Wyoming lawmakers on Monday advanced a bill that, if it becomes law, would pull 40% of electricity sales taxes that data centers pay into a trust fund for the Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT).
WYDOT has complained of funding shortfalls for several years. WYDOT Director Darin Westby told the committee the latest tally on Monday: A projected $500 million shortfall, of which $300 million pertains to road maintenance and projects.
The legislative Transportation, Highways and Military Affairs Committee voted 8-2 to adopt the trust fund bill, which gives it an edge going into the 2027 lawmaking session.
“I’ve been the biggest advocate for not setting up trust funds, since the word became very popular about three years ago,” Committee Co-Chair Landon Brown, R-Cheyenne, said just before voting aye on the bill. “This is one I actually staunchly support.”
Brown said he’s heard WYDOT’s funding woes for a decade on that committee.
The bill represents “one of the most profound ways to fix that,” he added.
Kolb Votes No
Sen. John Kolb, R-Rock Springs, cast the bill as an unwise spreading of assets. He voted against it.
“We’ve got a permanent mineral trust fund. That’s where I’m putting my eggs, in that basket,” said Kolb. “And thank God there’s a two-thirds majority vote needed to pass this.”
The Wyoming Constitution says the state can’t invest public money in corporate stock without a two-thirds vote of both the state Senate and House of Representatives.
Rep. Lee Filer, R-Cheyenne, who supported the bill, made several changes to it Monday.
The original version called for an investment of 25% of data centers' electricity sales taxes. Filer increased that to 40%.
With the committee’s majority agreement, Filer also adopted a requirement for utility companies and power generators to report to the Wyoming Department of Revenue how much power they’re selling to data centers.
He included generators because the Legislature is entering its session with multiple plans to introduce third-party generators to Wyoming’s energy system.
The committee adopted two other bills aimed at bolstering the agency’s funding streams: One to let the department’s commission sell bonds, and another to let the department borrow money at a low interest rate from Wyoming’s permanent mineral trust fund.
That’s a roughly $13 billion investment account the minerals industry feeds with its taxes.
The Legislature increased gasoline taxes from 14 cents to 24 cents a gallon in 2013, and called the bill “highway funding” because it dedicated the extra 10 cents to state highway system maintenance.
But since then, said Filer, labor and materials “have gone way up high, faster, than even the collection on the fuel tax.”
Without good roads, he added, “our industries die.”
This bill would not pull from the portion of sales and use taxes set aside for direct distribution to local communities.
A Gentle Nudge
The Legislative Service Office staffers who compiled the bill at lawmakers’ request wrote in a “staff comment” in the text that Wyoming still has tax exemptions for data centers.
Data centers don’t have to pay sales taxes on software or equipment costing more than $2 million together in one year, or on backup power or HVAC supplies costing more than $2 million in one year, in Wyoming.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
