Legislators look at budget, taxes and election security on Tuesday

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (Wyoming News Now) - On Tuesday, both legislative bodies started to review supplementary budgets and amendments.

This week lawmakers will dive deeper into the approximate $800M in state funds to allocate to services, programs or savings.

Also, House Bill 121 and 99, regarding Tax Deferrals and Refunds crossed the floor.

Legislators are also looking to provide citizens with targeted relief by reducing assessment rates from 9.5 to 7.5 percent.

“I think the great thing about this session is we finally do have a bit more money than expected, and we are trying to find ways to either give that back to the citizens or in long-term savings to make sure if we have another dip, we’re protected,” said Rep. Dan Zwonitzer, H.D. 43.

Next, the Senate Corporations, Elections & Political Subdivisions committee listened to testimony regarding the Convention of States and Election Security bills.

The first bill proposes amendments to the U.S. Constitution giving states more say over federal power, financial restraints, and congressional term limits.

“Reign in the federal government. We have an out-of-control congress that’s not going to fix itself, so putting limits on congress putting limits on the judiciary in the federal government, I think is the only way to stop it,” said Sen. Bo Biteman, S.D. 21.

This bill would require three-quarters approval of U.S. states to become law.

Finally, the Election Security bill would put into legal code election practices like external digital connection of election machines and software and ballot box security,

“I think everybody’s is on the same page that this is a healthy codification of basically what we do now, and it also has one addition which would be a statistical analysis of election results,” said Cale Case, S.D. 25.

Budget discussions will continue on Wednesday.