Gov. Mark Gordon believes Wyoming residents who had property damaged during the historic 2024 wildfire season should be eligible for immediate and permanent relief on behalf of the state.
On Tuesday, Gordon issued a news statement where he expressed “grave concerns” about the Joint Appropriations Committee of the Wyoming Legislature’s recent move to reject his $130 million recovery request made in the supplemental budget for wildfire relief, and instead provide $100 million in loans for Wyoming residents.
Gordon believes lawmakers have “a lack of understanding of the circumstances on the ground.”
“I have grave concerns about a loan program for fire restoration and recovery,” Gordon said in the statement. “I understand the Legislature’s intent with the proposal, but there is a lack of understanding of the circumstances on the ground. We need a program that is flexible and responsive to your needs. A loan program does not do that.”
Gordon took the issue public Monday, holding town halls in Gillette, Sheridan and Wheatland where he promoted his $130 million grant proposal. The governor said he heard “loud and clear” at these events that the public prefers grants, not loans, to rebuild their properties.
This runs contrary to what state Reps. Abby Angelos, R-Gillette, and Scott Smith, R-Lingle, told Cowboy State Daily on Tuesday. Both said their constituents have expressed a strong preference for a loan program as they believe a grant program would involve too many stipulations to qualify for it, such as criteria dictating the style of replacement fencing that can be purchased.
“A loan will put less regulation on people that would use it,” Smith said. “A loan can do what you want without having the government interfere with the process.”
The Appropriations Committee made the move to adopt a loan program last week, which would feature a 2% interest rate and run on a 20-year cycle, administered by the Wyoming Wildlife and Natural Resource Trust and the Office of State Lands and Investments (OSLI). Multiple members of the committee said during the meeting there should be some personal responsibility for the individual landowners who suffered damage in addition to state relief.
As a result of the 2% interest rate, the state would technically make a small profit off the loan program that lawmakers said would be split between administrative purposes and the state.
Rep. John Bear, R-Gillette, told Cowboy State Daily he sees the current proposal as most comparable to the federal loans given out for COVID-19 relief.
“The only difference with that is the pandemic was caused by the government’s action, the fire was not the government’s action,” Bear said. It is the belief of Bear and many other Republicans that the government was to blame for the economic severity of the pandemic due to lockdowns and other restrictions.
The loan program would also cover other natural disasters that occur in Wyoming moving forward.
Sen. Eric Barlow, R-Gillette, told Cowboy State Daily he believes most people who need disaster relief from the fire will have already secured resources before state solutions come online. But he also said some people might need the state program because if they’re already maxed out their loan and grant allotments through the federal government.
“It might be their only option,” Barlow said.
Loan Complications
One issue the governor brought up in his press release is that when borrowing money from the state government, the state must have first mortgage rights, and banks must subordinate other loans.
“No one should want to complicate existing loans, compromise operating loans or take banks out of the scenario,” Gordon told attendees, according to the press release. “A loan program is impractical, could take landowners out of other loans, and overextend you. That would be just as bad as the fire the first time.”
Sen. Ogden Driskill, R-Devils Tower, attempted to address this issue in the Appropriations meeting on Tuesday. He passed an amendment to the supplemental budget to ensure banks are first in line to receive collateral over the state in the event of bankruptcies, a proposal that was accepted by the committee.
Bob Budd, director of the Wyoming Wildlife Natural Resource Trust, said in the statement that a loan program would not be adequate in treating terrestrial invasive species, like cheatgrass, Medusahead and Ventenata that typically sprout up after wildfire.
“You can’t go to a weed and pest district and ask them to treat invasive grasses on a loan,” Budd said. “There is a public benefit to restoring native rangeland – for wildlife, for agriculture, and for future fire prevention.”
Final approval of the loans would be made by the State Loan and Investment Board.
Gordon indicated he would be open to a split program with a portion of money going toward grants and another portion for loans.
“We could see the Legislature move toward a loan program for infrastructure on a case-by-case basis where appropriate, and grants for invasive treatments which demonstrate broad public benefit,” Gordon said. “Loans are just not likely to be practical for wide-scale projects like those we have in front of us.”
Driskill also proposed the idea of putting 50% of the funding towards invasive species grants, but Bear shot down the proposal and said it could be addressed in the 2026 legislative session.
Grant Complications
Angelos said she was told by attorneys with the Legislative Service Office that the state could run into constitutional issues by offering a grant program for wildfire relief.
Amendment 16, Section 6 of the Wyoming Constitution states that no state entity can loan, give money or make donations to or in aid of any individual, association or corporation, “except for necessary support of the poor.”
Michael Pearlman, a spokesperson for the governor, said their staff believes the fire grants would be constitutional.
“We believe that the grant program would be compliant with 16-6, as the grants would be serving a public benefit,” Pearlman said. “These grants are intended to keep Wyoming’s agriculture industry viable in the affected areas. They would also have a public benefit in offering landscape-scale protection from future forest fires, as well as helping recover wildlife habitat over these large landscapes.”
There are also countless examples of the state giving grants and loans to individuals and businesses for reasons other than to alleviate poverty, most notably through the Wyoming Business Council for local economic development.
The governor's grant program proposal is intended to provide a backstop once landowners have exhausted federal resources first.
Smith clarified that he would similarly only see the loan program as a solution of last resort for people seeking assistance before pursuing federal grant and loan options first.
The Wyoming Grants Management Office has resources available to landowners who are navigating federal assistance and other programs for wildfire recovery.
The Legislature will debate the wildfire relief options in the coming weeks.
The Appropriations committee did increase the governor’s proposed discretionary funds for wildfire relief from $20 million to $30 million and also provided funds for a new helicopter to fight wildfires.
Leo Wolfson can be reached at leo@cowboystatedaily.com.
