by Philip Baron, MBA A draft bill to raise property taxes by nine mills died with a tie vote of 6 – 6 in the Joint Revenue Committee Meeting on September 19th, 2019. This legislation was first proposed in the spring 2019 legislative session and was not considered for introduction into the house chamber. The proposed property tax increase was to tak...

by Philip Baron, MBA Wyoming's proposed corporate income tax is back in a new version that was presented at the Joint Revenue committee in Pinedale on September 19, 2019. This bill sponsored by Rep. Obermueller, R – Casper, passed the committee with a 9 – 4 vote. This new version of the bill would tax all businesses with more than 100 shareholders....

by Evan Blauser In 1963, New York became the first state to implement a new policy mandating that healthcare facilities (including nursing homes) comply with numerous state requirements in order to expand their facilities or construct a new building. The basic tenant behind the policy was that if the government is able to limit the expansion of hea...

by Wyoming Liberty Group Staff As a political economist I am the first to admit that the final word on any policy reform goes to facts and impartial analysis. There are many times when I have recommended against reforms even though they were ideologically desirable, simply because the economic and fiscal aspects of the reform did not work out right...

By Philip Baron, MBA On Friday, August 26, 2019, the Joint Judiciary Committee met in Casper, Wyoming, for their second interim meeting of the summer. The most controversial issue discussed was the proposed legislation entitled "Reporting Mental Illness Adjudications to Firearm Dealers." This bill is a part of the national "Fix NICS" (National Inst...

by Wyoming Liberty Group Staff The State of Arizona has an ESA program (Empowerment Scholarship Account) that is often discussed in the national debate over education choice. What would an ESA program look like in Wyoming? Main finding: A Wyoming version of the Arizona ESA, with universal eligibility for the K-12 student population in the state, co...

by Austin Hein It has been almost a full year since the 2018 Farm bill was signed into law by President Trump. One of the few good provisions of that bill legalized the production of hemp. This is especially good for a state like Wyoming, which has the opportunity to capitalize on this new and exploding market. Unfortunately, as it was reported in ...

by Evan Blauser A National Overreliance on Federal Grant Money Medicaid is an open-ended federal match program with a national average match ratio of 60 - 40, meaning 60% of funding comes from the Federal government, and the remaining 40% comes from the states. Due to the open-ended match status of Medicaid, states have a built-in incentive to expa...

by Wyoming Liberty Group Staff With the reported change in personal income in Wyoming, from work-based to equity-based and sourced from entitlements, it is valid to ask what the implications are for consumer spending. Main finding: Consumer spending is relatively weak. Basic necessities, including insurance take up a larger share of consumer spendi...

A proposed bill being considered by the Judiciary Committee is tabled until their Halloween meeting for concerns from stakeholders and questions about what the bill would actually accomplish. The bill considers taking a bite of the elephant that is public records being stored and accessed electronically through the creation of a website to house so...