Lawley concerned about property tax relief

As deadlines near the House and Senate are working furiously to prioritize bills and Rep. Martha Lawley (R-Worland) hopes one of those is related to property tax relief.

Today (Thursday) is the deadline for bills to be passes out of committee and Friday is the deadline for bills to pass Committee of the Whole in the second house.

Lawley said, “The General File list changes every day with new Senate Files added and the position on the list changes often. I would like to see SF 153 Residential real property - taxable value heard in Committee of the Whole. I would like to better understand how this bill might affect Washakie and Big Horn counties. “The bill would set the taxable rate at 9.5% for residential real property. 

Regarding House Bill 169 and Senate File 69 on homeowner tax exemption, Lawley noted SF 069 has been passed by the Senate and House, with amendments. The current engrossed bill would be for a 50% property tax exemption for primary residences.

The Senate did not concur with House amendments. A Joint Conference Committee has been assigned to negotiate the Bill, but has not yet met, but was slated to meet Tuesday morning.

HB 169 is in the Senate Appropriations Committee.

“I think it is likely that both HB 169 and SF 69 may die or a compromise bill will emerge. Just in case, I believe that SF 153 - Residential real property -taxable value might provide some property tax relief options for us to consider.” Lawley said.

Another bill Lawley would like to the pass through the House is SF 152 Wildfire management - task force and state forester.

“This bill will help Wyoming to better prepare for and manage wildfires,” She said. 

Lawley saw her first bill signed by Governor Mark Gordon on Monday — HB 41/Enrolled Act 7 - Environmental quality-irrevocable letters of credit. Lawley said the bill originated when she was contacted by a constituent who had a business member that wanted to use their local credit union to issue an irrevocable letter of credit to deposit with the Department of Environmental Quality in lieu of a bond on a project in the Big Horn Basin. The statue said that these irrevocable letters of credit were to be issued by a bank. I researched the matter, worked with DEQ and wrote a bill to amend the statute to add credit unions. I am very happy for this opportunity to help a constituent solve a problem.”

SUMMER NUTRITION FAILS

Lawley expressed disappointment to the House failing to pass House Bill 341 – Summer nutrition assistance for children. She said the bill “was an important bill for some Wyoming families. I believe that many legislators do not recognize the prevalence of food insecurity in many young families in Wyoming. 

This bill would have helped communities address food insecurity for children during the summer. Every community in Wyoming has children who do not have adequate nutrition at home. This problem is more concerning during the summer months when children don’t have access to school meals. I supported cutting costs of state government in our supplemental budget. But, in my view this is not an area to try to save a little money. I supported the bill and am very disappointed it did not pass.”

The bill would have allocated $1.4 million in General Fund money and $1.4 million in federal funds for the program to provide nutritional lunches to children in the summer.

Rep. John Winter (R-Thermopolis) and Rep. Dalton Banks (R-Cowley) voted against the bill.

The House passed Senate File 64 - Wyoming Opposes Mandatory Electronic ID Devices-Livestock last Thursday and Senate concurred 30-1 with the House changes. It now awaits the governor’s signature.

Lawley said, “With amendments, this bill reads like a resolution and doesn’t create policy. It really doesn’t do anything. I do think this issue can be worked through our Congressional delegation to address the issues it raises for Wyoming ranchers.

The now Enrolled Act 22 states in part, “Wyoming will seek to work with existing metal identification tag manufacturers to produce those tags historically used to confirm livestock health and identity.

“Wyoming is committed to working with other states to develop agreements and arrangements to allow livestock to be transported to and from Wyoming without being required to use electronic identification ear tags; “Wyoming shall demand that the United States Department of Agriculture and the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service provide a complete and full accounting and accurate estimate of all costs associated with mandating that Wyoming's livestock producers use electronic identification ear tags, including costs associated with hardware, software, ear tags, wands, retrofitting of livestock handling facilities, retrofitting of sales barns, working of livestock and costs related to additional paperwork, digital input and filings necessary to prove compliance with the electronic identification ear tag rule to the Wyoming legislature.”

SPONSORED BILLS

Regarding Lawley’s other sponsored bills:

House Bill 42 – Regulation of Surgical Abortions has passed the House and awaits action by Governor Gordon.

House Bill 43 on Age Verification for Websites with Harmful Material is on Senate General File.

HB 60 on Student Eligibility in Sports should be debated by the Senate Education Committee Wednesday, Lawley said.

HB 72 on Protecting Women’s Privacy in Public Spaces Act passed second reading in the Senate on Tuesday.