Split reactions from constituents during Cheyenne town hall with state representatives

Yahoo

19-04-2025

CHEYENNE — Seven Cheyenne state representatives answered questions from their constituents during a town hall Wednesday night at the Laramie County Library.
About half of the approximately 30 people who gathered in the room were pleased by their representatives' remarks, while the other half were less than impressed.
The lawmakers fielded questions on a wide range of topics, from the importance of revisiting Wyoming's election laws to how they plan to ensure funding for mental and maternal health care.
Cheyenne Republican Reps. John Eklund, Lee Filer, Rob Geringer, Ann Lucas, Steve Johnson, Daniel Singh and Jacob Wasserburger participated in the panel, which was organized by Filer. A majority of the panelists were in their first or second term as a state legislator.
For the last hour or so of the scheduled three-hour event, patrons were invited to come forward and speak directly with the lawmakers. However, roughly half the audience left the room immediately after the panel portion ended.
Local resident Jeff Daugherty moderated the panel and read out questions written on cards by audience members.
Better Wyoming member Angela Silvester told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle after the town hall she was disappointed her question wasn't properly asked.
'I had a few questions, and one of our (volunteers) also had some questions about health care,' Silvester said. 'They kind of looped it in together.'
Silvester said her question asked lawmakers why they voted for or against increasing Medicaid reimbursement rates in the supplemental budget for maternal and mental health care. Gov. Mark Gordon recommended a $2.3 million allocation to the Wyoming Department of Health to increase Medicaid reimbursement rates in his supplemental budget request to the Legislature this year.
But, for the first time in recent memory, the Legislature failed to pass a supplemental budget.
'I'm a little bit disappointed (Daugherty) didn't read my question exactly,' Silvester said.
Not everyone was disappointed by the panel, however. A couple of attendees told the WTE they were pleased by their representatives' comments and said it appeared the lawmakers knew what they were talking about.
'I thought it was good,' said Cheyenne resident Celeste Simmons. 'They explained why they made certain decisions and explained how the process works.'
Property taxes, education, elections
The 68th Wyoming Legislature passed bills related to education funding, election laws and property tax relief. A universal school choice bill and a 25% property tax cut were among the more controversial topics heavily debated during the 37-day session.
One of the first questions panelists tackled was the impact of major property tax relief. Critics of the 25% property tax cut said city services and special districts will take a major hit, especially without any backfill from the state.
During another Cheyenne town hall that was held a little more than three weeks ago, Lucas said Laramie County is 'wealthy,' and downplayed the effects of property tax cuts on local governments, which she claimed are 'inflation proof.'
'I'm here to tell you, Laramie County has reserves,' Lucas said during the previous town hall. 'I really don't know that there's any need to reduce fire protection when we are such a wealthy county.'
Rep. Ann Lucas, R-Cheyenne (2025)
Rep. Ann Lucas, R-Cheyenne
However, Lucas changed her tune a bit during Wednesday's town hall.
'I live in Laramie County. I was mostly concerned with how the 25% residential property tax cut would hit us, because this is our home,' Lucas said. 'I'll be honest with you, there's a couple of fire districts that are probably going to be hurting a little bit.'
She maintained that 'we'll be OK,' but added that the income cut to some fire districts 'is a big deal.'
'Will the government have to learn to spend a little less? Yes,' Lucas said.
In light of the property tax cuts, panelists also addressed a question that asked how the Legislature will ensure adequate funding for its K-12 public schools, especially considering a recent Laramie County district court decision that found the state has unconstitutionally underfunded its public school system.
Geringer said public school funding will be OK in the short term, but the state should 'be careful … looking into the future.'
Rep. Rob Geringer, R-Cheyenne (2025)
Rep. Rob Geringer, R-Cheyenne
'We're so dependent on a volatile market in the revenues that come into the state, and our schools are highly depend on that,' Geringer said.
He said the state should be cautious about stripping its various savings accounts just because it believes the government is too big. The state has to be able to provide funding when revenues are down, 'and it will come.'
Singh, who serves on the House Education Committee, chimed in that fossil fuels are a major source of education funding. He said the state should consider diversifying its education revenue, such as by expanding its tourism industry.
Rep. Daniel Singh, R-Cheyenne (2025)
Rep. Daniel Singh, R-Cheyenne
'There are other avenues that we can explore to add to the funding for our education system, including from a tourism reserve account,' Singh said. 'There are a lot of different discussions that we have going into the budget session, but that would be one way to add to the funding in our education system.'
The Legislature also considered a record 45 election-related bills that were filed for the session, which made up 8% of the total legislation considered, according to WyoFile.com. Only four cases of election fraud have been reported in Wyoming since 2000, according to The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.
Lawmakers were asked why they felt election integrity is so important to the state of Wyoming. Only Lucas and Johnson volunteered to answer the question. They were also the only two representatives at the panel who were primary sponsors on election bills.
Rep. Steve Johnson, R-Cheyenne (2025)
Rep. Steve Johnson, R-Cheyenne
'As a whole, the citizens of Wyoming are due a legal, honest election,' said Johnson, who is a member of the House Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Committee.
Lucas said it is a matter of patience getting all the election bills through, since a majority of them failed to go into law this year. But she didn't explain why Wyoming's election laws need to be revisited.
Visions for the future
Daugherty asked panelists one last question before they were released to speak with audience members one on one: What is your vision for the 2027-28 biennium?
Eklund, who has served in the Legislature since 2011, said he'd like to see lawmakers move on from 'bloc voting.' In the recent legislative session — the first in which the Wyoming Freedom Caucus held a majority in the House of Representatives — he said it 'was about a 35-25 vote every time.'
Rep. John Eklund, R-Cheyenne (2025)
Rep. John Eklund, R-Cheyenne
'When I started 14 years ago, I was able to bring an idea to the Legislature and have citizen legislators who came and tried to help my bills get across the finish line,' Eklund said. 'We're just not doing that.'
He said he didn't think it was constitutional, and it's already happening in Washington, D.C. Nine thousand people gave him their vote, Eklund continued. He can't represent his people if he's stuck in a bloc voting group.
'That's a vision I would have, for wanting to get out of this ridiculous, unconstitutional way we're trying to run the government,' Eklund said. 'That's how Washington, D.C. does it. We don't need to do that if we're a citizen legislature.'
Other representatives offered their perspectives on the budget for the next biennium, which will be debated in February during the 2026 budget session. Lucas said the state should curb the rate of government growth in spending. Geringer said the state should take a deeper look at how to fund education and be responsible in how it makes cuts to the budget.
'We don't need to just cut for the sake of cutting, but be surgical in how we look at the budget,' he said.
Filer said he wants to heavily focus on protecting the state's savings accounts, which generate revenue from collected interest. Lawmakers successfully eliminated the Budget Reserve Account in the recent session, and Filer said he was a bit concerned about this trend.
Rep. Lee Filer, R-Cheyenne (2025)
Rep. Lee Filer, R-Cheyenne
'We're cutting out our revenues by eliminating accounts that we have that are … making money off the investments,' Filer said. 'We want to actually look at our budget with our general fund and make sure we're spending the dollars correctly, the way we're supposed to, and not eliminating investment dollars.'