Taxation and Revenue Task Force 2028.
HB0320 creates the Taxation and Revenue Task Force 2028, a temporary study group charged with examining how Wyoming funds local governments, school districts, and special districts. The task force would include legislative members, gubernatorial appointees representing local governments and public expertise, and co-chairs appointed by the governor. Its core assignment is to conduct a comprehensive review of current revenue sources, assess whether those revenues are sufficient to support required public services and constitutional education obligations, and develop recommendations for sustainable funding through 2050.
The bill also requires the task force to report findings and any proposed legislation to the governor, the Management Council, and the Joint Revenue Interim Committee by December 31, 2026. The Department of Revenue would staff the task force with assistance from the Legislative Service Office, and state agencies would be required to provide information as requested. The bill includes appropriations of $36,000 for legislative members’ expenses and $90,000 for the governor’s office to cover nonlegislative members’ expenses and other task force costs, with unused funds reverting in 2028.
If enacted, HB0320 would not immediately change tax rates or revenue formulas, but it would create a formal state mechanism to study and potentially reshape Wyoming’s long-term taxation and revenue structure for local governments and education. It would affect the duties of the Department of Revenue, the Legislative Service Office, and the governor’s office, while also involving counties, cities and towns, special districts, and school districts in the review process. The bill could lead to future legislation affecting property taxation, local government finance, and school funding.
The bill appears to have had mixed but generally serious consideration: it passed the House Appropriations Committee 6-1 after amendment, suggesting support for studying the issue with some reservations, but it failed on third reading in the House by a substantial 25-36 vote. That voting pattern indicates that while many lawmakers saw value in a revenue and taxation study, a majority ultimately did not support advancing the measure. No committee transcript is available here, so the recorded votes are the main indicator of sentiment.
The likely points of contention were the scope and purpose of the task force, the cost of the appropriations, and the broader policy implications of revisiting taxation and revenue for local governments and education. Because the task force was tasked with evaluating whether current revenues can satisfy constitutional education requirements and long-term local service needs, lawmakers may have disagreed over whether a study group was necessary, whether it duplicated existing work, or whether it could lead to changes in property taxation or other revenue sources. The close committee support followed by a failed floor vote suggests that concerns about expense, effectiveness, or policy direction were significant among opponents.