CHEYENNE—Senate lawmakers had long concluded their business for the day on Tuesday evening when their House colleagues took a break to eat dinner.
Even then, the representatives still had many hours of work ahead to get through second reading of the budget bill on time. Until this point, changes to the budget were made in committee by a small group of lawmakers. Second reading is when all lawmakers in both chambers have their first opportunity to revise the bill.
The Senate made swift work of 19 amendments, while lawmakers in the lower chamber worked until 1:30 Wednesday morning, sorting through a whopping 122 proposed changes in the first round of negotiations on the state budget. The number eclipses the 80 amendments representatives considered at this stage in 2024.
After more than 13 hours of work, the House lawmakers had voted on fewer than half of those amendments. They picked up the work again when they returned to the House floor at 10 a.m. today.
“Good morning, members,” Speaker of the House Chip Neiman, R-Hulett, said, greeting his colleagues. “It seems like this is déjà vu all over again.”
Before they dug back in, Rep. John Bear, R-Gillette, asked that everyone limit their comments on amendments to a minute and refrain from speaking more than once. He also requested that the House adjourn earlier rather than working again late into the night.
“We started falling apart in our debate last night, and we’re going to have another repeat,” Bear said.
Since the House hasn’t wrapped up its work on the first round of budget changes, the next round will be delayed until at least Friday, and possibly Saturday. Lawmakers have to request amendments for the third reading of the budget by the time they finish second-reading amendments. Bear said more than a hundred amendments were already on the list for third reading.
Before the session, the Joint Appropriations Committee — the state’s main budgeting arm — reviewed Gov. Mark Gordon’s budget recommendations to create a budget bill for lawmakers to vote on. The committee voted to make deep cuts to Gordon’s proposal, notably for the University of Wyoming, the Wyoming Business Council and the Wyoming Department of Health.
The cause of such cuts? Not a financial deficit, but a desire by a newly empowered group of Republicans, known as the Wyoming Freedom Caucus, to reshape state government. In fact, lawmakers clashed in January over where to stash $250 million in excess revenue from minerals, investments and other sources.
The committee’s significant cuts prompted lawmakers in both the House and Senate to bring amendments this week that would mostly restore Gordon’s recommendations. While the Senate voted to rebuff the JAC’s cuts, the House did not.
Some House lawmakers suggested during debate on Tuesday that the heap of amendments indicated issues with the committee’s budget proposal.
“We have 122 amendments, because after the JAC went through — thanks and grateful for the work that was done — went through and made cuts and adjustments, we heard from the agencies, we heard from the departments, we heard from our constituents,” Rep. Elissa Campbell, R-Casper, said during debate on the House amendment that would have essentially restored Gordon’s recommendations.
“That has resulted in 122 amendments, because they spoke and said, ‘This is why this is critical. We need this back in. This is what happens if these services go away.’”
Meanwhile, those who support the JAC’s cuts describe the committee’s proposal as a step toward keeping government spending “in check.”
“I know we all need to keep government going, but at the end of the day, I would just ask everybody to consider, let’s keep our spending in check. Let’s try to learn how to not spend everything we have,” Rep. Tony Locke, R-Casper, argued during debate on the same amendment. Locke, like Bear, is a member of the Freedom Caucus.
The Freedom Caucus also countered Wednesday morning in a social media post, accusing “big government” Republicans and Democrats of “pulling out all the stops to derail the legislative session” and filibustering “past midnight.”
“We will not back down,” the caucus said.
Since at least April, the Freedom Caucus — which holds a majority in the House and on the Appropriations Committee — has vowed to cut state spending.
While the caucus controls the House, it does not have the same sway in the Senate. And to pass a budget, both chambers must agree on a single version of the bill.
Long before those negotiations can happen, however, the House has to get through second reading. By publishing time Wednesday, it still had more than 50 amendments to consider.
For third reading, Bear said Wednesday, 126 amendments already awaited the House’s deliberations.
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