Laramie Live Sessions with Local Legislators: Glenn Moniz

The Representative for House District 46, Glenn Moniz, joined Laramie Live on Friday, Feb. 3rd to talk about the upcoming budget session. Read and listen below to find out what he sees as priorities for the 61st Wyoming Legislature.

-What work have you done in the past year on the Agriculture, State and Public Lands & Water and Minerals, Business and Economic Development committees?

"I chaired an Ag Committee sub-committee that's dealing with large game damages to agriculture. In southeast Wyoming there seems to be an overabundance of elk and they're causing a lot of damage to landowners. We've visited at length and had public meetings, and it's a complex issue, but I will be sponsoring one bill that will try to eliminate the statute that limits two additional elk licenses. That would give the Game & Fish more flexibility to manage their game herds.

"On the minerals side, the beetle kill issue is a concern. It's really become an economic development issue. In Carbon County they have a mill in Saratoga that's been shut down for quite some time, and with the beetle kill concern, we need to see if that's a viable entity. We've interviewed the Forest Service, and a number of other entities to see what the state can do to help with this issue."

-Where do you think the legislature may struggle to bring the budget together?

"We've all heard that the budget is fairly tight with the price of natural gas down. That's had an adverse effect on the economy in the State of Wyoming, which has forced us to hold pretty hard to the standard budget issues. Obviously for Albany County there are a number of issues we need to support. We want to continue to support cities, towns and counties. They set aside $135 million, of that 50 percent will go to capital construction and the other will go to distribution between the counties."

"Redistricting will consume quite a bit of our time as well. In Albany County we don't have a problem. We met early with Jackie Gonzalez and her staff and went over the areas and that went quite well, but they're not having quite that success in other parts of the state.

-How could this budget session affect the University of Wyoming/Laramie/Albany County?

"The School District lost it's capital construction funding for the high school, but they did leave money in for design so they can revisit that during the supplemental budget.

"Another issue is the Casper Aquifer issue. I see no way for Laramie to lose on this issue, but convincing colleagues that it's a wise investment for the State of Wyoming is going to be a challenge for us. It's important that not only us as legislators but that the community as a whole contact other legislators in the state because it's going to be a challenge. But I'm definitely in favor of setting aside some funds to at least explore the options we have.

"The University of Wyoming has requested a number of capital projects. One is the performing arts building, they requested $32 million and the Appropriations Committee cut that back to $16. The students are proposing renovation of the Half Acre Gym and are willing to pony up some of the tuition to help with that. I support that and the Appropriations Committee approved to fund the bonding for that, so that's encouraging.

"Another issue that the Governor suggested to cut is cost of living increases. With the budget as it is, he chose not to do that. It's going to be a push to see if we can get anything done there, but it's definitely needed."

If you would like to contact Rep. Moniz about the upcoming budget session, you can do so by calling him at (307)745-4711 or sending him an email at gmoniz@bresnan.net. You can also listen to his interview on Laramie Live from Friday, Feb. 3rd below.