I am very pleased to report solid actions and deliverables for our residents — specifically, property tax relief. We passed five bills that will have positive, demonstrable and positive impacts for our communities.

• HB0003 - Property tax exemption for residential real property used as a primary residence, if the owner or their spouse is sixty-five (65) years of age or older and the owner or their spouse has paid residential property tax in Wyoming for twenty-five (25) years or more on any residential property, the amount of the exemption shall be fifty percent (50%) of the assessed value of the residential real property.

• HB0004 - Property tax refund program raising eligibility to 165% of median gross household income for the applicant’s county resides in. Awaiting the governor’s signature.

• HB0045 - Property tax exemption-residential structures and land (I co-sponsored this bill) that caps the maximum increase of taxation at 4% (originally 5%). Homeowners will now have certainty knowing their property taxes will not increase by more than 4%. This bill truly results in meaningful and positive impacts for our citizens while insulating against exponential double digit rises in property tax. Awaiting the governor’s signature.

• SF0054 - Homeowner tax exemption. This bill exempts 25% of property taxes off homes valued $2 million or less.  The amount of the exemption shall be twenty-five percent (25%) of the fair market value of a single family residential structure, provided that the exemption shall only apply to the first $2,000,000.00 of the fair market value of the single family residential structure.

• SF0089 - Veterans ad valorem exemption-amount (I co-sponsored this bill). The exemption for veterans has been changed from $3,000.00 to now $6,000.00 of assessed value.

Suicide prevention

After fighting almost daily in the face of defeat with HB0186 - 988 hotline-appropriation, I am pleased to report that we were able to put $10 million dollars into the Wyoming 988 trust fund.

While the push for $40 million did not come to fruition (the investment return of $40 million would generate the necessary funding for perpetuity), the $10 million is an incredible amount of money which will further help in our collective efforts to reducing suicide in our state.

Kelly Parcel Sale and the Rock Springs BLM Resource Management Plan

The sale of the Kelly Parcel to the federal government for no less than $100 million includes a provision that would only allow the sale of the Kelly Parcel if the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Resource Management Plan(RMP) outcome does not include certain elements in the federal agency’s preferred option, Alternative B. This is a huge message to the BLM that further communicates to the BLM that Alternative B is not acceptable!

Uinta County makes Wyoming great!