Senate committee votes for Wyoming Business Council reform legislation

CHEYENNE — Efforts to remake, rather than to defund, the Wyoming Business Council continued Monday as the second week of the 68th Wyoming Legislature’s budget session got underway.

The Senate Minerals, Business and Economic Development Committee passed Senate File 125, “Wyoming business council-amendments,” in a 4-1 vote.

SF 125 stipulates that the WBC not expand any program or function, or begin any new program or function for a year between July 2026 and July 2027. Further, SF 125 would require the state’s economic development agency to provide a report of all programs of the WBC to the committee by April 30.

“I am strongly in favor of keeping Wyoming open for business, and I think this bill gets us there,” said one of the bill’s co-sponsors, Sen. Gary Crum, R-Laramie. “We’d get a good chance to study the Business Council and decide what the folks” want the agency to do.

However, a budget amendment made by the Joint Appropriations Committee removing nearly all funding for the Business Council remains in place, and without funding, WBC Board of Directors member Joe Schaffer noted it would be difficult to reform the state’s economic development agency.

“This conversation … is somewhat difficult to have, recognizing that as the budget currently stands, anything that may pass would be difficult to implement if there were no funds, and no Business Council that exists,” said Schaffer, who also is president of Laramie County Community College.

Another bill, Senate File 100, “Wyoming business council- evaluation and reform-2,” was tabled during the meeting in favor of SF 125.

A mirror bill also exists in the House, which was unanimously approved and sent to the House Appropriations Committee on Friday.

Public testimony: ‘We just need it’

During public comment on both bills, many came forward to urge lawmakers to keep the Business Council in place. Cheyenne Mayor Patrick Collins said that having certified economic development specialists available when opportunities present themselves, as well as land and infrastructure to make development possible, willing governing bodies and a team that “works at the speed of business,” has helped Cheyenne succeed.

“It’s critical at the end of this effort (that) a partnership remains, where a state agency, like our Wyoming Business Council, remains to support our local communities that want to grow. We just need it,” Collins said.

Shoshoni Mayor Joel Highsmith said the WBC has helped bring about development that may seem small to other towns, but has been meaningful to his community of around 500.

“We have Curry Rail Systems now in the Town of Shoshoni. We have landed a great company,” Highsmith said. “They started operation last summer, and they are up to 30 employees already.”

Douglas Mayor Kim Pexton spoke in support of a “review and reset” of the WBC but said that her community needs state assistance if it intends to grow.

“If we are going to have any kind of economic development in Douglas … we are going to need the help of the Wyoming Business Council,” Pexton said.

Max Mickelson, mayor of Rock Springs, pointed toward a successful joint project to fund the Southwest Wyoming Regional Airport commercial airline terminal in 2025, calling the WBC “one of the most powerful tools that we have.”

Ashley Harpstreith, executive director of the Wyoming Association of Municipalities, said that any effort to reform the WBC must include a plan for consistent leadership and be grounded in data. A rushed process could create gaps in leadership and stalled projects, she said.

“These considerations are not abstract. They reflect the daily realities of Wyoming’s communities,” she said.