CHEYENNE—The future of the Wyoming Business Council remains in flux. The Senate and House budget bills covering the 2027-28 biennium include very different allocations for the state’s economic development agency, and no WBC reform bills remain in play. The Senate laid back Senate File 125 , “Wyoming business council-amendments,” on third reading Tuesday, the deadline for third reading on bills in their chamber of origin, or crossover day. Three other bills related to the future of the WBC have failed to clear deadlines or been voted down. Although no individual bills regarding the state’s economic development agency remained in play in the House over the weekend, representatives met Saturday for third reading of the budget bill and continued to make adjustments, including funding allocated to the WBC. The Business Council had requested $94 million during the interim, and Gov. Mark Gordon trimmed that back to $55 million in his biennium budget recommendation, Rep. Rob Geringer, R-Cheyenne, said Saturday. Coming out of the interim, the Joint Appropriations Committee had cut back that number to zero, effectively recommending no funding at all for the WBC. In budget negotiations in the Senate, lawmakers reverted to the governor’s budget, rather than the JAC-recommended budget bill. The same did not happen in the House, so Geringer brought forward a third-reading budget amendment to allocate $9.8 million to the WBC for the biennium. “The reason for that is so we can give them one year of funding with no expansion. It takes out a couple programs like the Business Ready Community program, it satisfies our statutory obligations, and we can talk about next year, what the next step is,” he said. “It takes us through this year, and we can figure out if we need to keep this agency or not.” Before the House voted in favor of his amendment, Geringer noted that the JAC recommendation to defund the WBC included no plans for unwinding the agency, although a failed 75-page Senate file sponsored by the JAC had outlined that process at the beginning of the session. “What happens to all the statutory obligations? We have nothing,” Geringer said. Rep. Steve Harshman, R-Casper, said he supported the amendment because if the state is to transition into something other than the WBC, “we need to transition, not jump off the cliff.” Rep. Bob Davis, R-Baggs, also said that he’d like to know the JAC’s “exit strategy of shutting down an agency like” the WBC. Rep. Jayme Lien, R-Casper, said she was against the amendment, noting that a $2 million appropriation in the budget for a “skeleton crew” to run through WBC audit procedures was sufficient. Rep. Trey Sherwood, D-Laramie, said the $2 million Lien referred to would go to the State Budget Department to finish out contracts, grants and loans, and not to Business Council staff. Rep. Trey Sherwood, D-Laramie, stands outside the State Capitol. (Mike Vanata/WyoFile) “That is not to finish out or close out the work of the agency. If we don’t pass this, you have 40 people who are just going to walk today, tomorrow, this week. Done, there will be no one there to finish the work,” Sherwood said. Geringer’s $9 million amendment passed in a 31-29 vote Saturday. Swapping programs The House voted later Saturday to approve an amendment from Speaker of the House Chip Neiman, R-Hulett, that would move $54.9 million in Business Ready Community grant funding, now administered by the WBC, to the Countywide Consensus program. The CWC was previously administered by the Office of State Lands and Investments, and Neiman said he believed the CWC grant program was last active in 2015-16. In the past, CWC funding was allocated as grant funding by the state lands office to cities, towns, counties, special districts and joint powers boards to construct, replace or improve a fixed asset or public service facility; for major building and facility repair and replacement; and for routine maintenance and repair that did not constitute a capital project. “I’ve actually had people tell me … ‘You know, Chip, I’d really rather you not bring me any new businesses into my town because I can’t even fix and be ready for them with what’s going on under the ground,’” Neiman said. “Many of these communities need infrastructure, water, sewer, curb, gutter, other things that are critical to making our communities business ready.” Funding the CWC, he said, would do just that. Neiman said he preferred the CWC program to the BRC program because under the BRC, communities have to “fight each other” and “sometimes it becomes political.” Under the CWC program, “counties work together to form a consensus,” Neiman said. Rep. Rachel Rodroguez-Williams, R-Cody, said that she believed the BRC grant process was discriminatory, adding that she appreciated the “fairness” of the CWC program. “The Wyoming Business Council has been discriminating against communities that have not implemented the max penny, the fifth or sixth penny,” she said. “So essentially, if you come from a very conservative community, you’re at the bottom of the list.” Other representatives expressed support for bringing back the CWC program. Rep. John Bear, R-Gillette, referenced Geringer’s earlier question about plans for the future without the Business Council. Rep. John Bear, R-Gillette, during the 2026 Wyoming Legislature budget session in Cheyenne. (Mike Vanata/WyoFile) “It was brought up many times on a previous amendment, ‘What’s the plan? What’s the plan?’ You’re now seeing an incredible plan. This is a plan that will make our communities ready for businesses,” Bear said. Rep. Lloyd Larsen, R-Lander, said that under the CWC program, some smaller communities did sometimes lose funding to larger ones due to a lack of representation in the process, and added that a $54.9 million reappropriation of BRC funding would not restart the program in perpetuity. “We’ve got to be willing to, in two years, come back and say, oh yeah, we adopted this and continue to fund this,” Larsen said, adding later that the state’s stormwater and drinking water systems alone need an infusion of $2 billion for infrastructure improvements. “It will be ongoing,” Larsen said. Bear said the JAC would consider long-term funding of the CWC program in the next interim. Rep. Christopher Knapp, R-Gillette, called the CWC program the best way “for smaller communities to be able to fund their projects.” Rep. Mike Yin, D-Jackson, said that he could support bringing back CWC funding, but wondered why it had to come at the expense of the BRC program. “It’s weird because it comes at the defunding of the Business Ready Communities program, and I kind of think both are useful in different ways,” he said. “Frankly, I think both are necessary for economic development in all of our communities.” Neiman’s amendment passed in a voice vote Saturday. The Senate rejected a mirror budget amendment Friday afternoon, brought by Sen. Cheri Steinmetz, R-Torrington, without extensive debate, in an 18-13 vote. The fate of other WBC bills Senate File 65, “Wyoming business council-repeal,” sponsored by the JAC, would have fully terminated the Wyoming Business Council. It failed introduction in the Senate 10-21 on the first day of the session, Feb. 9. The lower chamber’s reform bill, House Bill 150, “Wyoming business council-evaluation and reform,” sponsored by Geringer, failed a Friday night Committee of the Whole deadline as the House continued hearing budget amendments late into the evening. The Senate Minerals Committee chose to pass SF 125 on, letting Senate File 100, “Wyoming business council-evaluation and reform-2,” a mirror to HB 150 sponsored by Sen. Taft Love, R-Cheyenne, fail without a report from committee on Thursday. Both chambers are in the process of hearing the other’s budget bill and will enter into joint conference committee negotiations on the state’s spending plan later this week. For more legislative coverage, click here. The post Wyoming Business Council future unclear as two chambers support different visions appeared first on WyoFile . ...read more read less