An independent voice for Wyoming people
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For an ESPC perspective on the Wyoming policy scene, click here
ESPC executive director Dan Neal offers insights, analysis and comment.
Read or listen to the latest stories from Public News Service-WY here.
Workers see decline in employer-provided health insurance... click here to read more.
The State of Working Wyoming
Who benefits from the boom? This February 2008 report provides statistics and other information on the economic facts of life for Wyoming’s working families … click here to read more.
The Wyoming LAP* Book
(*Legislative Accountability Project)
Information on the 2009 session’s key bills, votes, and legislators’ campaign contributions...click here to read more.
2009 Wyoming Legislature -
A Nuts & Bolts Session
How does the Wyoming Legislature affect you?
Its decisions affect how many children are in your child’s classroom, the quality of the roads you drive on, the availability of numerous programs and services in your community, and how far the government reaches into your personal life.
In our 2006 report on the Legislature, we noted that surprisingly few legislators were asking about, much less articulating, what our state should be like a generation hence. The same can be said about the 2009 session. In fact, legislative leaders termed it a “nuts and bolts session” aimed at maintaining the state’s economic base, rather than defining what the state will be like in 10 or 20 years. Read more here. . .
Bring severance tax rates into state budget discussions
Hikes should be part of an overall review of revenues and tax investments
As the boom slides toward the bust, it’s appropriate and necessary to examine state spending priorities and ensure that all tax-supported programs provide value and are managed efficiently. But a mismatch of income and spending should also mean a critical look at the revenue side of the equation -- particularly mineral severance taxes. The purpose of severance taxes is to give future generations some of the wealth from today’s mineral extraction... Read full text here.
ESPC pushes civic participation, government accountability
The Equality State Policy Center, a broad-based coalition of Wyoming interests, works through research, public education and advocacy to hold state and local governments accountable to the people they represent, and to help Wyomingites participate effectively in public policymaking.
The ESPC’s programs fall into three areas: government accountability (open government, campaign finance reform, lobbyist reporting); tax and fiscal policy (mineral severance taxes, property taxes, tax breaks or incentives, economic diversification); and Wyoming working families (access to health care, minimum wage, gender wage gap, worker safety, quality child care).
Across all these program areas, the ESPC provides trainings for citizen advocates and lobbyists to boost public participation and civic engagement in policymaking. Its election-year voter education and mobilization campaigns make historically un- and under-represented voices heard where policy decisions are being made.
All banner photos on this web site are copyrighted and courtesy of The Equipoise Fund.
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