• This week marks the beginning of the Legislature’s work on the state’s next two-year budget.

 

By Maggie Mullen, WyoFile.com

This week marks the beginning of the Wyoming Legislature’s annual budget hearings. During the four-week-long process, the Joint Appropriations Committee is meeting in Cheyenne to hear agency requests and to draft a budget bill ahead of the 2026 session. 

In even-numbered years, lawmakers are responsible for crafting and passing the state’s upcoming two-year spending plan, also known as a biennium budget. It is the one thing lawmakers are constitutionally obligated to complete during a budget session. 

While the Legislature ultimately holds the purse strings, it’s the governor who kicks off the process with budget recommendations. 

In November, Gov. Mark Gordon proposed a $11.1 billion budget that would boost state worker pay, bolster wildfire-fighting capacity, renovate the veterans home in Buffalo and put $250 million into permanent savings, among other priorities. 

“Our job, the job of government, is to provide the essentials that communities, families and citizens cannot provide on their own and be accountable and accessible,” Gordon told the committee Monday in his opening remarks. 

The hearings largely involve agencies presenting what’s called a standard budget, which includes no more than the amount needed to allow that office to provide the same level of services in the next budget cycle as it has in the current one. If an agency seeks to diverge from that spending level, such as for new equipment or a special project, it must develop and present an “exception request” to lawmakers.

Since the last budget session, a new group of Republicans has come into power. In 2024, the Wyoming Freedom Caucus won control of the lower chamber and now holds all but one seat on the House side of the Appropriations Committee. 

While the caucus has pledged to cut the budget, it remains to be seen where and how lawmakers aim to shrink spending. That could become clearer through the committee’s budget work or as lawmakers revise the bill during the session. However, they took extra steps this legislative off-season to scrutinize the Department of Health’s budget by forming a subcommittee. The agency has the largest budget of any state department. 

Alongside agency requests, the committee also relies on revenue forecasts to draft a budget bill. 

In October, a report indicated that Wyoming’s investment portfolio hit a record $1.86 billion in earnings, surpassing revenues from the mineral industry. Meanwhile, other prominent revenue sources fell short, including sales and use taxes and state royalties. 

State forecasters, known as the Consensus Revenue Estimating Group, will present lawmakers with an updated report when the Appropriations Committee gathers in January.

The committee will meet through next week, as well as the first two full weeks in January. No formal action will be taken on the budget until the final week of hearings. 

At that point, in a process known as working the bill, the committee goes unit by unit through each agency’s budget with lawmakers voting on motions to approve, deny or adjust each funding request. Vote by vote, those decisions form the budget bill, which is then prepared by the Legislative Service Office staff. 

Budget hearings are open to the public and can also be viewed remotely via the Legislature’s YouTube page. Meeting agendas are available on the Legislature’s website. 

The full Legislature convenes Feb. 9 in Cheyenne.

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