Week 2 Update — JD Williams

This week I have received more communication from you than ever before. I appreciate all of the messages of gratitude you have shared. You are welcome. I will continue to honestly advocate for hard-working Wyoming families. I enjoyed the candid note one of you shared with me: “Thank you for taking the hard votes, we didn’t elect you to be a coward and vote NO to everything!” I appreciate your support and I also appreciate you holding me accountable.

The first reading of the budget is reserved for introduction of the budget. There is no opportunity to amend the budget on first reading. There were 122 proposed amendments for the budget on 2nd reading and 120 amendments on 3rd reading. Some of you have asked “why so many amendments?”

The Joint Appropriations Committee (JAC) is responsible for marking up the Governor’s budget and presenting it to the legislature. The ’26 JAC proposed biennial budget is roughly $270M less than the Governor’s recommended budget. I believe in limited government, but I also believe in responsible government.

Education is the state’s largest expenditure followed by the Department of Health. Funding education is a constitutional obligation. Past court rulings reinforce this fact. Department of Health expenditures are often influenced by federal regulations. These 2 Departments make up 70% of our budget. When we cut funding from education we run afoul of the constitution. Cutting funding from the Department of Health is complicated by the federal interface. That leaves about 30% of the budget that isn’t tied up in Education or Department of Health. The JAC is very motivated to cut the Governor’s budget. I agree that we must always guard against government growth. The challenge is what and where the cuts are located in the budget.

The number of amendments reflect the difference of opinion between the JAC and other members of the House of Representatives. Some 2nd and 3rd reading budget amendments proposed the following; funding for hungry kids during the summer, support for keeping senior citizens in their homes as they age, support for the centers that care for our developmentally disabled children, funding for the legal defense for our legacy industries (coal, oil, and gas), funding for legal defense for Wyoming water rights, funding for legal defense to defend our public lands from RMP litigation, and funding for basic department and agency budgets.

Many of the proposed “cuts” were simply a 50% reduction which funded only 1 year of the biennium. These “cuts” will need to be funded next year in the supplemental budget, but the numbers will reflect that this legislature “cut spending” and the next, not yet elected legislature will need to pass the largest supplemental budget ever to cover the “cuts” this

legislature passed on to them. This is not responsible government; this is passing the buck. The proposed JAC budget does not reflect our Wyoming values.

I am committed to funding the University of Wyoming. I believe we should restructure the Wyoming Business Council rather than eliminate it. I believe we should pay our state employees a fair wage, and I am committed to doing what I can to help hungry kids in the summer. These are a few of the deficiencies in the budget that you have contacted me about. Call me anytime. 307.340.6006