Relief for the people and Cheney's visit
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Feb 16, 2006 Posted by Bill Luckett
Let me start off with just a tad about today's legislative business before I get into the REAL talk of the town: the vice president's visit. Some of this year's more eagerly anticipated votes for introduction took place today on a swarm of bills that could give people relief in the form of tax breaks or expanded financial assistance in this era of massive state government surplus and massive utility costs. A good number of these bills received the required two-thirds support to get introduced into the budget session.
One of these bills is House Bill 105, low income energy assistance program, sponsored by Cheyenne Democrats Wayne Reese in the House and Kathy Sessions in the Senate. It would expand eligibility for the program to people with incomes at or below 250 percent of the poverty level. Democrats have supported ideas like this for years, but now that energy costs are hitting record highs, this may be an idea whose time has come.
Another bill, HB 117, consumer tax relief, is sponsored by senators and representatives from both parties, and Rep. Ann Robinson, D-Casper, is the chief sponsor. This bill would lift the sales tax on groceries permanently, and it would suspend the sales tax on home utility bills for two years. Rep. Robinson said she's pleased about the tax relief bills that got introduced, but, she cautioned, that doesn't mean they will all get adopted.
Five other related bills that made it into the session were recommended by the Task Force on Utility and Tax Relief. Those bills include HB 97, property tax assessment rate; HB 121, emergency energy assistance trust fund; HB 122, home owner's tax credit; HB 123, tax refund to elderly and disabled; and HB 124, low income home energy assistance program. Copies of these bills can be found at:
http://legisweb.state.wy.us/2006/BillIndex/BillCrossRef.aspx?type=HB
Vice President Dick Cheney has been the main topic of conversation in the news, in diners, around many people's kitchen tables, and among those of us following the Legislature this past week, due mainly to his unfortunate hunting accident Saturday. By Thursday, however, the conversation among most people in the Capitol Building centered around his expected address to the Legislature tomorrow (Friday). The increased attention on Vice President Cheney seems to have generated greater-than-usual interest in his visit. It sounds like national media outlets are particularly interested in reporting on his visit, so Wyoming could be in the spotlight tomorrow even more so than during the vice president's other public appearances here. In any event, tomorrow promises to be an interesting day. We'll see how it goes. I won't attend his speech, but I'll try to gather some thoughts from Democrats who hear it, and this is one event I think we can count on the media to fully report on as well.