Lawley's property tax bill advances to Senate

Representative Martha Lawley's (R- Big Horn, Washakie) House Bill 121 moved on to the Senate on Feb. 3. "It was definitely good news for me. I'm very thankful for that," Lawley said. "We'll see what the Senate does, I'm hopeful," she said.

The bill would take the responsibility of supporting property tax deferments out of the county level and place it on the Department of Revenue. It also makes tax deferments available for more people, with an added category for disabled veterans. Through Lawley's bill, property tax deferments would be available to every property taxpayer on their principal residence as a possible relief option.

Another property tax bill – House Bill 99 – also moved on to the Senate last week with Lawley's support. This bill would make the state property tax refund program more accessible by amending the qualifications. "I see those two bills as working together to create a broader basket of relief options and I support both of them strongly. I think it's really important that we as a Legislature looked at where we see some specific struggles that certain segments are having in the area of property taxation. As we try to work on some of those broader issues, we are providing the relief," Lawley said.

The House worked on the supplemental budget over the course of the week, and Lawley noted that an amendment she supported may be of particular interest to Washakie County. The amendment, which passed the House, would provide state funding to cover local and county government's contributions to the cost of WyoLink, a public safety communication system run by WYDOT. The system is primarily used for emergency response.

Lawley also supported budget-related House Bill 185, which has moved on to the Senate. The bill would increase direct distributions to county and local governments from $105 million to $131.25 million.

"I was very happy for that [bill to pass the House], and I believe it will have a direct impact on the citizens of District 27 (Washakie and south Big Horn County) through the services provided by their local government," Lawley said.

Lawley was happy to report that Wyoming will be saving more of its surplus revenue than spending it. "I think we've balanced between meeting some financial needs and helping to build greater financial security in the future for our state. I feel good about the outcome," she said.

Lawley said House Bills 132 and 210 were debated i the Minerals, Business and Economic Development Committee. They were not moved on, but, they were set to be addressed during the interim period.

House Bill 132 would have allowed the state to collect and publish a list of financial institutions engaged in discrimination against energy companies and require the state treasurer and state auditor to refuse to enter a banking contract with an institution on the list. Lawley said that corporations' development of policies on environmental, social and government issues was the inspiration for the legislation.

"This is, in my view, a growing problem of what I consider to be corporate overreach and mandating what is really a form of public policy without representation," Lawley said. "I didn't think that [House Bill 132] quite hit the mark, but it identified the target."

Also failed was House Bill 132, which would create a Wyoming housing trust fund to provide affordable housing. "You can think that's mostly the bigger cities, and it certainly applies to them, but Ten Sleep is one example in our area that faces housing shortages for teachers and people they need in the community, but there is simply not affordable housing available," Lawley said. "The problem affects quality of life, but it also affects economic development in the community.

"It's one part of a solution as we move forward, but [House Bill 132] still needed some work. We didn't move that forward."

House Bill 192, cosponsored by Lawley, was seen by the Education Committee last week and placed on general file. The bill would create a K-12 food service program, requiring school districts to make lunch available to every enrolled student. A maximum of $75,000 a school year from the public school foundation program account would be appropriated for the project.

"This is a time that we should be making sure that these kids are getting a good lunch," Lawley said. "I think the need is even greater right now, because families maybe didn't need a free lunch until this economy got so difficult with the price of everything, including and especially food."

The bill, however, was not considered by the Committee of the Whole on Monday, which was the cutoff point for bills to be heard by Committee of the Whole in the house of origin. Deadline for second reading was Tuesday and third reading was Wednesday.

In conclusion, Lawley said, "We reached the halfway point. We're halfway through this session. I feel good about that, that I made it halfway through and I'm still standing."