During 2026 budget hearings, the Joint Appropriations Committee, led by the Freedom Caucus, eliminated the entire budget for the Wyoming Business Council (WBC) and advanced legislation to eliminate the agency altogether.
Over the years, the Business Council has been heavily scrutinized by the Legislature, including a few interim committee reviews. The scrutiny is a healthy function of checks and balances.
But what is unhealthy is the reckless approach of eliminating an entire agency without going through the rigors of an interim study.
Doing it right would have meant holding meetings to gather feedback from constituents. Where businesses and communities could learn, understand, and provide comments on the potential effects.
Instead of the measured approach, the Freedom Caucus chose to ignore constituent engagement and dismantle a mechanism that returns local dollars to communities.
Wyoming faces structural headwinds that make business recruitment and expansion harder here than in surrounding states.
WalletHub ranked the “Best & Worst States to Start a Business (2026),” and while Wyoming’s score was encouraging at a middle-of-the-pack number 28, we were outpaced by all of our neighbors.
Utah was the second-best state in the nation to start a business in, and Idaho was number five.
That doesn’t mean Wyoming is doing everything wrong. We have strengths, especially our tax and regulatory environment. But it does mean we can’t afford to pretend we’re competing on a level playing field.
Wyoming’s challenges are evident to any business trying to hire, recruit, or expand here in the Cowboy State.
We have the smallest population in the U.S., which equates to fewer customers, a smaller labor pool, and less synergy than other states.
Finding workers, particularly skilled workers, poses a constant challenge, especially as we lose our young people at the highest rate in the nation.
Geographic isolation, the absence of a major population center, poor air service, and costly shipping and supply chains set businesses up for high logistics costs.
Compared to larger states, Wyoming has less infrastructure, fewer research anchors, fewer startup supports, and fewer “plug-and-play” sites ready for development.
In a state like ours, economic development is about readiness. It’s about helping local communities lay the groundwork with water, sewer, roads, sites, and planning so that when opportunity knocks, Wyoming can answer.
That is what the WBC does, and the results are measurable.
These investments create jobs. The ripple benefits of good-paying jobs create private businesses supporting local services from restaurants to HVAC companies.
That ripple continues to expand the local tax base that supports schools, hospitals, and essential services.
To give you some examples of the positive impact the WBC has provided, I will look at only one of its programs, the Business Ready Community (BRC) program, in one county from each region.
· In the Southwest Region, Sweetwater County has been awarded $32+ million, which has been matched by $8+ million from local government and $58+ million in private investment.
· In the Northwest Region, Park County has received nearly $25 million in BRC grants, which has been matched by $14+ million in local government funding and nearly $20 million of private investment.
· In the West Central Region, Fremont County has received nearly $30 million in BRC grants, which has been matched by nearly $25 million in local government funding and $87+ million from private investment.
· In the Southeast Region, Laramie County has received nearly $54 million in BRC grants, which has been matched by nearly $111 million in local government funding and $458+ million from private investment.
· In the Northeast Region, Crook County has received nearly $6 million in BRC grants, which has been matched by $1.5+ million in local government funding and $1.8+ million from private investment.
· In the East Central Region, Natrona County has received $68+ million in BRC grants, which has been matched by $64+ million in local government funding and $167+ million from private investment.
I would encourage folks in Wyoming to visit the WBC website to explore what this agency is doing to help make Wyoming vibrant in the future, and to check out the 2025 WBC Annual Report to view a recent poll and other information.
The Wyoming Business Council is not “picking winners and losers” as the Freedom Caucus claims, but is investing in the future of Wyoming with the goal of keeping more of our youth in this great state working for it.
Wyoming does not want the moniker of being “Closed for Business.” Contact your legislator and support Wyoming’s future. Support the Wyoming Business Council.
Albert Sommers served in the Wyoming House of Representatives for District 20 from 2013 - 2024 and was Speaker of the House from 2022-2023.
