When all of us here at ESPC paused recently to take stock of what your support accomplished for the people of Wyoming in 2020—a year filled with challenges—we were truly blown away. I hope you’ll read our inaugural impact report and feel as proud as we are of what you helped us achieve for Wyoming! …
January 22, 2021
January’s People’s Review: LIVE! featured Wyoming legislative leaders and a U.W. professor of economics talking about Wyoming’s budget and Wyoming’s values. They offered a sobering look at how the state is choosing to address severe revenue shortfalls. One legislator called it “the leanest general fund budget in fifteen years.”
January 18, 2021 ESPC to host lawmakers, economist to talk real-life implications of budget decisions LARAMIE, Wyo — As part of its monthly People’s Review: Live! online series, the nonpartisan Equality State Policy Center will host a panel of state legislative leaders and a prominent Wyoming economist to discuss whether the current state budget adequately aligns with …
The People’s Review: LIVE Does Wyoming’s budget reflect our values? Read More »
December 17, 2020 Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I’m Chris Merrill, executive director of the Equality State Policy Center. I’m here today not because my organization is convinced this proposed tax increase on wind energy is great policy. We’re not. And there are differing opinions within my coalition about the wisdom of this proposal, and at …
December 18, 2020
The panelists dug into everything from the Wyoming Constitution to the Campbell Decision(s) to the complexity of school funding before spending time on the most important point: that a high quality education for every single child in Wyoming is a core value in our state–and has been since it was a territory.
December 9, 2020 From Chris Merrill for WyoFile If there was ever a more important time for government transparency and public access and participation at the Wyoming Legislature, I can’t think of it. Since July, the state’s already lean budget has been cut by an additional 15% — with health, education and family services taking …
Opinion: The problem of public access during a pandemic Read More »
After decades of relying on mineral extraction to pay for essential government, Wyoming’s long-predicted bust is here, and it’s worse than many leaders anticipated. Now, as COVID-19 deals the state—and the waning fossil fuel industry—an extra blow, Wyoming suddenly finds itself with a $1.5 billion shortfall.
Senator Cale Case, Representative Dan Zwonitzer, House Minority Floor Leader Representative Cathy Connolly, and Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy senior analyst Aidan Davis joined ESPC’s executive director Chris Merrill to explain in stark and candid terms the challenges facing Wyoming as the state grapples with what one panelist called “the worst fiscal crisis in Wyoming’s history.”