Legislative Update

Hello from the fifth week of the 2019 General Session. Monday was the last day for legislation to be heard by Committees of the Whole in each chamber of origin. I am happy to report that all of my bills but one made it out of the Senate by this deadline and are in the House for consideration.

The Senate has started working on bills we have received from the House. Bills of note include:

HB78 – Education major maintenance funding

HB69 – Collection of sales tax by marketplace facilitators

HB45 – Crime victim compensation eligibility clarification

HB24 – National board teacher certification

We will continue to work House bills and coordinate with their sponsors so that we can make legislation better before sending them to Governor Gordon.

HB37 – Elected official residency requirements, from Representative Lindholm, has had several amendments and I think it is a good bill at this time. Representative Lindholm amended it so that when needed they could be from Crook, Weston and Campbell.

Both SF118 and SF70 are significant pieces of legislation. SF118 will allow our counties to be able to get lien priority on ad valorem taxes—returning millions of dollars to local counties and communities as well as school districts.

SF70 clarifies lessees of state lands are not liable for acts of persons on the lands that they did not invite there. This should lead to increased access to state lands and less friction among lessees and users of State lands.

Two big tax bills are left to come to the floor. HB 69 – Collection of tax by marketplace facilitators, which taxes big box stores, is on second reading in the Senate. This bill would impose around a 7 percent corporate income tax on large corporations.

The second is HB66, which is a statewide lodging tax. This would impose a statewide lodging tax.

The budget bills from each chamber are now headed to conference committee with the members being selected from each chambers’ appropriations committees. I was proud to be acting president on third reading of the budget and appointed the conference committee.

The supplemental budget this year only deals with approximately 1 percent of the total state budget and we expect the conference committee to come to an agreement quickly so we can move forward with considering other major pieces of legislation.

If you have any questions or concerns, contact me at 307-680-5555 or via email at [email protected].

Sincerely,

Senator Ogden Driskill

Vice President

Senate District 1

Sponsored Bills:

SF0061 – Cooperative utilities – bylaws

Placed on House General File

SF0069 – Water development program

Passed the Senate and received by the House for Introduction

SF0070 – Landowner and lessee liability limitations

Passed the Senate and received by the House for Introduction

SF0082 – Do not resuscitate directives

This bill will have its intent carried out by rules and regulations.

SF0116 – State parks – vendor contracts

Placed on House General File

SF0117 – University of Wyoming car and truck license plates

Passed the Senate and received by the House for Introduction

SF0118 – Tax liability mineral production