Council Meeting Information

February 28, 2007

Room 302 Wyoming State Capitol

Cheyenne, Wyoming

 

Council Members Present

Representative Roy Cohee, Chairman

Senator John Schiffer, Vice Chairman

Senator Jim Anderson

Senator Ken Decaria

Senator John Hines

Senator Mike Massie

Senator Jayne Mockler
Senator Tony Ross

Representative Tom Lockhart

Representative Tom Lubnau

Representative Marty Martin

Representative Colin Simpson
Representative Bill Thompson

 

Council Members Absent

 

Legislative Service Office Staff

Dan J. Pauli, Director

Mark Quiner, Assistant Director

Dave Gruver, Assistant Director

Wendy Madsen, Legislative Information Officer

 

Others Present at Meeting

Please refer to Appendix 1 to review the Council Sign-in Sheet
for a list of other individuals who attended the meeting.

Executive Summary

The Council finalized 2007 interim committee topics, approved funding for the CSG-West Host Committee, and approved a Management Council policy regarding use of the state plane. 

 

Call To Order

Chairman Cohee called the meeting to order at 3:55 p.m.  The following sections summarize the Council proceedings by topic.  Please refer to Appendix 2 to review the Council Meeting Agenda.

 

Minutes

Minutes from the February 26, 2007 meeting were approved without changes.  

 

Finalization of Interim Study Proposals

The Council discussed scheduling of committee meetings during the interim and approved a preliminary schedule of interim committee meetings (see Appendix 3).  The Council requested that committee chairmen review this chart and attempt to finalize their meeting schedules as early in the interim as possible.  The Council also requested that LSO modify this calendar and notify the other committee chairs as committees set their meeting dates.  The Council noted that early scheduling will help avoid conflicts, as most legislators serve on more than one committee.

The Management Council made the changes noted below to interim study proposals that were considered on February 26, 2007 (See Appendix 4) with the following motion:  Requests for bill drafts outside the scope of assigned interim studies shall be submitted to Management Council for prior approval.  Requests that cannot be handled at a regularly scheduled Council meeting may be submitted for approval by the Council Chairman or Vice Chairman.

 

JOINT JUDICIARY INTERIM COMMITTEE

·         No Additional Changes

JOINT APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE

·         No Additional Changes

JOINT REVENUE INTERIM COMMITTEE

·         No Additional Changes

JOINT EDUCATION INTERIM COMMITTEE

·         Council modified study proposal 1(i)  to read:  "(i) Community Colleges: Review funding, structure and governance of community college system following receipt of executive branch report."

JOINT AGRICULTURE, STATE AND PUBLIC LANDS AND WATER RESOURCES

·         No Additional Changes

JOINT TRAVEL, RECREATION, WILDLIFE AND CULTURAL RESOURCES

·         Council added Study 5 as follows:  "Priority 5. Veterans Museum:  Committee to study all funding  and governance options."

·         Add 1 day meeting in June.

·         Minutes to reflect consensus of Council that Study 3 as worded includes monitoring wolf management.

JOINT CORPORATIONS, ELECTIONS AND POLITICAL SUBDIVISIONS

·         Combine Studies 5, 6 and 7 into a single topic "Monitoring" and include proviso that no legislation will be drafted relating to these issues without the prior approval of Management Council.

JOINT TRANSPORTATION, HIGHWAYS AND MILITARY AFFAIRS

·         Council approved Study 3 as far as it relates to Camp Guernsey, with emphasis to be placed on seeking federal funding for Camp Guernsey.

JOINT MINERALS, BUSINESS AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

·         Council deleted the last sentence of study 1(a) .

·         The last sentence of Study 1(c) is amended to read:  "The Committee will review Wyoming's energy assets, incentives and barriers for their development, including the involvement of the School of Energy Resources."

·         Meeting dates were modified as follows: Move the May 2-day meeting to June; the 2-day meeting scheduled for October will be held in September or October.

JOINT LABOR, HEALTH AND SOCIAL SERVICES

·         Council approved proposed studies 1, 2 and 4 as set out in the original proposal distributed to Council.

·         Council did not approve study proposal 3.

·         Meeting dates were approved as follows:  2-day meeting in August or early September; 2-day meeting in October; 1-day meeting in December.

SELECT WATER COMMITTEE

·         Council increased the Select Committee's budget by $7,200  and authorized salary, per diem and mileage to be paid for attendance at 4 days of "workshops" held in conjunction with regular committee meetings.

SELECT COMMITTEE ON TRIBAL RELATIONS

·         Council approved Studies 1 through 4.

·         Concerning Study priority 2, the State-Tribal Summit will involve a 2-day meeting and the Select Committee will coordinate this meeting with the Tribal Relations Study and the Tribal Water summit authorized in Sections 339 and 340 of the 2007 Supplemental Budget Bill, House Bill 0001.

SELECT COMMITTEE ON LEGISLATIVE TECHNOLOGY and SELECT COMMITTEE ON LEGISLATIVE PROCESS

·         In addition to their other responsibilities the two select committees were directed to coordinate efforts, consider creating a smaller combined working group,  and to work on reducing the use of paper in the legislative process and updating computer software for more efficient operations in the chambers. 

The following interim proposals and budgets were approved as submitted:

·         Management Council

·         Management Audit Committee

·         Select Committee On Capital Financing And Investments

·         Select Committee On School Facilities

·         Select Natural Resource Funding Committee

·         Select Committee On Legislative Facilities

·         Select Committee On Air Transportation

 

Additional Discussion Items

 

Budget for CSG-West Host Committee

Mr. Pauli explained that the CSG-West Host Committee, comprised of 15 Wyoming legislators will meet at least once during the interim in person, likely in Jackson, to prepare for the 2007 CSG-West Annual Meeting.  Representative Simpson moved to pay the host committee mileage, per diem and salary, out of the $40,000 additional travel monies appropriated for the CSG-West Annual Meeting.  The motion carried. 

 

Special Travel Policy – State Plane

Mr. Pauli explained the draft policy requested by the Council at their December 2006 meeting to clarify appropriate uses of the state plane for official legislative purposes (see Appendix 5).  He noted that the Legislature’s current travel policies allow use of state plane for normal interim committee travel and explained that the policy addresses special use of the state plane for other types of legislative travel other than interim committee work.  Representative Lubnau moved to adopt the provision as part of the Legislature’s travel policies.  The motion carried. 

 

Other Business

Representative Lubnau requested that LSO consider developing a release form that allows a bill draft to be released to other legislators or to the public, similar to the research request release form.   Mr. Pauli explained that current Management Council policy allow the LSO to reveal identical bill requests to a subsequent sponsor to co-sponsor the bill.  He also noted that legislators are allowed at any time to authorize LSO to release a bill to the public.  He explained that the LSO will look at including a release provision on the form that is automatically generated and sent to the sponsor acknowledging LSO’s receipt of a drafting request.

 

Appendix 6 lists the Council’s action on rules taken by mail ballot since the last meeting at which rules were considered. 

 

Meeting Adjournment

There being no further business, Chairman Cohee adjourned the meeting at 6:45 p.m.

 

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

 

 

Senator Jayne Mockler, Secretary

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Appendix		Appendix Topic		Appendix Description		Appendix Provider
1		Council Sign-In Sheet		Lists meeting attendees		Legislative Service Office
2		Council Meeting Agenda		Provides an outline of the topics the Council planned to address at meeting		Legislative Service Office
3		Interim Study Topics		Interim Committee Schedules		Legislative Service Office
4		Interim Study Topics		Proposed Interim Study Topics		Legislative Service Office
5		Other Business		Special Travel Authorization		Legislative Service Office
6		Other Business		Administrative Rule Reviews		Legislative Service Office