California Journal of Politics and Policy

The Wyoming Legislature concluded its 2018 twenty-day budget session on March 15^th, a few days beyond its normally allotted time. The Legislature was able to meet longer than four weeks this year without holding a special session because it had three days left over from last year.  In large part, the extended session was the result of the House and Senate’s inability to agree over education and construction spending.  The nearly $3 billion general fund biennial budget includes small increases for local governments ($105 million), strengthening cybersecurity ($2.2 million), senior centers ($200 thousand), an allotment to pay off the Capitol Square construction project, and additional funding for community colleges.  According to Jim Magagna, executive vice president of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association, collegiality, something that has long been a hallmark of Wyoming’s Legislature, has significantly diminished this year with important divisiveness within the majority party (Rogers 3/23/18).  A major sticking point, the state’s $850 million structural budget deficit, was never fully resolved.  Here, the deficit is going to be paid mostly out of savings and unrealized capital gains from the state’s investments in the stock market. The state’s final budget keeps funding levels for most of state government generally stable, with increases in spending on social services that former Govenor Matt Mead argued were hit too hard by cuts passed during the previous legislative session (Rosenfeld 3/10/18). Cuts were felt in many agencies, with some program elimination, but seemingly little disruption to most state services.