Sen. Kinskey sends update from Budget Session

State Senator Dave Kinskey (R – Sheridan) delivered an update from the ongoing Legislative Budget Session of the 66th Wyoming Legislature in the form of a letter. 

Within the letter, Kinskey gives explanation of the historical significance of the set session dates selected by legislators of the past and comments on the State of the State address given by Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon. 

Kinskey touches on the work completed by himself and fellow Senators serving on the Senate Appropriations Committee as well as outlining the work to be completed in the coming days. 

To see the Senator’s letter in full, see below. 

In 1889, Wyoming voters adopted the Constitution Wyoming still has today. Wyoming is one of less than twenty states that have the same Constitution from the date of admission to present.

It was also the first Constitution in the United States to recognize the right of women to vote.

Originally, the Legislature could only meet for a maximum of forty working days “at the seat of government at twelve o’clock noon, on the second Tuesday of January of the odd-numbered years.”  It is said the dead of winter was chosen due to the agrarian nature of the state – once the livestock shipped, and the holidays were over, there was time available until spring.

In 1972 the public approved an amendment approving a budget session in even numbered years. That session has been set at no more than twenty working days since the Constitution also prohibits the Legislature from meeting more than sixty days in a two-year term. 

We convened this past Monday for the 2022 budget session.

This year, the Session kicked off on Valentine’s Day, which is not the greatest timing. I arrived in Cheyenne on Saturday, Feb. 12, but I made sure that a delivery of flowers got to my wife in time.  

We always start off the first day of Session with a prayer and the State of the State speech from the governor. Governor Gordon delivered an inspiring speech – in fact, I think it was the best speech I’ve ever heard him give.

He delivered a flat budget, one that would not increase government spending, and rightfully so. The long-term prospects for fossil fuels remain bleak. The world has turned its back on cheap, abundant energy, one of Wyoming’s primary products and major source of jobs – and tax revenue. Recent hikes in oil, gas and coal prices should not distract us from the need for long term frugality.

I am assigned to the Appropriations Committee of the Senate. We review every government spending budget, revise them where we think it necessary, and present those budgets to the entire Senate for consideration, amendment, and voting.

This past week we presented the budget for all capital construction projects, as well as the budget for Wyoming’s share of Congress’s American Recover Plan Act (ARPA) money, measuring in the hundreds of millions. This is money printed by Washington, at the cost of the highest inflation in four decades. 

By law, the money must be spent – it cannot be saved.  Seems crazy to me, but typical of Washington. Since it is one time money, it would be unwise to use it to fund existing or new on-going expenses.  The Senate’s recommendation is to put nearly all of it into capital improvements for health care, water projects and initiatives to help diversify our economy. 

This week, the Appropriations committee will present to the full Senate the budget for the on-going operation of government, over one hundred agencies, boards, and commissions.  As I write, I have at hand, for study, an eight-inch stack of budgets for the agencies assigned to me for floor presentation.

Once voted upon, the budgets go to House for a similar process. They’ll make their own changes, and then a conference committee will meet to resolve the differences.   The budget then goes to the Governor for signature, and then we go home. I look forward to home.

Senator Dave Kinskey proudly serves Johnson and Sheridan counties. He can be reached at Dave.Kinskey@wyoleg.gov.