Latest news with #HouseCorporations
Yahoo
14-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Partisan school board bill advances in House committee
CHEYENNE – A measure to make Wyoming's school board elections partisan is moving through the House of Representatives. On Wednesday, the House Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Committee voted 8-1 to approve Senate File 98, 'School board trustees-party affiliation.' Bill sponsor Sen. Jared Olsen, R-Cheyenne, told the committee that the measure would require the political party affiliation of a candidate for school board be printed on a general election ballot, effective July 1. 'Clear voter alignment (through) partisan labels helps voters quickly identify candidates whose values and priorities align with their own,' Olsen told the committee. Further, Olsen said he believes the measure would increase voter engagement. 'Partisan elections are more likely to increase voter turnout, because we tap into political parties' efforts to get out the vote,' Olsen said. Wyoming Secretary of State Chuck Gray approached the committee to say that he stands 'fully in support of Senate File 98.' Under current state law, school board trustees are on the nonpartisan ballot, requiring that no political party affiliations be listed. He did express concern that 'timing of political party affiliation' be considered. In 2024, there were four to seven days where allowed party changes overlapped with the filing period for school board positions. 'I'm a little bit worried. I don't think the statute is clear,' Gray said. 'Somebody (could switch) after the primary, and then they can file for the school board in that new affiliation.' Gray said that he would prefer the bill include language that a candidate must file affiliated with the party they belonged to in May of an election year. Civics 307 blogger Gail Symons told the committee, though, that when people change party affiliation, they stay – although in past years, lawmakers have debated crossover voting, discussing ways people might 'play the game' to get elected under a party to which they don't belong, she said. 'Using actual voter data … they don't move over and go back,' she said. The committee did not consider an amendment regarding filing date, but Gray said he would continue working on "proposed language" for a committee of the whole amendment on the House floor. Several members of the public spoke against the bill, saying it was unnecessary. Jenny DeSarro, executive director of the Equality State Policy Center, as well as Brian Farmer, executive director of the Wyoming School Boards Association, urged the committee to leave school board elections nonpartisan, much as they did when the bill passed through the Senate. Brian Farmer Brian Farmer, Wyoming School Boards Association executive director 'If you take a look at any school board agenda, the vast majority of what they're dealing with doesn't matter whether the person is Republican or Democrat,' Farmer said. Mary Lankford with the County Clerks Association of Wyoming said that she did not have a policy stand on the bill but that she would propose some administrative amendments: The first would be to include language for party affiliation on filing applications, as well as a correction to the ordered list of partisan offices on a ballot. Rep. Nina Webber, R-Cody, made a motion to amend the bill as proposed by Lankford. The amended bill passed in a 8-1, with only Rep. Mike Yin, D-Jackson, voting against it.
Yahoo
11-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Cheyenne mayor dismayed as bill incentivizing affordable housing dies in House committee
CHEYENNE — Cheyenne Mayor Patrick Collins shook his head in disappointment after a committee-sponsored bill that incentivized affordable housing development in Wyoming died Friday afternoon in the House Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Committee for lack of a hearing. Last year, Collins rallied lawmakers to draft legislation that would expand affordable housing development qualifications for tax increment financing (TIF). Cheyenne has long taken advantage of TIFs to fund development projects within its community, such as the site of the former Hitching Post Inn on West Lincolnway. TIFs work a bit like a loan program. Developers who want to build property on blighted areas can request help from the city to pay for its infrastructure development. Blight is a legal term that refers to areas with deteriorated structures or faulty layout and poses a risk to public health and safety. The city pays off that investment with the increased property taxes from the new development. Once that is paid off, the city sees all further property taxes from the development as profit. The Wyoming Urban Renewal Code provides definitions for 'blighted area,' 'urban renewal area' and 'urban renewal project.' House Bill 68, 'Tax increment financing,' sponsored by the Joint Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Committee, would have created a new definition for 'affordable housing.' Affordable housing projects currently only qualify for TIFs if they're built on blighted areas, Collins told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle. 'In a lot of places where you're gonna build housing, there isn't blight,' Collins said. HB 68 would have allowed affordable housing projects to apply for TIFs under the Wyoming Urban Renewal Code, without the blight requirement. This bill was an important tool to incentivize more affordable housing projects, Collins said, which is needed to grow Wyoming's workforce. 'We studied this one all summer long in the interim committee,' Collins said. '(We) worked really hard to bring a bill that would give another tool to governments to provide more workforce affordable housing.' Friday was the last day for the Wyoming Legislature to push bills out of legislative committees in their house of origin. Any bills not advanced by the committee died on the spot. Four bills were scheduled to be heard by House committee members at noon; however, lawmakers were only able to advance the first two bills before time ran out. 'I offer my apologies for not making it through to complete the four,' said committee Chairman Rep. Chris Knapp, R-Gillette. 'Many, many bills die from not getting into committee or dying on the floor … with the time frame.' Collins said he understood there was a high volume of bills filed for consideration this legislative session. He told the WTE he planned to push for this bill again next year, but worried about the bill's likelihood to get past introduction. Since next year is a budget session, all non-budget bills will have to pass a two-thirds majority vote in order to be considered.
