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2004 Budget Session
2004 Budget Session
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Most of the millions of tons of coal mined in Wyoming each year leaves the state in rail cars, headed to power plants in other states. Hauling coal generates a significant portion of the operating revenues for Wyoming's two major railroads, the Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) and the Union Pacific (UP), each year.
In 2000, the Legislature passed two bills to tax the profits of railroads hauling Wyoming's coal to distant markets. These taxes were seen as a way to increase revenue from Wyoming's coal resources without placing additional tax burdens on coal producers.
One of the bills passed by the 2000 Legislature, established a tax of one-tenth of one mill (.0001) per ton of coal commercially transported per mile in Wyoming. The tax applied to all coal produced in Wyoming and transported by truck, trailer or rail car, but did not apply to coal transported for personal use, not for commercial gain, or on a mine site.
The other 2000 bill levied a rail-mile tax - a tax of seven cents per mile traveled by a train, regardless of the number of cars, plus $100 for each public grade crossing the train passed over.
Shortly after these two bills were passed in 2000, the BNSF and UP jointly filed a lawsuit challenging both bills. The lawsuit maintained that the two bills were in violation of the federal Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory Reform Act, which specifically prohibits discriminatory taxation against railroads. The courts ruled against the state of Wyoming and held that both bills were in violation of federal law.
Given the court decision that the taxes were illegal and could not be levied, HB 6 and HB 15 repealed state statutes covering the coal transportation tax and the rail mile tax.
Proponents of HB 6 and HB 15 noted that since the taxes were judged illegal, they should be removed from Wyoming statutes.
Both the House and the Senate passed HB 6 unanimously. The House passed HB 15, 51-8 (1 excused), while the Senate unanimously passed this bill.
The votes listed below are the House third reading votes on HB 15.
A YES vote means the Representative supported removing the rail mile tax from Wyoming statutes.
A NO vote means the Representative did not support repealing the rail mile tax.
| Bighorn Basin Legislators | HB15 - H3rd 2/12/04 |
|
| S 18 | Hank Coe (R) | |
| H 24 | Colin Simpson (R) | No |
| H 50 | Pat Childers (R) | Yes |
| S 19 | Laness D. Northrup (R) | |
| H 25 | Alan Jones (R) | No |
| H 26 | Elaine Harvey (R) | Yes |
| S 20 | Gerald E. Geis (R) | |
| H 27 | Jane Wostenberg (R) | Yes |
| H 28 | Micheal Baker (R) | Yes |
| Casper-Area Legislators | HB15 - H3rd 2/12/04 |
|
| S 27 | John Barrasso (R) | |
| H 35 | Roy Cohee (R) | Yes |
| H 36 | Liz Gentile (D) | Yes |
| S 28 | Keith Goodenough (D) | |
| H 56 | Tom Walsh (R) | Yes |
| H 57 | Thomas A. Lockhart (R) | Yes |
| S 29 | Bill Hawks (R) | |
| H 37 | Steve Harshman (R) | Yes |
| H 59 | Mary Gilmore (D) | Yes |
| S 30 | Charles K. Scott (R) | |
| H 38 | Bob Brechtel (R) | No |
| H 58 | Ann Robinson (D) | Yes |
| Cheyenne-Area Legislators | HB15 - H3rd 2/12/04 |
|
| S 4 | April Brimmer Kunz (R) | |
| H 7 | Tony Ross (R) | Yes |
| H 41 | Becket Hinckley (R) | Yes |
| S 5 | John Hanes (R) | |
| H 8 | Larry Meuli (R) | Yes |
| H 42 | Pete Illoway (R) | Yes |
| S 6 | Rich Cathcart (D) | |
| H 9 | Wayne Johnson (R) | Yes |
| H 10 | Rodney "Pete" Anderson (R) | Yes |
| S 7 | Kathryn Sessions (D) | |
| H 11 | Wayne Reese (D) | Yes |
| H 43 | Ed Prosser (R) | Yes |
| S 8 | E. Jayne Mockler (D) | |
| H 12 | Layton Morgan (D) | Yes |
| H 44 | Floyd Esquibel (D) | Yes |
| Gillette-Area Legislators | HB15 - H3rd 2/12/04 |
|
| S 23 | John Hines (R) | |
| H 31 | Jene Jansen (R) | Yes |
| H 52 | George McMurtrey (R) | Yes |
| S 24 | Richard A. Erb (R) | |
| H 32 | Jeff Wasserburger (R) | Yes |
| H 53 | Frank Latta (R) | Yes |
| Lander/Riverton-Area Legislators | HB15 - H3rd 2/12/04 |
|
| S 25 | Cale Case (R) | |
| H 33 | Harry Tipton (R) | Excused |
| H 54 | Del McOmie (R) | Yes |
| S 26 | Robert A. Peck (R) | |
| H 34 | Frank Philp (R) | No |
| H 55 | David Miller (R) | Yes |
| Northeast/East Central WY Legislators | HB15 - H3rd 2/12/04 |
|
| S 1 | C.L. Townsend (R) | |
| H 1 | Mark Semlek (R) | Yes |
| H 2 | Ross Diercks (D) | Yes |
| S 2 | Jim Anderson (R) | |
| H 5 | James C. Hageman (R) | Yes |
| H 6 | Dave Edwards (R) | Yes |
| S 3 | Curt Meier (R) | |
| H 3 | Deborah Alden (R) | No |
| H 4 | Edward A. Buchanan (R) | Yes |
| Sheridan-Area Legislators | HB15 - H3rd 2/12/04 |
|
| S 21 | Bruce Burns (R) | |
| H 29 | Jerry Iekel (R) | Yes |
| H 51 | Rosie Berger (R) | Yes |
| S 22 | John Schiffer (R) | |
| H 30 | Jack Landon (R) | Yes |
| H 40 | Doug Osborn (R) | Yes |
| South Central WY Legislators | HB15 - H3rd 2/12/04 |
|
| S 9 | Mike Massie (D) | |
| H 13 | Jane Warren (D) | Yes |
| H 45 | Lorna Johnson (D) | Yes |
| S 10 | Irene Devin (R) | |
| H 14 | Phil Nicholas (R) | Yes |
| H 46 | James Slater (R) | No |
| S 11 | Bill Vasey (D) | |
| H 15 | George Bagby (D) | Yes |
| H 47 | Kurt Bucholz (R) | Yes |
| Southwest WY Legislators | HB15 - H3rd 2/12/04 |
|
| S 12 | Rae Lynn Job (D) | |
| H 48 | Marty Martin (D) | Yes |
| H 16 | Pete Jorgensen (D) | Yes |
| S 13 | Tex Boggs (D) | |
| H 17 | Fred Parady (R) | No |
| H 60 | Bill Thompson (D) | Yes |
| S 14 | Larry Caller (D) | |
| H 18 | Mick Powers (R) | Yes |
| H 39 | John Hastert (D) | Yes |
| S 15 | Ken Decaria (D) | |
| H 19 | Owen Petersen (R) | Yes |
| H 49 | Saundra Meyer (D) | Yes |
| West Central WY Legislators | HB15 - H3rd 2/12/04 |
|
| S 16 | Delaine Roberts (R) | |
| H 20 | Stan Cooper (R) | Yes |
| H 21 | Randall Luthi (R) | No |
| S 17 | Grant Larson (R) | |
| H 22 | Monte Olsen (R) | Yes |
| H 23 | Clarene Law (R) | Yes |
See Southwest Region for H 16 and S 12 | ||