Winter: State employee raises should be in line with rest of state

Rep. John Winter (R), Thermopolis recently provided some insight on the budget session that began earlier this week in Cheyenne.
Winter said he is concerned about the money Gov. Mark Gordon has requested for state employees. “I would agree that there are some shortages there for some of these agencies, but it seems like a whole lot of money that maybe isn’t quite in line with the rest of what the citizens of this state are enduring,” said Winter.
He said he hopes legislators make some adjustments to get those budget items more in line with what is “going on in Wyoming at this time.”
This is a budget session that lasts only 20 business days. When asked if there was going to be a way to pass the budget and work on all the non-budget bills that legislators are pushing, Winter said, “There is no way. There are a lot of bills coming up. It is going to be difficult to get many of those introduced. It takes two-thirds of the Senate or the House to get them introduced.”
PROPERTY TAXES
Winter said there are a lot of bills regarding property right issues. “Hopefully we can hear most of them. It is a pretty important item to Wyoming. We need to get something done there.” He spoke about HB 45. It reads, “An Act relating to taxation; establishing a property tax exemption for single family residential structures based on the prior year assessed value.”
Winter has some concerns. “It appears to me that taxes can go up a full 5%. Under the right circumstances, folks in Wyoming don’t need that. We should have had a cap last year. Then come up with a better plan this year to resolve the situation. But that didn’t happen. So now we’re faced with doing something similar this year.”
He doesn’t know if they (legislators) can do much good for the citizens, but they must try. “It’s gotten ridiculous. These people cannot afford what they are trying to do to us. I’m part of the problem, I guess, because I’m down there in Cheyenne. I feel bad but we got to look at things realistically and create some benefits for our constituents.”
Winter agrees there needs to be a cap, but 5% is too much. He refers to another proposed bill (HB 127) that would make the cap 3%. It references an assessment of the value of the property when it was purchased. He stated that this wording seems more logical to him.
DENTURIST PRACTICE ACT
Winter is sponsoring HB 139, which reads in part, “AN ACT relating to professions and occupations; amending dentists and dental hygienist licensing statues to include denturists.”
Winter explained that he has brought the issue up a couple of times. He believes that before him, Rep. Nathan Winters brought a similar bill forward. He continued that he believed the bill is important. He has been working with Basin resident Gary Vollan.
NATURAL RESOURCE
PROTECTION ACT
The Selection Federal Natural Resource Management Committee is sponsoring HB 36: “AN ACT relating to protection of constitutional rights; providing a declaration of authority and policy; prohibiting the enforcement of federal rule or regulations regarding federal land management.”
Winter is a member of this committee. He said the bill mainly had to do with “going-ons mostly in the Rock Springs district of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). They are trying to put all this BLM land at risk. It has to do with this climate change thing. I’m dead set against it. The governor is working to stop it. I’m glad of that.”
The representative said it is a “bad deal.” He has been going to meetings in Rock Springs on the issue.