Latest news with #SenateFile103
Yahoo
06-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Gordon signs 25% homeowner property tax cut bill, vetoes anti-DEI bill
CHEYENNE — Gov. Mark Gordon has signed a measure to provide a statewide, 25% property tax cut for Wyoming homeowners, but vetoed a bill to ban DEI programming at Wyoming's institutions of higher education. Gordon signed Senate File 69, 'Homeowner property tax exemption,' on Tuesday. His office said in a news release that the legislation will 'provide permanent property tax relief to Wyoming homeowners.' The same release announced that Gordon vetoed Senate File 103, 'Terminating and defunding diversity, equity and inclusion,' a bill sponsored by Sen. Cheri Steinmetz, R-Torrington. That bill prohibited DEI efforts and mandates by state agencies and public educational institutions. Property tax bill SF 69 went through many iterations over the course of the 68th Wyoming Legislature's general session, which is scheduled to end Thursday. More than once, lawmakers amended the bill to offer a 50% property tax cut, and even tried to include a calculation of relief based on a five-year, county-by-county average increase. SF 69 provides a 25% property tax exemption on the first $1 million of a single-family home's fair market value and does not have a sunset date. The exemption takes effect immediately, with an owner-occupied requirement beginning in the second year. 'I have always supported tax accountability, and this bill provides tax relief without transferring the burden to our core energy industry,' Gordon said in the release. 'This act, coupled with the bills I signed last year, responds to the call for property tax relief. Now the practical impacts of this legislation will need to be navigated by our cities, counties, special districts and citizens.' In a second joint conference committee meeting last Thursday, Rep. Scott Heiner, R-Green River, asked that the Senate agree to provide backfill for local governments in the bill, as was the House's preference. Senate Vice President Tim Salazar, R-Riverton, said the Senate could not agree to a deal on SF 69 that included backfill with a cut of only 25%. Even as late as Tuesday afternoon, representatives in the House tried to add backfill amendments to other property tax measures. Several attempts were made to Senate File 153, 'Residential real property-taxable value,' which would create a separate property tax assessment rates for residential real property. 'I think we should continue to stand for our position. It shouldn't be about what the other body is going to do, or what the guy downstairs is going to do,' Rep. J.T. Larson, R-Rock Springs, said on the House floor. 'We have to do what's right for our constituents.' All amendments to add backfill to SF 153 failed. Terminating DEI bill Falling back on an argument about local control, Gordon said in his veto letter on SF 103 that Wyoming has 'long upheld principles of responsible governance, educational excellence, and local control.' Gordon said that while he appreciated the Legislature's 'efforts to address concerns related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies within public institutions,' he had significant reservations with the bill in its current form. The bill, according to Gordon, 'introduces ill-defined and overly broad restrictions, creates significant legal ambiguities, and risks unintended consequences that could negatively impact Wyoming's higher education institutions and workforce development.' The bill also included a late-stage amendment that was added on after the Legislature failed to agree upon a supplemental budget bill. Steinmetz initially recommended that the Senate not concur with the House amendment to SF 103 to include $550,000 to fund medical education for Wyoming students under an agreement with the University of Utah, but the Senate receded from nonconcurrence and sent the bill to the governor with the amendment. Gordon said while he fully supports 'training the future physicians Wyoming needs,' the funding 'may be a more proper discussion for the Legislature to take up this fall in anticipation of the upcoming Budget Session.' Other bills, he said, also address the same concerns regarding DEI activities in public institutions, including House Enrolled Act 67, which defines prohibited practices, ensuring consistency and reducing the risk of legal confusion.
Yahoo
01-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Wyoming anti-DEI bill heads to governor's desk
CHEYENNE – A bill to terminate and defund diversity, equity and inclusion programming at the University of Wyoming and community colleges is headed for Gov. Mark Gordon's desk. Sen. Cheri Steinmetz, R-Torrington, has tried to bring sweeping changes like those proposed in Senate File 103, 'Terminating and defunding diversity, equity and inclusion,' in budget amendments during past sessions, but this year, Steinmetz said she felt it was time for the bill to stand alone. This session, Steinmetz has said that rather than DEI programming, she prefers 'racially neutral, or color blind laws.' In the House, Rep. Jeremy Haroldson, R-Wheatland, explained that the bill will create two new sections of statute regarding how funds can be used by state entities, be they 'bequested, charged, deposited, donated, endowed, fees, grants, gifts and tuition.' Rep. Jeremy Haroldson, R-Wheatland (2025) Rep. Jeremy Haroldson, R-Wheatland None could be used to 'establish or maintain DEI programs,' Haroldson said. There are carveouts in the bill for academic course instruction; dissemination of scholarly work by students, faculty or other research personnel of UW or community colleges; and for 'federally recognized tribes,' according to Haroldson. Rep. Ken Chestek, D-Laramie, said he believes measures like SF 103 will drive young people from the state. 'We've heard a lot of talk – and we all know this is true – about the brain drain. Our young people leaving the state, not wanting to come back,' Chestek said. 'It's stuff like this that makes that happen. "Our young people are not as concerned about diversity, equity and inclusion as some of us seem to be in this body, and passing laws like this simply make Wyoming an unwelcome place for the younger generation," Chestek said. Rep. Ken Chestek, D-Laramie (2025) Rep. Ken Chestek, D-Laramie Haroldson pushed back, saying that people in his community are 'no longer sending their kids to our college because of this.' Haroldson said it is within lawmakers' purview to say 'we don't want these things taught to our students," because higher education is funded by the Legislature. SF 103, he said, sets a policy clearly stating what lawmakers want taught in state-funded institutions. The House Speaker Pro Tempore likened it to his role leading Impact Ministries in Wheatland. 'I have an opportunity to stand as a pastor in a church. It'd be like someone coming in and saying, 'Hey, we want to give this donation to your ministry, but we're going to earmark it to something that morally you disagree with',' Haroldson said. 'Well, that's not going to work.' Rep. Mike Yin, D-Jackson, pointed out that SF 103 will also restrict how private donations are used within Wyoming's public institutions, which may lead to educational institutions being forced to reject entire donations, even if a small part would be used for programming prohibited under the bill. Rep. Mike Yin, D-Jackson (2025) Rep. Mike Yin, D-Jackson 'I think that's a real problem,' Yin said. Rep. Trey Sherwood, D-Laramie, brought a third-reading amendment to clarify that the restrictions would apply to governmental funds, but would 'ensure that donor funds were spent according to donor intent.' 'Keep in mind that a governmental entity can refuse a donation from a donor, so if that gift comes with DEI considerations, that governmental entity can say 'no thanks',' Sherwood said. 'This does not prohibit someone from saying, 'I don't want to take that gift.'' Rep. Trey Sherwood, D-Laramie (2025) Rep. Trey Sherwood, D-Laramie Rep. Ken Clouston, R-Gillette, said he would support Sherwood's amendment based on his own experience serving on a cancer care board in his hometown. 'We would get lots of donations set for different things,' he said. 'The button to call for health help, or when we set up a CT scanner. A lot of the donations were specific for a certain project, so I appreciate the bringer of this amendment, and how it would help in those situations.' Rep. John Bear, R-Gillette, said Sherwood's amendment would go against the intention of the bill. 'Here we are trying to decide if we are going to allow private funding to go against the policy that this bill is trying to purport,' Bear said. 'Now, does that mean that some grant monies will be at risk? Yes, it does. But should we be seeking grant money that goes in opposition to this bill?' Haroldson said he was also concerned Sherwood's amendment would prohibit DEI programming 'except for when it is (paid for with) private funds.' 'I stand 100% behind the idea that we want to eliminate the conversation of diversity, equity and inclusion, and what that has turned into in this day and age,' Haroldson said. Sherwood, however, argued that it is easy for lawmakers as collective appropriators to put restrictions on state and federal funds. But the conversation is different when it comes to private dollars, she said. 'Consider that maybe there is a donor who wants to provide funding for a Black History Month program,' Sherwood said. "I don't know that it is clear in existing language that that would be allowed.' Sherwood's amendment failed, and SF 103 passed the House in a 52-7 vote.
