The Wyoming Legislature’s Joint Appropriation Committee recommended this past week that there be no External Cost Adjustment to education funding.   It is only a recommendation, but their recommendation usually holds.
The External Cost Adjustment is sort of a fancy way of saying cost of living adjustment adjustment.  The external cost adjustment attempts to maintain the dollar value over time beyond the base funding year, school year 2006-2007.  Last year the external cost adjustment that was approved for 2009-2010 was 3.7%.  This adjustment generated about $30.8 million.  The year before (2008-2009) the …

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The term “Duty of Care” is stated repeatedly in the halls of the Wyoming State Capitol and there are lobbyists working full time on this subject matter.  And if you ask certain legislators their opinion on “duty of care”, you get strong opinions on both sides of the issue.  There have been numerous articles in the local state papers and even in national papers like the Los Angeles Times on the issue of duty of care in Wyoming.  But it is not always understood by everyone, since it is somewhat …

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Senator Mike Massie of Albany County has been crusading for years on the subject matter of social/emotional development of Birth through 5 year olds (B-5).  Senator Massie gave a presentation a few weeks ago reporting on the wonderful results of a program that the Legislature started a few years ago.  The Legislature funded (and continues to fund every year) $700,000 to mental health centers around the state to help pay the salaries of 10 mental health professionals that are working throughout their respective communities on social/emotional development of Birth through …

As co-chairman of the Select Committee of Mental Health and Substance Abuse, I have tried to get the committee to all 5 of the Wyoming State Facilities.  We have met every year for the past 5 years at the Wyoming State Hospital and taken numerous tours and inspections of that facility.  One major change we were able to implement was putting in a new HVAC system in the Karn Building.  We toured it 2 years ago in July and the heat was unbearable.  They had no air conditioning.  The new …

As the co-chair of the Select Committee on Mental Health and Substance Abuse, I invited the Brain Injury Association of Wyoming to present to the Select Committee last Friday in Thermopolis.  They presented the idea of charging a surcharge to certain crimes such as DUI, Domestic Violence, etc that would be placed in a fund to help those with brain injuries in Wyoming.
Wyoming has a Medicaid Waiver program for Acquired Brain Injury that is well funded and highly effective.  The problem is that it is primarily designed for adults.  Children …

Throughout the year, the State of Wyoming tries to estimate revenue coming into state coffers so that the policy makers (legislature and Governor) know how much money will be available for government operations.  This task is accomplished through a joint legislative/executive branch group called the Consensus Revenue Estimating Group (CREG).  Policy makers throughout the state anticipate the “CREG reports” and then discuss them ad nauseum after we receive them.  The last report came out in May.  The October CREG report just came came out yesterday.  The big news is that …

Father Damien was canonized today.  He is the patron saint of those with Hansen’s Disease (formerly known as leprosy) and of those diagnosed with HIV/AIDS.  Below is what Wikipedia says about Saint Damien of Molokai.
Saint Damien of Molokai,  (January 3, 1840 – April 15, 1889), formally Father Damien, born Jozef De Veuster, was a Roman Catholic priest from Belgium and member of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary,[1] a missionary religious order. He won recognition for his ministry to people with leprosy (also known as Hansen’s …

The Wyoming State Juvenile Justice Advisory Board met for the last two days here in Jackson.  They are appointed by the Governor and are the top experts in Wyoming on Juvenile Justice.  The concept is that you bring together the top prosecutors, law enforcement, state agencies, probation officers, and those that work in the field of juvenile justice and they come up with ideas on how to improve the juvenile justice system in Wyoming.  The Chairwoman is Donna Sheen, who has been leading the charge on reform of Wyoming’s juvenile …

The Wyoming Constitution has an interesting prohibition in it that states that all supreme court justices and district court judges must retire at the age of 70.  The Wyoming Constitution has effectively written age discrimination directly into the constitution.  We, as a state, have made a statement that a judge is incompetent pass the age of 70.  This, of course, is not true and this attitude toward the Judiciary sets a dangerous precedent for other occupations.
For some reason, we have decided that beyond 70 there is nothing more that that …

It is widely discussed in Wyoming that men make more money than women, otherwise known as the Gender Wage Gap.  The primary issue is that the higher paying jobs in Wyoming are usually male dominated, such as oil/gas roughneck, miner, truck driver, etc.  Many in the state have been working to bring more women into these fields that have been male dominated.  The Western Wyoming Community College has a great training program for working in the gas fields and thus getting into those higher paying jobs.

Below is a story that …