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2005 General Session
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HB 345 would have provided a credit against the severance taxes a mining company owed to the state for certain types of mineral exploration activities. This credit, called the mineral exploration tax credit, would have been offered to companies that are trying to find mineral deposits on private or public land, and would have covered a variety of exploration activities including surveying, drilling exploratory holes, sampling and sample analysis, aerial photography, and geological and geophysical logging.
The credit would only have been available for minerals that were not currently being produced in the county in which the exploration activity occurred, and would not have been available after the company had received a mining permit.
The amount of the credit would have been the amount the company spent on exploration activities in a given year, as long as the expenditures were at least $40,000. The credit would have been limited to a maximum of 50% of the total severance taxes the company owed the state that year or $100,000, whichever was less.
The credit would have been available for all minerals that pay severance taxes, including coal, oil and gas, trona, bentonite, uranium, sand and gravel, or other valuable minerals.
The Legislative Service Office was not able to prepare an estimate of how much severance tax revenue the state would lose if HB 345 were adopted, because the bill was received for introduction to the legislature so late in the session.
Supporters thought HB 345 would stimulate mineral exploration activity and might lead to additional mineral development in Wyoming.
Opponents argued that legislators could not make an informed decision about this proposal without knowing how much revenue the state would lose. They also argued that mineral exploration is already occurring at a vigorous pace throughout the state and there is no evidence that exploration activities will increase if companies are given this tax credit. They noted HB 345 would likely be found unconstitutional because the Wyoming Constitution requires that severed minerals be taxed.
The bill was amended to specify that the tax credit could not exceed the amount of expenditures in the year the credit was claimed.
The House passed HB 345 53-3 (4 excused). The Senate defeated HB 345 on third reading, 12-18. The votes listed below are the House and Senate third reading votes. A YES vote means the legislator wanted to give mining companies a credit against severance taxes for amounts they spent on minerals exploration activities. A NO vote means the legislator did not want to give mining companies this severance tax credit.
| Bighorn Basin Legislators | House 3rd 2/8/05 | Senate 3rd 2/23/05 |
|
| S 18 | Hank Coe (R) | Yes | |
| H 24 | Colin Simpson (R) | Yes | |
| H 50 | Pat Childers (R) | Yes | |
| S 19 | Laness D. Northrup (R) | Yes | |
| H 25 | Alan Jones (R) | Yes | |
| H 26 | Elaine Harvey (R) | Yes | |
| S 20 | Gerald E. Geis (R) | No | |
| H 27 | Debbie Hammons (D) | Excused | |
| H 28 | Lorraine Quarberg (R) | Yes | |
| Casper-Area Legislators | House 3rd 2/8/05 | Senate 3rd 2/23/05 |
|
| S 27 | John Barrasso (R) | Yes | |
| H 35 | Roy Cohee (R) | Yes | |
| H 36 | Gerald Gay (R) | Yes | |
| S 28 | Kit Jennings (R) | Yes | |
| H 56 | Tom Walsh (R) | Yes | |
| H 57 | Thomas A. Lockhart (R) | Yes | |
| S 29 | Bill Hawks (R) | Yes | |
| H 37 | Steve Harshman (R) | Yes | |
| H 59 | Mary Gilmore (D) | Yes | |
| S 30 | Charles K. Scott (R) | No | |
| H 38 | Bob Brechtel (R) | Yes | |
| H 58 | Ann Robinson (D) | No | |
| Cheyenne-Area Legislators | House 3rd 2/8/05 | Senate 3rd 2/23/05 |
|
| S 4 | Tony Ross (R) | No | |
| H 7 | Doug Samuelson (R) | Yes | |
| H 41 | Becket Hinckley (R) | Yes | |
| S 5 | John Hanes (R) | Yes | |
| H 8 | Larry Meuli (R) | Yes | |
| H 42 | Pete Illoway (R) | Yes | |
| S 6 | Wayne H. Johnson (R) | No | |
| H 9 | Bryan Pedersen (R) | Yes | |
| H 10 | Rodney "Pete" Anderson (R) | Yes | |
| S 7 | Kathryn Sessions (D) | No | |
| H 11 | Wayne Reese (D) | No | |
| H 43 | Dan Zwonitzer (R) | Yes | |
| S 8 | E. Jayne Mockler (D) | No | |
| H 12 | Layton Morgan (D) | Yes | |
| H 44 | Floyd Esquibel (D) | Yes | |
| Gillette-Area Legislators | House 3rd 2/8/05 | Senate 3rd 2/23/05 |
|
| S 23 | John Hines (R) | No | |
| H 31 | Thomas E. Lubnau II (R) | Yes | |
| H 52 | Burke Jackson (R) | Excused | |
| S 24 | Michael Von Flatern (R) | No | |
| H 32 | Jeff Wasserburger (R) | Yes | |
| H 53 | Frank Latta (R) | Yes | |
| Lander/Riverton-Area Legislators | House 3rd 2/8/05 | Senate 3rd 2/23/05 |
|
| S 25 | Cale Case (R) | Yes | |
| H 33 | W. Patrick Goggles (D) | Yes | |
| H 54 | Del McOmie (R) | Yes | |
| S 26 | Robert A. Peck (R) | Yes | |
| H 34 | Frank Philp (R) | Yes | |
| H 55 | David Miller (R) | Yes | |
| Northeast/East Central WY Legislators | House 3rd 2/8/05 | Senate 3rd 2/23/05 |
|
| S 1 | C.L. Townsend (R) | Yes | |
| H 1 | Mark Semlek (R) | Yes | |
| H 2 | Ross Diercks (D) | Yes | |
| S 2 | Jim Anderson (R) | No | |
| H 5 | James C. Hageman (R) | Yes | |
| H 6 | Dave Edwards (R) | Yes | |
| S 3 | Curt Meier (R) | Yes | |
| H 3 | Deborah Alden (R) | Yes | |
| H 4 | Edward A. Buchanan (R) | Yes | |
| Sheridan-Area Legislators | House 3rd 2/8/05 | Senate 3rd 2/23/05 |
|
| S 21 | Bruce Burns (R) | No | |
| H 29 | Jerry Iekel (R) | Yes | |
| H 51 | Rosie Berger (R) | Yes | |
| S 22 | John Schiffer (R) | No | |
| H 30 | Jack Landon (R) | Yes | |
| H 40 | Doug Osborn (R) | Yes | |
| South Central WY Legislators | House 3rd 2/8/05 | Senate 3rd 2/23/05 |
|
| S 9 | Mike Massie (D) | No | |
| H 13 | Jane Warren (D) | Yes | |
| H 45 | Kevin A. White (R) | Yes | |
| S 10 | Phil Nicholas (R) | No | |
| H 14 | Kermit C. Brown (R) | Yes | |
| H 46 | James Slater (R) | Yes | |
| S 11 | Bill Vasey (D) | No | |
| H 15 | George Bagby (D) | Yes | |
| H 47 | Kurt Bucholz (R) | Yes | |
| Southwest WY Legislators | House 3rd 2/8/05 | Senate 3rd 2/23/05 |
|
| S 12 | Rae Lynn Job (D) | No | |
| H 48 | Marty Martin (D) | Yes | |
| H 16 | Pete Jorgensen (D) | Excused | |
| S 13 | Tex Boggs (D) | No | |
| H 17 | Stephen Watt (R) | Excused | |
| H 60 | Bill Thompson (D) | No | |
| S 14 | Stan Cooper (R) | Yes | |
| H 18 | Mick Powers (R) | Yes | |
| H 39 | John Hastert (D) | Yes | |
| S 15 | Ken Decaria (D) | No | |
| H 19 | Owen Petersen (R) | Yes | |
| H 49 | Bruce Barnard (R) | Yes | |
| West Central WY Legislators | House 3rd 2/8/05 | Senate 3rd 2/23/05 |
|
| S 16 | Pat Aullman (R) | Yes | |
| H 20 | Kathy Davison (R) | Yes | |
| H 21 | Randall Luthi (R) | Yes | |
| S 17 | Grant Larson (R) | No | |
| H 22 | Monte Olsen (R) | Yes | |
| H 23 | Keith Gingery (R) | Yes | |
See Southwest Region for H 16 and S 12 | |||