TribTown

Updated my blog image: this is me next summer -- not campaigning!

Couldn't help but think this morning while reading the paper that there is someone that needs to be fired over the PAWS debacle, and it isn't just the firm hired for millions to administer it. How about accountability for blowing it from the Dept. of Ed?

Best way to fire the one responsible is to be sure you're registered to vote.

The 2010 legislature promised to be a challenging session, and the promise has proven to be true. Our elected officials demonstrated their ability to continue basic services and to maintain savings discipline. They tightened and clarified existing laws and prepared for the development of new technologies that may be part of Wyoming's future foundation. Not too bad for a bunch of private citizens who show up for a month in Cheyenne.

It has been my honor to serve in the Wyoming House of Representatives for 6 years. This is the last year of my 3rd term. I will complete my committee work during the interim, but on November 2, election day, my name will not be on the ballot. Like all of you, I will listen to the TV and the radio to hear who our new Governor and other elected officials will be. I wish them all well. It is an incredibly difficult job to be a citizen legislator, and I am so darn lucky to have been able to do it.

Thanks to the folks back home who voted me in and have supported me. And a huge thanks to my family and friends for sharing me all those times I was called on to serve my constituents. I am coming home!

No lunch today as we completed the Budget Conference Committee final documents. Many thanks due to the Co-chairs Senator Phil Nicholas and Representative Rosie Berger. Both led civil and fact driven debate between the Senate and House amendments to the budget and made it possible to reach final agreement without rancor or lingering animosities.

Am I thrilled with the final result? No. However, I know it is fundamentally fair and that in itself eases any discontent. I strongly believed in the House position on funding for Local Governments, which was an additional $10 million. The Conference committee settled on $6.5 million. So be it. Legislating is about accepting the final vote and moving on to the next issue.

Now we face a pile of bills that have survived 3 readings in the Senate, two readings in the House, and now must be passed one final reading. We heard many of the most impassioned speeches of the session this morning in attempts to stop or to pass bills that are, oh so close, be becoming laws.

The Budget conference committee finished meeting last night at 7:45, with the Senate members announcing that the committee was at an impasse. When asked when we would meet again, Chairman Phil Nicholas replied, "When the House offers a different response to the Senate's position."

The point of disagreement? The amount of money and schools listed on the School Facilities construction list for the biennium have plagued the JAC for months, and resolution remains illusive. Unfortunately, the money for Developmental Disabilities and Local Governments is in the mix of compromise and solution.

Stay tuned. At this point, solutions remain beyond reach.

This week promises a series of sprints to the end of the 60th Legislature and its Budget Session. The Speaker of the House, Colin Simpson, appointed me as the lone Democrat on the House Budget Conference Committee. Other committee members include House Appropriations Committee Chairman Rosie Berger, JAC Committee member Bryan Pederson from Cheyenne, former Speaker of the House Roy Cohee of Casper, and Majority Floor Leader Ed Buchanan. What a team -- we face the Senate Appropriations Committee as the Conference Committee appointed by President Hines.

This morning the House "team" met with Speaker Simpson to review the House position on each of the budget amendments adopted in the Senate.

I am limited in saying more than that. From my perspective, this is like the game Stratego, that I played with my brother and kids. I don't want to tip my hand on where our battleships and aircraft carriers are located on our side of the board!

Only kidding ... kind of. I'll try to give a few inside views as the day progresses to blog readers.

The end of this Legislative Session is in sight. For me, it means that I woke up this morning feeling great, and ready for a return to home. Old ranchers advise us, however, that you never let your horse gallop back to the barn. Builds bad habits -- after all, the horse wants to get home too. The next time you head home, he'll take off and you'll have no control (is there a metaphor for my colleagues here?)

We still have a stack of Senate bills that need debate or they will die at the end of next Monday. (Right now we have a serious debate between the House Representatives that are attorneys: the topic being LLSs.)

Long hours this week. We worked until 8:30 on Tuesday night, with a supper of delivered pizza. Lots of cranky debate and hard feelings. Wednesday was business as normal, and then back to long, intense debate on the budget third readings on Thursday. Much more civil, although equally heated.

I overheard a legislator saying this morning that all he remembers from yesterday was being called a "loser." That jibe came during a heated fight over funding to local governments. The situation, however, led to two of the most effective speeches. Rep. Mark Semlek and Rep. Ross Diercks, two veterans of the legislature, used quiet eloquence and wisdom to quickly settle the debate.

Isn't that how representative democracy is supposed to work?

We may face a long night at the Legislature. We began debating 2nd Reading Amendments to the budget bill around 11 this morning. We took a break for committee meetings and lunch, and then returned to debate at 1:30. It is now 3:30 and we have covered 17 of 51 proposed amendments.

We just voted to fully restore the 10% cut to the Developmentally Disabled program -- a $4,100,000 increase to the budget. Representative Elaine Harvey has become an incredibly effective legislator and swayed this conservative body to support her. Well done, Elaine!

If the Senate is able to pass a mirror amendment, then that particular aspect of the budget will remain solid and will not be debated in the conference committee.