CHEYENNE — Wyoming's Big-Little Show, the budget session of the Legislature, starts this week amid considerable apprehension.
The session is big in that the principal chore for lawmakers is to pass a balanced budget to run the state for the next two years.
It is a little show because it is so short - a maximum of 20 days allowed under current legislative rules.
A lot must be crammed into those 20 days in addition to the budget. It is the non-budget bills that have caused problems in the past.
In a couple of cases, lawmakers got so tangled up in those minor bills that they neglected to pass the budget and were forced into a special session.
It almost happened again two years ago when the newly empowered Freedom Caucus, the hard-right-wing part of the Republican Party, dallied on working out a compromise between the chambers, then scrambled to get the document passed at the last minute.
That could happen again, given the non-budget issues, or what are now known as cultural or social issues, that will be offered for consideration.
At any rate, this should be a compelling, possibly volatile legislative session, with a bag of issues to wrangle over under the watchful control of the Freedom Caucus.
The caucus holds a majority in the House and an undetermined number of seats in the Senate.
People are nervous because they cannot predict how the lawmakers will correct such problems as the chaotic batch of property tax cuts.
Or whether they will be able to vote on budget issues with that pile of ten or 11 bills that could restrict ballot access waiting for introduction.
Or they may be concerned about providing enough money for the state’s K-12 public school system to operate efficiently.
Also, will the legislators wrest power over the courts from the executive branch, and reduce the size of the Wyoming Supreme Court as payback for its controversial decision in the abortion case?
The state’s high court caused an uproar by upholding a lower court decision that said the law or laws the legislature passed outlawing abortion are unconstitutional. One bill that should pass easily will be a constitutional amendment making clear that abortion is illegal in Wyoming. If passed, it would then go to the voters for their consideration.
What about the Business Council, the state’s economic engine, as it were. Will it be saved from obliteration or get a makeover - after an interim study, of course.
These are not emergency measures that must be passed for the state to continue functioning as a state.
But, they can clog the process.
If the system does collapse, it will be because of all the non-emergency bills being pushed by members of the Freedom Caucus.
I think the comments of Rob Hendry, Chairman of the Natrona County Republican Party, sized up the concerns citizens have as this session begins.
The most important thing is passing the budget, Hendry said in an interview in the Casper Star-Tribune. He said the budget was not a priority for the Freedom Caucus in the 2024 budget session.
Although a budget ultimately was passed, Gov. Mark Gordon criticized the quality, and vetoed several sections.
Freedom Caucus leaders pushed for a special session to override the governor’s vetoes, but could not get agreement in the Senate.
Hendry, who is not a member of the Freedom Caucus, said he hopes legislators don’t get distracted this year.
“They get hung up on things like chem trails… whether the government is trying to poison us, and that’s just crazy stuff we get bogged down on,” Hendry said.
Contact Joan Barron at 307-632-2534 or jmbarron@bresnan.net
