The Wyoming Board of Trustees met via Zoom on May 26, 2021. Chairman Mike Bailey called the meeting to discuss legislative interim topics and to reconnect with state regulatory agencies after the long COVID disruption. While the Trustees met several times during the legislative session, those were only policy discussions on certain pending legislation. A regular business meeting was necessary to conduct business and formally begin policy discussions on interim topics and the 2022 Biennium Budget Session early next year. WPMA staff called all Wyoming members prior to the meeting requesting their input on topics and asking if there were any issues that the Trustees needed to discuss. There were no additional topics however, every member lamented driver and employee shortage issues in every part of the state.
After the Trustees passed the previous minutes, heard a report on the Association's finances and an update on EMA activities, staff reported on the final outcome of the 2021 Regular Legislative Session. Bills were discussed from the session as reported in the Bill Tracking Final Report (see previous Newsletters). Staff reported that several bills passed that should help Wyoming small businesses. Of primary import was that liability immunity bill that WPMA worked on extensively that replaced “good faith” protection standards with “clear and convincing” standards that will allow the court to review claims without dragging the business owner into court. The good faith standard often led employers to settle unsubstantiated claims to avoid going to court. WPMA was a leader in this discussion. Wyoming now has the toughest liability immunity provisions in the country. Other bills that passed were the air and ground ambulance bills (trying to help struggling ambulance companies), online sports wagering, Gaming Commission updates (including skill based games revisions) and a bill allowing the replacement of the state transportation computer system, although no funding was provided. Bills that WPMA helped defeat were the tolling-of-I-80 bill, the RUC bill and a tobacco tax bill. Other bills that were defeated were related to workplace transparency (allowing employees to discuss wages), KENO kiosks, minimum wage, primary seat belts revisions, photo radar allowance, medical marijuana implementation and an autonomous vehicle regulatory framework. Some of the defeated bills will be heard over the interim.
The Trustees discussed legislative interim topics of particular interest to marketers. As previously reported, two committees will be taking up the issue of tobacco taxation on the Wind River Reservation. The Joint Revenue Committee and the Select Committee on Tribal Relations will attempt to entice the Northern Arapaho and Eastern Shoshone Tribes to form a compact with the state similar to the compact on petroleum products sold at retail. If such a concept does not warrant support of the tribes, staff will push for legislation to provide for uniform taxation. Hopefully, the legislature will agree, pass a bill and then the tribes can get onboard.
Highway funding issues will also be heard...again. The Trustees reviewed a document (
Revenue Briefing - Slides 5-6) that outlines several options for funding including a fuel tax increase, tolling options, road usage charge options, dedicating a sales tax increase to just highways or I-80, a sales tax on fuel sales, fee increases and others methods. The Trustees continue to support the fuel tax increase as it is the most administratively cost effective method available. The Trustees continue to oppose all tolling concepts, the RUC bill and any earmarked taxes such as sales taxes.A topic that may be discussed is the local government preemption bill from the last session that failed in the Senate CoW. Staff explained that he was surprised by the contract lobbyists bringing the bill since there were no occurrences in the state to demonstrate the need for the bill. The Senate killed the bill on a vote of 11-19 for this reason as evidenced by floor debate. Only Pinedale has passed a flavored vaping ban and Jackson's attempt at prohibiting flavored tobacco products was tabled. And with the change in legal age of use to 21 years old, the issue of youth tobacco use seems to be subsiding. Staff asked the Trustees if WPMA should support the bill this interim (or next session) or be neutral. The Trustees felt that until there was a pressing need where examples of local government overreach could be demonstrated, there was no need for the legislation. WPMA will monitor. While WPMA definitely supports preventing local governments from passing bans that only send customers to adjacent non-ban locations, there must be compelling evidence of the need for legislators to support the concept.
Revenue Briefing - Slides 5-6) that outlines several options for funding including a fuel tax increase, tolling options, road usage charge options, dedicating a sales tax increase to just highways or I-80, a sales tax on fuel sales, fee increases and others methods. The Trustees continue to support the fuel tax increase as it is the most administratively cost effective method available. The Trustees continue to oppose all tolling concepts, the RUC bill and any earmarked taxes such as sales taxes.A topic that may be discussed is the local government preemption bill from the last session that failed in the Senate CoW. Staff explained that he was surprised by the contract lobbyists bringing the bill since there were no occurrences in the state to demonstrate the need for the bill. The Senate killed the bill on a vote of 11-19 for this reason as evidenced by floor debate. Only Pinedale has passed a flavored vaping ban and Jackson's attempt at prohibiting flavored tobacco products was tabled. And with the change in legal age of use to 21 years old, the issue of youth tobacco use seems to be subsiding. Staff asked the Trustees if WPMA should support the bill this interim (or next session) or be neutral. The Trustees felt that until there was a pressing need where examples of local government overreach could be demonstrated, there was no need for the legislation. WPMA will monitor. While WPMA definitely supports preventing local governments from passing bans that only send customers to adjacent non-ban locations, there must be compelling evidence of the need for legislators to support the concept.The Trustees met with several guests during the meeting. DEQ Deputy Director Luke Esch, Storage Tank Program Manager Adrian Ducharme and Storage Tank Compliance Supervisor Oma Gilbreth addressed the meeting. Since it had been over a year since the Trustees visited with DEQ STP, an update was appreciated. The primary takeaway from the discussion was that marketers are keeping up with compliance and have a 96% compliance rate, the best in the country! A separate article in this Newsletter addresses the topics discussed with DEQ STP.
WYDOT Fuel Tax Administration Program Supervisor Kim Peters addressed the Trustees about the Department’s activities. Due to COVID and other issues, the Department is about 18 months behind on fuel tax report audits but they are catching up. Larson asked how the staffing issue was going, remembering that the Department was allowed to hire only temporary employees … i.e. no benefits included … for many years. Peters explained that it is getting better and a full time permanent position is currently available. They have been budgeted with all full time positions. Filling those positions in today's employment environment is the challenge.
State Senator and Senate Revenue Committee Chairman Cale Case (R) Lander/Fremont County visited with the Trustees. The Senator began by discussing the extreme fiscal situation in Wyoming due to extractive industries declines and the structural deficit that continues to be ignored by the legislature. The Senator spoke about three topics at Larson’s request.
- The Senator supports the statewide stamping and taxation of tobacco products on the Wind River Reservation. He serves on both Committees that will hear the topic. He suggested that staff communicate with Senator Affie Ellis, Chairman of the Select Committee on Tribal Relations. The bottomline for the Senator is that he knows there are problems with the current system and that implementing a compact with the tribes will benefit them substantially while leveling the playing field at retail. Living in Lander, he is very aware of the abuse of selling tax exempt products to non-Native Americans and that tax avoidance issue enabled by the current process
- Senator Case then discussed the many reasons why he supports the tolling of I-80. He feels that dedicated funding will allow all other roads of the state to benefit while at the same time, I-80 can be made into a world class interstate with additional lanes and exemplary upkeep. Larson discussed the need for assurances that commercialization will not occur at the rest areas and the need to allow for locals that use the highways to get to and from jobs to get a toll break. Case is adamantly opposed to commercialization of rest areas but has concerns about how to allow locals to avoid tolls, touting that the FHWA has been adamantly against such "discriminatory" schemes in other states.
- Finally, at staff’s request, the Senator explained the many nuances with the controversial Medicaid expansion topic. While netting the state $38 million in savings if implemented because the federal program will cover services that the state currently pays for, there remains a deep legislative opposition to federal programs that often change and dictate provisions the state may disagree with. Case stated his disappointment at the misinformation being testified in Committee. He feels the need in Wyoming is huge as 24,000 citizens go without insurance. He closed by stating the state pays for those services today so why not accept government funding for those populations? At the end of the discussion, the Senator requested that the Trustees support the concept. In a subsequent discussion after the Senator exited the meeting, the Trustees declined to support Medicaid expansion and will remain neutral.
There was no other business before the Board and the Chairman adjourned the meeting.
