Friday update: food tax, same-sex marriage, wolves, etc.
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Feb 23, 2007 Posted by Bill Luckett
Moments ago, the Senate passed House Bill 93, the bill to permanently eliminate the sales tax on food, on third and final reading. However, after passing an amendment Thursday to reimburse cities, towns and counties for their lost sales tax revenue, senators on Friday deleted the amendment. Many want to spend the next year coming up with the "right" formula to properly reimburse local governments. Some, obviously a minority, wanted to get at least something in the law this year to assure local governments that they will be reimbursed one way or another. But it looks like the locals will have to wait until next year to see how, and if, they will be reimbursed.
Meanwhile, Thursday morning, the House Rules Committee killed Senate File 13, the bill that would have allowed Wyoming to void other states' same-sex marriages. House Speaker Roy Cohee, R-Casper, cast the deciding vote to kill the bill, which came as a pleasant surprise to this observer. Story here.
The Senate also passed the eminent domain bill on third reading (story here), and the House passed the open container bill (story here), also on third reading.
The quality child care legislation, House Bills 95 and 96, cleared second reading in the Senate on Thursday, after senators restored some funding that the Senate Appropriations Committee wanted to strip. Sen. Mike Massie "led the charge" to restore the funding, according to this story.
I don't understand all the details of where the wolf issue stands today, but Friday morning, the Senate Travel, Recreation, Public Lands and Wildlife Committee approved a wolf management bill, House Bill 213, which will now go to the full Senate for three readings. Ben Lamb of the Wyoming Outdoor Council said the bill was a placeholder, which now remains the Legislature's only option since a House committee killed its wolf management bill earlier this week. The bottom line is, there is still a chance the state will reach an agreement with the feds on wolf management.