Development Committee will consider HB 143 on Wednesday at about 8:45 a.m. HJ 2: State Engagement
in Transmission Lines & Energy Facilities HJ 2 proposed an amendment to the Wyoming Constitution to authorize the state of Wyoming to construct or improve electrical transmission lines and related facilities, without having to submit the question of the state’s authority to do so to a vote of the citizens of the state. The Constitution currently prohibits the state from engaging in such activity without first getting approval with a two-thirds vote of the people. The proposed amendment would allow the legislature to directly invest state money in the construction of power lines, both inside Wyoming and extending into other states as well. The House Minerals, Business and Economic Development Committee will consider HJ 2 on Wednesday at about 9:15 a.m. HJ 4: Initiative and Referendum Requirements HJ 4 would place an amendment to the Wyoming Constitution to modify the signature requirement for a petition for an initiative or referendum before the voters in the next general election. Currently, a petition must be signed by at least 15% of the voters in at least two-thirds of the counties of Wyoming. The proposed amendment would change the requirement to at least 15% of the qualified voters in at least two-thirds of the state’s senate districts. The current petition signature requirements are generally thought to be unconstitutional, because the county distribution requirement is in conflict with the constitutional requirement of equal representation. Because senate districts are based on population, signature requirements based on them would offer more equal representation. However, the ESPC argued that the signature requirements would still be too high to provide a reasonable opportunity for volunteer petition efforts to succeed. The House passed HJ 4 on third reading, 43-17. The bill will now move to the Senate. SF 72: Indian School Education Programs SF 72 would require the State of Wyoming and the joint business councils of the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho Indian Tribes to provide educational programs that address conditions of unemployment, poverty and lack of adequate job skills on the Wind River Indian Reservation. The bill would provide an appropriation of just over $1 million from the general fund to the governor’s office to fund the contracted programs for the coming year. The Senate passed SF 72 on second reading, and the bill will be heard on third reading on Wednesday. SF 73: State-Federal Partnership Schools SF 73 would authorize partnership agreements between Wyoming and the federal government to establish state-federal partnership school districts in Wyoming. Such agreements would allow a partnership school district to be formed on the Wind River Indian Reservation at St. Stevens. St. Stevens would be incorporated into the state school system, and would be included in Wyoming’s system of school finance, state retirement and school building maintenance programs. State financial support for St. Stevens would be reduced by any federal revenue that was available to the school. The Senate Revenue Committee passed SF 73 on Monday, 3-1 (1 excused). Senator Tony Ross (R-S4, Cheyenne) voted against the bill; Senators Cale Case (R-S25, Lander), Kit Jennings (R-S28, Casper) and Jayne Mockler (D-S8, Cheyenne) voted for the bill. The bill was then re-referred to the Senate Appropriations Committee. SF 100: Public School Teacher Incentive Programs SF 100 would provide funding for school districts for incentive payments of $2,000 to teachers who are certified and teach in more than one subject area throughout the school year, and for incentive payments of $4,000 to teachers who hold national board certification. It would cost the school foundation fund about $628,000 to fully fund these two incentive programs. The Senate unanimously passed SF 100. The bill will now move to the House. SF 102: Children’s
Advocacy Centers SF 102 would allow children’s advocacy centers (which provide comprehensive services to children who are victims of sexual and physical abuse and neglect) to apply for state and federal funding from the attorney general’s office, through the crime victim’s compensation program. SF 102 would appropriate $1.5 million from the general fund to pay for the program. The Senate Education Committee unanimously passed SF 102 last week. The Senate Appropriations Committee passed a DO NOT PASS recommendation on SF 102, on a 3-2 vote. Voting for the DO NOT PASS recommendation were Senators Curt Meier (R-S3, LaGrange), Phil Nicholas (R-S10, Laramie) and Ray Peterson (R-S19, Cowley). Voting against the recommendation were Senators Rae Lynn Job (D-S12, Rock Springs) and Charles Townsend (R-S1, Osage). The bill has been placed on general file. SF 135: Wolf Management As introduced, SF 135 would remove the current trophy game status bestowed upon gray wolves in the federally designated wilderness areas surrounding Yellowstone National Park, Grand Teton National Park, and the John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Memorial Parkway between the two parks. The bill would direct the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission (WGFC) to designate areas where gray wolves would be classified as trophy game animals, and to set hunting seasons and regulations within those areas. Outside of the areas designated by the WGFC, wolves would continue to be classified as predators, legally killed without regulation or reporting. The areas designated by the WGFC, and the hunting seasons and associated regulations would have to reasonably ensure that seven breeding pairs of wolves were maintained in Wyoming primarily outside Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks. SF 135 contained an appropriation of $2.4 million from the general fund to the Wyoming Game and Fish Department to manage gray wolves through June 2008. SF 135 was drafted, as was HB 213 in the House, to act essentially as a placeholder in case the state and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service arrive at some compromise on Wyoming’s wolf management plan during this legislative session. Because the details of any agreement between the parties are still pending, either bill would likely change significantly before final passage, and both will be allowed to die by their sponsors if no compromise is reached during the session. The Senate Travel, Recreation, Wildlife and Cultural Resources Committee passed SF 135, 4-1. Senator Pat Aullman (R-S16, Thayne) cast the single no vote against the bill, which has been re-referred to the Senate Appropriations Committee. Please Visit The Following Links:
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