Council Meeting Information

July 12, 2007

Wyoming Oil & Gas Commission

Casper, 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

None

 

Legislative Service Office Staff

Dan J. Pauli, Director

Mark Quiner, Assistant Director

Dave Gruver, Assistant Director

 

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.

 

Call To Order

Chairman Cohee called the meeting to order at 8:30 a.m.  The following sections summarize the Council proceedings by topic.  Please refer to Appendix 2 to review the Council Meeting Agenda.

 

Approval of Minutes

Minutes from the February 28, 2007 Council meeting were approved with no changes..

 

Administrative Rule Reviews

Mr. Dave Gruver, LSO, explained Administrative Rule Review ARR07-036.  Under the Board of Architects and Landscape Architects rules, some information regarding applications for licensure was excluded from the public records provisions, contrary to state law in the LSO's view.  Representative Simpson moved that Council adopt the LSO recommendation (that the offending provisions be stricken from the rules by the Governor).  The motion was seconded and passed unanimously.

 

Senator Mockler addressed the issue of Council's review of administrative rules.  She asked that the policy of Management Council be revised to provide that the Council not receive rules, but rather that LSO mail to Council, the LSO rule review, the statement of reasons and certification page provided by the agency.  Any Council member wishing to receive all rules or selected rules would be mailed any rules requested.  Senator Decaria suggested that LSO post all rules in a manner which would allow any Council member to review the rules electronically.  Senator Mockler accepted that as an amendment to her motion.  Senator Hines noted concern with the time for response by Council if the rules were not being mailed initially.  The LSO suggested that Council's timeframe for response could be extended to 15 days and still meet the minimum 40 days before the Governor can act and also meet the 75 day limit for filing the rules after the Governor's approval.  The motion, as amended, passed unanimously.

 

Rules approved by postcard ballot

 

Appendix 3 lists the Council's action on rules taken by mail ballot since the last meeting at which rules were considered.

 

Department of Administration & Information – Human Resources System

Mr. Ron Ommen, Director of the Department of Administration, along with Brian Foster, Administrator of the Human Resources Division and Denise Farrell, Deputy Director, provided information on proposed modifications to the human resources system for state employees.  Currently, outside expertise is reviewing the state personnel system including matters relating to remuneration, performance review, and managerial training, among other areas.  Mr. Ommen indicated he would like to see a broad-band personnel classification system which allows for more flexibility.  Mr. Ommen would like to complete this review process by July of 2008.  He would also like to review the recruitment and hiring process for state employees to make the entire process more efficient.  All the recommendations would then be reviewed by a committee partially comprised of agency directors.  He also plans to keep the Legislature informed throughout this process.

 

State Auditor’s Office

Ms. Rita Meyer, State Auditor, Vicci Colgan, Deputy State Auditor and Carolyn Teter, Chief Administrative Officer, provided information on the operations and responsibilities of the State Auditor’s Office.  Ms. Meyer indicated that a comprehensive review was made of the statutory duties of the State Auditor’s Office and the Office has attempted to focus solely on statutory duties.  The Office wants to allow agencies as much discretion as statutorily permissible in managing their own budgets.  She further explained that there is no audit function assigned to the Office and the State Auditor will no longer conduct pre-audits for agencies. 

 

Ms. Carolyn Teter stated the Office is working with local governments to streamline the process of transferring monies to them.  Ms. Vicci Colgan stated the Office will attempt to interpret and carry out the intention of the Legislature as to agency appropriations.

 

Carbon Capture and Sequestration

Representative Tom Lubnau provided a PowerPoint presentation on the issue of carbon capture and sequestration (Appendix 4).  Representative Lubnau discussed the current legal status including the issues which must be resolved to address carbon capture and sequestration in this state.  Unresolved legal issues include ownership rights, right to store carbon dioxide (CO2), liability, and regulation and taxation issues.   

 

Governor Dave Freudenthal provided additional information on the subject and suggested that the issues be assigned to a committee for study.  He indicated the State Geologist is reviewing potential storage sites now.  The federal Department of Energy may be considering a test site in Wyoming for monitoring of CO2 storage.  Issues which need to be addressed include questions as to who has the right to inject, ownership of the CO2, and liability implications of ownership.  He further indicated that parties should be free to contract regarding liability in the manner they see fit.  He indicated there are three kinds of liability:  operational, post-injection and contractual. 

 

Mr. Marion Loomis of the Wyoming Mining Association provided information on the economic impact of coal mining in Wyoming.  (Appendix 5).

 

Following discussion by the Council, Senator Massie moved that the topic of carbon capture and sequestration be assigned to the Joint Judiciary Interim Committee.  The motion was amended by Senator Schiffer to authorize additional funding for 2 to 3 days of meetings with the co-chairmen authorized to invite members of the Joint Revenue and Minerals interim committees and perhaps other interested legislators to attend the meetings of the Joint Judiciary Interim Committee.  These invited members would be non-voting but would be paid for their attendance. The amended motion passed.

 

Later in the meeting, Senator Ross moved that an additional budget of $25,000 be approved for the Joint Judiciary Committee to complete its additional assigned work.  The motion passed.

 

Executive Session - Education Litigation

The Council resolved itself into Executive Session to hear an update on the education litigation from Mr. Mike O’Donnell.

 

After the Council reconvened in open session, Representative Lubnau moved that Council recommend that the state file an action for declaratory and injunctive relief as well as a petition for a temporary restraining order (TRO), in order to resolve the issue of certain districts not repaying rebated recapture obligations.  The motion passed.

 

Select Committee on Legislative Facilities

Senator Mockler provided an update on the activities of the Select Committee on Legislative Facilities including:

·         Skylight project – approximately $100,000 will be needed to finish the project which will be included in next year's budget request from the Select Committee;

·         Sound system – modifications to the House and Senate sound systems should be completed this year, however, the sound system in Room 302 will not be finished until after the 2008 session;

·         The LSO office renovation is nearly complete;

·         Committee room art project is now complete;

·         The artwork security system is working properly now;

·         The Select Committee is working with the state museum to finalize the art donation program;

·         Publication of the Blue Book should be completed in December.

 

Space planning study:  Senator Mockler advised that she and Representative Pete Illoway will be participating in a telephone conference call with the consultant on August 6 to discuss issues relating to the space planning study including options for the use and occupancy of the capitol building.  Members of the Council were invited to participate in the conference call.   Chairman Cohee and Senator Schiffer indicated the elected officials should be encouraged to participate in the discussions.

 

Historic preservation foundation

The Council reviewed a letter from former state Senator Jim Applegate (Appendix 6) relating to the need for the continued existence of the Wyoming State Capitol Historical Preservation Foundation.  Following discussion, the Council recommended that the Foundation be dissolved.

 

Unofficial Committee Meetings During the Interim

Chairman Cohee brought to the Council's attention a recent meeting advertised in the newspaper as a "committee meeting" which was in fact not an official committee meeting but rather an information gathering meeting hosted by several individual legislators.  He expressed concern that this practice might cause public confusion and asked that this issue be discussed at the next session of legislative training.

 

Committee Request for New Interim Topic

The Council reviewed a request from the Joint Transportation, Highways and Military Affairs Interim Committee to add a study topic relating to limitation on the hours of operation for school bus drivers.  Following discussion, the Council did not approve the request.

 

Policy: Compensation during Session Absences

Chairman Cohee and Mr. Pauli explained a proposed policy regarding compensation of a legislative member in the event of an absence during the legislative session.  (See Appendix 7).  Mr. Pauli explained that the policy would be in the nature of a voluntary compensation waiver by the absent member.  Following discussion, Senator Anderson moved the Council accept the policy as drafted.  The motion passed.

 

Protocol:  Lying in State

Mr. Pauli explained a draft policy governing requests for a state ceremony for a deceased legislative member including alternatives in the case of a member dying during the interim. Following discussion, Senator Ross moved that the Council adopt the policy as drafted including Alternative #1 set out in the draft.  The motion passed.  A copy of the policy as adopted is attached as Appendix 8.

 

Firearms/Weapons in the Capitol

Chairman Cohee reviewed an LSO memo (see Appendix 9) and Mr. Pauli explained the current status of the State Building Commission rule governing the prohibition of firearms and weapons in the Capitol building.  Mr. Pauli noted that the Council previously approved the rule promulgated by the Commission, but is free to make its own rule governing the legislative chambers.  Following discussion, no action was taken.

 

LSO Personnel Manual

Mr. Pauli explained proposed changes to the LSO Personnel Manual contained in the draft dated July 2007 (copy on file in the LSO).  Mr. Pauli stated that the manual had been updated to reflect the current employment environment.  He also noted that the revised manual will apply to new employees, and to current employees who accept the manual in consideration of a future raise in salary.  Senator Schiffer suggested that "state government" be changed to "Wyoming state government" in the second sentence of Section V.D.1.  There was no objection to this change. Following discussion, Representative Martin moved the revised manual as amended be adopted.  The motion passed.

 

Printing and Distribution of Journal

Mr. Pauli explained Senator Mockler's suggestion that making receipt of a printed copy of the digest/journal optional would aid in reducing the use of paper in the legislative process.  Mr. Pauli noted that  all the information contained in the Journal is available on-line at the legislative website.  Following discussion there was general consensus that in the future Mr. Pauli will ask legislators if they want to forego receiving bound volumes of the journal.

 

Agency Reporting Requirements

Mr. Gruver noted there is currently a 192 page printout of some 600 to 800 agency reports due to the legislature.  Current policy requires that following each general session, Council is to review the statutes requiring agency reports, and consider whether to modify the current reporting requirements.   Mr. Gruver suggested the reports could be broken in to the following categories:

 

Reports appearing in current law can be broken into the following categories:

 

            1.  Those which are no longer required but which still appear in statute.  Here the time limit may have expired or the function to which the report related may have been completed (e.g., government reorganization);

2.  Those which are ongoing, for which the agency is fulfilling the requirement, and for which the Legislature or Committee actively reviews or acts in response to the report;

3.  Those that are ongoing, but have apparently not been submitted for some time;

4.  Those that are ongoing, have been submitted by the agency, but for which it doesn't appear the receiving Committee has actively reviewed the report.

 

He presented several options for the Council to consider, (see Appendix 10).  Following discussion, Senator Massie moved that the reports in category 1 (those no longer required but which still appear in statute) be included in the Revisor's bill for 2008, and that LSO staff prepare a matrix for the reports in categories 2 through 4 for future consideration by the appropriate Committee.  The motion passed.

 

Other Business

 

Select Committee on Tribal Relations

Representative Del McOmie, CoChairman of the Select Committee on Tribal Relations provided information regarding the planned Tribal Water Summit.  He explained that several appropriations were made during the 2007 legislative session for this purpose, however, if there is a better than expected turnout, the appropriations may be insufficient to cover the cost of the legislators attending the summit.  Following discussion, Senator Schiffer moved that an additional $3,000 be authorized from the Management Council reserve for mileage and per diem for legislators attending the summit.  The motion passed.

 

Representative McOmie then requested additional funds for the Select Committee on Tribal Relations to complete their assigned interim work.  Senator Ross moved that an additional $800 be approved for the Select Committee.  The motion passed.

 

Meeting Adjournment

Chairman Cohee announced the next meeting will be held October 19, 2007 in Cheyenne, beginning at 9 a.m.  There being no further business, Chairman Cohee adjourned the meeting at 4:15 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		Administrative Rules		List of Rules approved by Postcard ballot		LSO
4		C02 Sequestration		Power point		Rep. Lubnau
5		C02 Sequestration		Impact of coal mining in Wyoming		Marion Loomis
6		Historic Preservation		Letter		Jim Applegate
7		Legislative Pay		Draft Policy		LSO
8		State Ceremony		Draft Policy		LSO
9		Firearms in Capitol		Background memo		LSO
10		Agency Reports		Background memo		LSO