Archive for February, 2010
Thursday, February 25th, 2010
Budging the Budget
On Tuesday, and today, the full House and Senate each heard dozens of amendments to the $2.9 billion budget. You keep a cheat sheet handy, and run back and forth between chambers. But you’re bound to miss something – the Senate will be working on an amendment to limit funding for school bus travel on […]
No Comments » - Posted in Legislature by Geoff O'Gara
Wednesday, February 24th, 2010
Zebra Mussels and State Sponsored Rodeo
It’s bad enough that pine bark beetles are turning Wyoming forests rust brown. Now there’s a pesky little mollusk, the zebra mussel – originally from Russia, wouldn’t you know – that’s spreading through North America on the bottoms of boats, and threatening to enter Wyoming waters. The mussels tend to take over, clogging up pipes, […]
No Comments » - Posted in Legislature by Geoff O'Gara
Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010
School Construction & the State Employee Retirement Fund
A question, Wyoming: have you put up a new school in your town recently? Chances are you have – the education building binge has been revving in high gear for years now, and many school districts have some nice new bricks and mortar. Whether they’ve produced smarter, better-prepared students is a matter of heated debate.
The […]
No Comments » - Posted in Legislature by Geoff O'Gara
Monday, February 22nd, 2010
Concealed weapon authority (HB0113)
The easiest way to mock or demonize the cause of those who lobby for the liberty to obtain, carry, conceal and use firearms of all sorts is to describe their most vocal and insistent members. Perhaps it’s fairer to mention first the more reasonable people in this movement. Tom Zachary spoke to the House Judiciary […]
No Comments » - Posted in Legislature by Geoff O'Gara
Friday, February 19th, 2010
The Prevailing Wind
You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the legislature is blowing: on the issue of wind, they’re taking charge, with proposals to tax, regulate, and strip wind power transmission lines of their right to blow over property owners. But expect a little push-back from industry lobbyists.
Rep. Kermit Brown (R-Laramie) described to the House […]
No Comments » - Posted in Legislature by Geoff O'Gara
Wednesday, February 17th, 2010
Steps Toward Taxing Wind Energy
Wyoming took a big step yesterday toward becoming the first state to tax wind energy production – not property tax, not severance tax, but an excise tax, a duty on the megawatts produced by wind turbines. The House passed the tax on first reading yesterday after a legislative committee lowered the rate from $3 per […]
No Comments » - Posted in Legislature by Geoff O'Gara
Tuesday, February 16th, 2010
The I-80
The various fees and federal money that go into maintaining Interstate 80 don’t pay the bill, according to the Wyoming Department of Transportation, and so it’s asking the Wyoming legislature to create a “Tolling Authority” to collect fares from drivers – particularly of trucks – on the busy interstate. (Perhaps “Trolling Authority” would work too, […]
No Comments » - Posted in Legislature by Geoff O'Gara
Tuesday, February 16th, 2010
HAVING ‘FUN’ IN COMMITTEES
Only a government geek could produce a list of whichlegislative committees are the most “fun” to attend, but I can’t help myself –hey, I’m the same guy who rushed back from a Valentines Day weekend at a spawith my favorite wife to attend those meetings.
It’s at these early morning gatherings that important andrevealing lawmaking […]
No Comments » - Posted in Legislature by Geoff O'Gara
Thursday, February 11th, 2010
Energy and the Race for Governor
Wyoming is the nation’s energy bread basket, and every year the legislature has to tackle some new aspect of how government stimulates production, protects the environment, or extracts some revenue from the enormous number of ergs the state produces. Last year, it was the issue of carbon sequestration.
This year,it’s wind.
Two major bills were presented […]
1 Comment » - Posted in Legislature by Geoff O'Gara
Wednesday, February 10th, 2010
Kerfuffle Watch
Every legislative session, an issue pops up that gets everyone in lather – lots of high-flying rhetoric, passionate argument, and time-eating maneuvers…over legislation that either doesn’t matter much too many or doesn’t ultimately accomplish much of anything. Last year it was gay marriage. This year: telling the federal government to back off.
There are several resolutions […]