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Wyoming House and Senate school foundation budget recommendations differ by $22 million

Rep. Bob Nicholas, R-Cheyenne. (Dan Cepeda, Oil City)

CHEYENNE, Wyo. – The Wyoming House Appropriations Committee kicked off Tuesday, Feb. 25 by talking about the biennium budget bill.

The Legislative Service Office’s senior fiscal analyst Michael Swank presented the amendments to the Senate’s version of the proposed budget to the committee.

The amendments were broken into three categories: mirror, similar and unique. “Mirror” amendments refer to amendments which have been adopted in identical forms in both legislative chambers. “Similar” amendments are those that are focused on similar topics, but maybe had different approaches in each chamber. Finally, the “unique” amendments are those adopted in one chamber without a similar amendment in the other chamber.

The biennium budget bill saw around 15 mirror amendments, something that hasn’t been seen in many years. These amendments included ones backed by Rep. Chuck Gray and Sen. Lynn Hutchings, disallowing the University of Wyoming to spend taxpayer dollars on elective abortions. Another example are amenmdents introduced by Rep. Tyler Linholm and Sen. Stephan Pappas regarding the Oregon Trail State Veterans Cemetery.

The House committee spent time discussing a Senate amendment regarding state employee positions being cut, with a few representatives raising concern over the budget reduction.

“One portion of this reduction is a $500,000 reduction in the Administration and Information’s building lease plan,” Swank explained.

The Senate and House differed in their respective budgets between $7 million to $10 million, with the Senate version recommending less spending. The school foundation budget differed around $22 million, again with the Senate voting for greater budget reductions.

Committee chairman Rep. Bob Nicholas said that since the House was facing such a large Committee of the Whole docket for Tuesday, the full House would likely discuss the Senate’s amendments on Wednesday, Feb. 26.

This article originally appeared on Oil City News. Used with permission.


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