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· Governor's Letters - The Committee reviewed the letters and took the following action:
· Property Tax Refund - GL1 Requests an additional one million dollars to extend funding for the Property Tax Refund program as is. *This does not take in account the fiscal note for the Joint Revenue Committee's proposal to expand the program. AMEND to add $10 M to the program.
· Transfer to Wyoming Permanent Mineral Trust Fund - GL2 Requests $412 M to deposit into the PMTF in two installments: one on July 1, 2023 (end of this fiscal year) and the other at the end of next fiscal year on July 1, 2024. This precise number reflects the amount of revenue replacement received from COVID dollars. AMEND and reduce to $0. The JAC House and Senate were unable to reach an agreement, but will continue to revisit the excess of the dollars.
· Energy Matching Funds - GL3 Requests for an additional $50 M from the General Fund for energy related projects to assist in matching funds. AMEND to add $160 M contingent upon a bill that will be drafted of an amount in the encumbered in the Auditor's Office.
· Enterprise Inflation - GL4 Request for $14.45 M in General Funds for inflationary costs related to delivering services. AMEND as one-time funding only.
· Employee Compensation - GL5 Enterprise wide ask of $61 M in the second phase to employee compensation, due to inflation state employees still are about 17% behind the 2022 marketplace. AMEND to reduce to $44.5 M.
· Mineral Royalty Grant Funding - GL6 Restore the program to $16 million for the remainder of the biennium to assist local communities in emergency for infrastructure needs. AMEND to reduce the amount to $10 M with restrictions.
· Local Governments - GL7 Requests an additional $26 M for cities, towns and counties using the existing direct distribution model. AMEND to $13 M and distribute through the Madden - Bebout formula.
· Colorado River Hydrology - GL8 Requests one-time funding of $500,000 for the State engineer's Office to contract for hydrologic modeling. AMEND and adopt effective immediately.
· Predatory Management - GL9 Requests $1,483,510 from the General Fund for the Wyoming Department of Agriculture for predator management. AMEND and adopt immediately.
· Invasive Species - GL10 Requests $1.5 M to create a new Invasive Species account. AMEND to move WWNRT and administered from that agency. Requirement as one-time funds and will not revert.
· Brucellosis - GL11 Requests $500,000 from the General Fund for the Livestock Board. AMEND to adopt.
· Wyoming's Tomorrow - GL12 Requests an additional $35 M of General Funds for the Wyoming's Tomorrow Scholarship Fund. AMEND to adopt and to increase $40 M with no match requirement.
· Wyoming's Wildlife and Natural Resource Trust - GL13 Requests an additional $5 M from the General Fund to the corpus of the Wyoming Wildlife and Natural Resource Trust account. AMEND to adopt.
· Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund - GL14 Requests an additional $8 M from the General Fund for the Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund. AMEND to reduce amount to $4 M.
· Retiree Inflation Adjustment - GL15 Requests a one-time investment of $68 M from the General Fund and $34 M from the School Foundation Program to cover the ongoing increase in cost in benefits. DENY.
· WRS Employer Contribution - G16 Requests a one percent increase to the employer contribution with $3 M from the General Fund and $1.6 M of other funds to assist with inflation on the Wyoming Retirement System. This deal with the fund ratio. DENY. JAC requested LSO to draft a bill to address this issue.
· Cost Allocation State Facilities - GL17RR On-Going Cost Allocation spending authority budget for agencies using federal or special revenue spending authority in the Thyra Thomson Building. AMEND to adopt.
· American Rescue Plan Act Funding Allocation - GL18
· Proposes to allocate ARPA funds to 8 additional programs:
· Outdoor Rec $12,000,000 (State Parks) ADOPT
· HHS Capital Construction $15 M (OSLI) ADOPT + $15 M
· Water & Sewer $50 M (OSLI) ADOPT + $15 M
· Wyolink $4.5 M (WYDOT) DENY
· Workforce Programs $5 M (DWS) ADOPT, decrease by $2.5 M
· Food Insecurity System Improvement $3 M (DFS) ADOPT
· Staffing stabilization $7.5 M (WDH) DENY
· Provider relief $5 M (WDH) DENY
· Proposes 5 new programs:
· Difficult to Employe Self-Sufficiency Program $2.2 M DENY
· Chronic Disease Management Pilot $1.1 M DENY
· Family Resource Centers $5.5 M DENY
· High Needs Youth Services $8 M ADOPT, reduce to $4M
· Unmet Housing Needs $15 M DENY
· K - 12 External Cost Adjustment - GL19 Requests $70.4 M from the School Foundation Program for an external cost adjustment for education materials, energy, and professional and non-professional personnel costs. DENY. JAC will insert original amount considered for $43.4 M in the supplemental budget bill.
· Common School Permanent Land Fund - GL20 Propose moving $248 M into the Common School Permanent Permanent Land Fund from the School Foundation Program. DENY. JAC will reconsider after they work through rest of the appropriations.
· Transfer from Strategic Investment & Projects Account to the Legislative Stabilization Reserve Account - GL21 Proposes simplifying the budget process with "one checking and one savings account" and transfers $1,104,661 from SIPA to the LSRA. DENY.
· Capital Construction Bill - Will be included to the Supplemental Budget bill. AMEND Gov's Rec by:
· $70 M for inflationary costs for University of Wyoming
· Footnote for appropriations: Requires the monies first be used for residence halls. No other construction for west stands or natarium could be approved without legislative authorization.
· $34 M for state office building in Riverton.
· $1.4 M to the initial $50 M to fully fund state an community college inflationary.
In summary, JAC cut $140 M from the Governor's letters to the FY 23 - 24 Supplemental Budget. However, they added $190 M in additional considerations including: $30 M for hospitals, water and sewer; $5 M for Wyoming's Tomorrow; and $160 M for energy projects. Additionally there was $160 M appropriated that was not available to the Governor through federal encumbrances. JAC saved approximately $479 M less in permanent savings than the Governor did. The LSRA is left with about $1.5 B, largely due to transfers out into savings. Without the transfers the LSRA would have been left with just over $2 B.
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