New positions, and new life for "heat and eat"?
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Feb 22, 2006 Posted by Bill Luckett
Several pieces of legislation were the focus of much of the discussion during the House Democrats' caucus today. Naturally, this being a budget session, part of the talk focused on the budget. Specifically, the number of new government positions in the budget, which is about 780.
Chris Boswell, a former House Democrat himself and now Gov. Freudenthal's chief of staff, explained how the vast bulk of those positions are either A) related to the opening of a new prison in Torrington (that's more than half the jobs right there), or B) positions that already exist but, for technical reasons, could not be listed in state agencies' "standard budgets," and so they show up in the documents as new positions. About 50 more are related to increased mineral development in the state, a development that makes our communities - and state coffers - richer in many ways, but one that also requires increased manpower to handle.
The point was that, at first glance, 780 new government jobs seems like an eye-opener, but when looked at more closely, there are good reasons why the governor put them in his budget request. Rep. Jane Warren, D-Laramie, noted that during the Joint Appropriations Committee's budget hearings before the session began, members only cut a handful of the new positions. And, she said, committee members didn't seem concerned about the number of new jobs, but in several cases they asked department heads to explain the genuine need for some of the specific positions. It remains to be seen whether the full Legislature will defer to the JAC's judgment on those positions when budget work beging next week.
Boswell also stressed the importance of House Bill 92, the quality child care bill. He said accessible, quality child care is among the greatest needs in the state and is a crucial economic development tool. Some people have floated the idea that perhaps a few pilot projects would be better than a statewide program, but Boswell explained that child care is a need across the state, not just in a few communities.
There was a little discussion about the Tuesday defeat of House Bill 117, the "heat and eat" bill. They didn't do a survey, but the feeling I got was that everyone in the room was for it. Chief sponsor Rep. Ann Robinson, D-Casper, told me later this afternoon that she is working on an amendment to another bill to get the sales tax exemption for groceries, so perhaps the committee vote that killed the bill yesterday was not the last we will hear on the topic. Stay tuned.
The House Revenue Committee gave its stamp of approval to two bills that would give more money to local governments. House Bill 181, "revenue distribution to local governments," would make a one-time allocation of $243 million. The bill is 20 pages long, and that was before the committee amended it. But virtually every city, town and county would get a slice of the pie. That committee also OK'd House Bill 138, "sales and use tax distribution," which would give local governments another $23 million to $24 million a year that now flows into the state's bank account.
One other bill of substantial public interest, Senate File 36, which would expand Wyoming's ban on open containers of alcohol to include everyone in a vehicle (instead of only the driver), cleared third and final reading in the Senate today, so that bill is now halfway through the process and is awaiting action by the House.
And now we're 40 percent done. But the time crunch is on, as tomorrow is the last day for bills to get reported out of committee. That means, if a committee has been assigned a bill, and that committee does not get to work on that bill by the end of business tomorrow, that bill dies. Several bills die that way every year, which is one of the perks of being a committee chairman - you get to decide which, if any, bills to kill by simply refusing to schedule them for work. Sadly, because Republicans are the majority party in both chambers of the Legislature, all the committee chairmen are Republicans. But some day ...
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Re: New positions, and new life for "heat and eat"?
Feb 22, 2006 | Jimmy Porter | jporter@dteworld.comThe Casper Star had an opinion about 5 obstructionist that defeated this "heat and eat" bill. The paper produced the name of these five representatives and requested they get some email. I sent them my opinion which I am sure they did not appreciate. The one's that replied had other things on their mind and wanted to wait till later in the game. I still disagree with these 5 representatives who balled up this bill. I often write lots of letters to elected officials.