Freudenthal encourages Legislature to invest in Wyoming
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Jan 10, 2007 Posted by Bill Luckett
In his State of the State address today, Gov. Freudenthal urged legislators to invest in Wyoming's future as they pore over the dozens and dozens of issues they will face over the next eight weeks. Among the several initiatives the governor specifically identified, he asked lawmakers to make the food sales tax exemption permanent, to make sure "fair market value" is a key component of any eminent domain bill they pass, to ban all open containers of alcohol in cars on state highways, to implement a "two strikes and your out" bill for sexual predators, and to consider greater state funding for local governments - cities, towns and counties - as well as allow tribal entities to share in such local government funding.
He spoke at some length about budget philosophies, and he warned legislators against propagating the false perception that Wyoming residents can become "trust fund babies" if state government keeps stashing money into the Permanent Wyoming Minerals Trust Fund. It is unrealistic for people to think that if we save enough money, we won't have to pay taxes in the future, he said. Instead, he said lawmakers should focus on investing in Wyoming in such a way that will help encourage young families to move here and stay here. And because this year's session is a general session of the Legislature instead of a budget session, Freudenthal said the budget emphasis this year should be on one-time expenditures, such as highways, airports, water projects and the Wildlife Trust Fund, rather than on recurring governmental operating expenses. The full transcript of the governor's speech can be found on his Web site here.
Interestingly, today marked the first of his five annual State of the State speeches in which Gov. Freudenthal did not deliver prepared remarks. Rather, he simply talked to legislators about a list of topics they will confront this year. The governor makes no secret that he prefers to speak from a rough outline, rather than read from a prepared text, and that's probably a big part of the reason why I think today's speech was the best State of the State address Gov. Freudenthal has delivered. Several legislators and reporters I talked to after the speech agreed that the governor sounded more conversational and relaxed this year than in the past. I also think the speech felt somehow more genuine because of its spontaneous nature. It's hard to say whether this speech will have more of an impact than others, but I'd have to say it was the best State of the State address I have heard in the nine years I've been closely following the Legislature.