Proposed Supplemental Budget Highlights
The governor’s budget proposal focuses on protecting Wyoming citizens and ensuring their future; supporting core industries, growing new ones, and expanding opportunities; and maintaining and improving effective and efficient government. The proposal includes the following recommendations:
Education and Community Support
- Recommends allocating funds to mitigate the reduction of federal funds to administer the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
- Continues funding for the Cent$ible Nutrition program which provides education, budgeting, and life-skills to assist families in making healthy food choices and stretching food dollars.
- Encourages the legislature to support getting locally grown healthy foods into schools.
Healthcare
- Sustains the state’s provider network for critical services by recommending increases to:
- Assure care for people with developmental disabilities.
- Increase home health reimbursements for high needs children.
- Improve access to maternity services for new moms and families.
- Continue providing community-based resources that allow seniors and those with disabilities to stay in their homes longer.
Public Safety and Disaster Response
- Establishes two firefighting modules and expands the Smoke Buster Program to enhance the state’s ability to put out fires from the start.
- Requests completion of a program initiated last year to restore fire-damaged lands and resources, including controlling annual invasive grasses.
- Recommends allocating funds to the Department of Corrections to cover the out-of-state housing costs of out-of-state prisoners and address increased costs to ensure continued operations without a gap in services.
Local Government and Fiscal Clarity
- Provides first year funding for property tax refund programs.
- Recommends the legislature examine the entire tax structure to provide more clarity, fairness, equity, and integrity.
Natural Resources and Core Industries
- Directs funds to the Department of Environmental Quality to timely process permits for energy development and ensure protection of public health and the environment.
- Continues investments in energy-related research including continued enhanced oil recovery research and the development of a coal pyrolysis plant.
- Recommends funding to shore up the State Engineers Office and the Office of the Attorney General to protect the use of water in the state.
Effective and Efficient State Government
- Provides an increase in the salaries of state employees to bring them up to a comparable market value in 2024.
- Recommends a modest capital construction budget that fully funds major maintenance for all state facilities, replenishes the contingency fund of the State Building Commission, and funds the longer-range needs study.