Counting down to bill cutoff

Thursday was a good, though not perfect day.

First, the Senate heard HB 54 Workers’ compensation amendments in Committee of the Whole, assuring the bill of a full debate on the Senate floor by getting it off general file.

Any bill not off general file by the end of the day Friday dies for the session.

The Senate quickly went through the bill and Sen. Charles Scott, as usual, took a few swings at attorneys, a profession he long has made clear that he holds in low regard. But he did manage the bill. It was good to see conservative stalwart Sen. Eli Bebout of Riverton endorse the bill. Sen. Bebout noted that benefits for injured workers have not been increased for many years and said it is time to do so.

Children’s health insurance

Timing still tight

Over in the House, supporters of a bill that will expand the KidCare Chip program to cover more children with health insurance continued the rush to meet the Legislature’s General File deadline. After getting the measure out of the House Labor committee Wednesday night, the House Appropriations committee considered the bill, SF 39 Children’s health insurance program over the noon recess. The committee approved the measure on a 6-1 vote, with only Rep. Jeb Steward of Saratoga voting against the bill.

“I applaud this step,” Rep. Pete Jorgensen told the prime sponsor Sen. Mike Massie after the committee’s vote. “It’s a small step but it’s a step.”

Jorgensen has advocated for more aggressive efforts by the state to address the lack of access to affordable, quality care that plagues many residents of Wyoming.

The bill now goes to the House General File, where all supporters of the bill now need to ask their representatives to ask House Majority Leader Buchanan to make certain the bill is considered during committee of the whole Friday.

Here are some key points to consider mentioning to your representatives in email messages and any other conversation you can have with them.

Key points:

• This is a successful program that currently serves approximately 5,700 children in our state. These are children whose families are earning up to 200% of the federal poverty level;
• This bill proposes increasing eligibility up to 300% of the federal poverty level;
• The state financial contribution for this bill is less than $100,000 ($94,355);
• The federal contribution is 65% of the cost and amounts to $185,232;
• The state premium per child is $188 per month which includes health, mental health and dental care. It is anticipated that the premium will increase to $200 per month on July 1;
• Parents who earn between 201 and 250% of the federal poverty level would be required to contribute up to $40 per month (per child but only for the first two children) toward the premium and up to $250 per person in deductibles per year;
• Parents who earn between 252 and 300% of the federal poverty level would be required to contribute up to $50 per month (per child but only for the first two children) toward the premium and up to $500 per child in deductibles per year;
• This program supports working families who are doing everything they can to support their families.
  

As always, remember to lobby politely. Please don’t send an email blast to all 60 members. A comment of support for SF 39 to your House district’s representative will be most effective. If you have relationships with other members, please write separate messages to them.

Thanks for all your help advocating for Wyoming’s uninsured children.

Not perfect?

Why was the day not perfect? Well, SF 94, a campaign finance bill was heard. It raises individual contributions limits to $2,400 per election. The ESPC like to see the bill killed. There does not appear to be a compelling need to pump more money in elections in Wyoming.

Or, if contribution limits must be raised because of the rising cost of races for governor, the ESPC believes the state should institute tiers of individual contribution limits. Wyoming could raise individual contribution limits for statewide races – governor, secretary of state, state auditor, state treasurer and superintendent of public instruction – but have a second tier that retains the existing $1,000 individual limit for all other elections.

Campaign costs in the average contested Wyoming legislative race are low – about $15,000 for a contested state Senate race and around $8,500 for a contested House race, according to the Wyoming League of Women Voters.

Deanna Frey of the Wyoming Children's Action Alliance contributed to this report.

Children's health insurance

KidCare breathes

House Labor keeps bill alive

The KidCare Chip expansion won strong approval from the House Labor committee Tuesday, although getting through required yeoman’s work by sponsor Sen. Mike Massie of Laramie, seen at right, and considerable testimony from Patti Guzman, who manages the program for the Department of Health.

Sen. Massie and Ms. Guzman went through many questions as they explained SF 39 Children’s health insurance program. Their testimony proved there is no substitute for proper planning. And Ms. Guzman deserves plenty of credit for keeping a very tight ship as she runs the program. She handled all the questions about the program expertly and competently.

Frankly, Patti Guzman puts the lie to the negative stereotyping of bureaucracies, bureaucrats, and the management of government programs.

Rick Schum of Blue Cross/Blue Shield answered questions concerning “crowd out” – the idea that KidCare Chip will encourage people to leave private insurance. That doesn’t happen, Schum told the committee. It was important testimony supporting the bill.

House Labor Health and Social Services Committee Chairman Jack Landon noted he had prepared several amendments to address what he had believed were shortcomings in the bill. But after Sen. Massie, Patti Guzman, and Rick Schum answered question after question, Chairman Landon dropped his amendments.

“I’m more comfortable with this all the time. I’m just about to wear it out,” Landon said as the hearing of the bill passed the two-hour mark. He called for a vote and the committee voted 8-1 in favor of the expansion of the KidCare program.

Only Casper Rep. Lisa Shepperson voted against the bill.

Rep. Debbie Hammons of Worland, (a co-sponsor of the bill) AARP, Blue Cross Blue Shield, the Wyoming Children's Action Alliance, the Wyoming Hospital Association, and the Equality State Policy Center testified in favor of the bill.

The bill next will be re-referred to the House Appropriations committee. It must be heard by the committee by end of day Thursday then return to the floor of the House to be considered in Committee of the Whole by the Friday deadline for hearing bills listed on general file.

Advocates who can talk with members of the House Appropriations Committee should urge them to support the measure.


Helium bill hits snag

On Tuesday, the bill to impose property taxes on helium produced in Wyoming passed the Senate, 21-9, with a relatively minor amendment. On Wednesday, the House failed to concur with the amendment, triggering a conference committee along with concerns that the bill will fall victim to House-Senate wrangling. Currently, helium is the only valuable mineral produced in Wyoming that is not subject to property tax.


And on other property tax topics …

On Tuesday, the Senate Revenue Committee heard House Bill 234, which proposed a property tax exemption for home, commercial and agricultural properties. For each property, the value would be determined by a three-year rolling average, and the amount of value in excess of the average would be exempt from property tax.

The bill had significant administrative problems, and the ESPC opposed it on those grounds as well as a broader opposition to hobbling the fair market value system. The Legislature has more direct options for reducing property taxes if that is the desired outcome.

The Senate Appropriations Committee ended one of those options on Tuesday by killing HB 68, the homestead exemption bill. However, a bill expanding eligibility for the property tax refund program already has passed both houses.

ESPC researcher Sarah Gorin contributed to this report.

Child health insurance program reinstated

Senate goes for broader KidCare

Chances for gaining needed expansion of Wyoming’s KidCare CHIP program improved Monday when the Senate approved a bill enabling children in families earning up to 300% of poverty-level income to enroll in the program.

Senate File 39, Child health insurance program, was amended last Friday to hold the expansion to children in families earning incomes up to 250% of poverty-level income. Sen. Eli Bebout, who offered the amendment, said the 300% level would encourage people to drop private insurance for their children in favor of the state program.

On Monday, prime sponsor Sen. Mike Massie, photo at left, brought an amendment to address those concerns. He noted that expanding to 300% will provide coverage to about 1,700 children who currently lack health insurance.

His amendment excludes families whose children are eligible for employer-provided insurance, even if the family hasn’t taken it.

Sen. Bebout liked the amendment, but still argued that employees would choose coverage only for themselves and not their children on the assumption they could get KidCare CHIP. He said $45,000/year is a good income for a family of three in Wyoming. People earning that amount can afford their own insurance if they keep their priorities straight, he suggested.

But Sen. Michael Von Flatern of Gillette noted that many families earning $45,000 per year do so through part-time jobs with employers who don’t offer health insurance benefits to part-time workers.

The debate sparked a tart comment from Sen. Curt Meier of Torrington. He said employers will not offer insurance for employees’ dependents if they know the employees can turn to the state. “Enough socialism is enough socialism,” he said.

But Sen. Massie said family insurance is just not affordable for many families at this income level. He presented statistics showing that the average health care policy in Wyoming covering families costs $12,800 per year. State employees pay over $15,000 per year for family coverage. Buying insurance on the open market would take 20% of the gross income (before taxes) of families at 300% of the poverty level, he pointed out - an option these families could not choose and still pay for other family needs.

The amendment passed 16-11 and the bill itself was approved by a wide margin (26-3 with one excused).

Property taxes on helium

Ad valorem (property) taxes will be assessed on all helium extracted in Wyoming under HB 287 Helium property tax, approved in House Committee of the Whole on Monday.

House Speaker Pro Tempore Frank Philp of Shoshoni said that some helium currently escapes property taxation because it is extracted through a contractual arrangement rather than a lease, and is the only valuable mineral extracted in Wyoming that is not taxed. He noted that last year the Legislature approved imposing severance taxes on helium.

The helium property tax bill resulted from a Wyoming Supreme Court decision saying that Wyoming’s property tax statutes define a taxpayer as a “lessee” or “lessee’s assignee,” but not a contractor. If the Legislature wants to tax helium extracted under a contractual arrangement, the Court said, then legislators need to put that in the law – hence HB 287. (Helium extracted from private and state lands and from federal lands under a lease arrangement already is taxed.)

Revenue Committee Chairman Rodney “Pete” Anderson of Pine Bluffs pointed out that property taxes were paid on helium until the Wyoming Supreme Court decision, when the state’s major extractor of helium suddenly declined to pay.

Chairman Anderson did not name the company, since naming companies, individuals and organizations during debate is against House rules. But the company is ExxonMobil, which has a long history of aggressively testing Wyoming’s mineral tax system.

Rep. Mike Madden of Buffalo argued there is no substantive difference between a contract and a lease, so legislators should not get hung up on the “oddity” of the arrangement and approve taxing helium like any other mineral.

Rep. Tom Lubnau of Gillette brought some humor into the debate when he advised his colleagues that if “it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then we should tax it like a duck.”

Opponents argued that the bill was “changing the rules in midstream” and would disrupt investments made by companies extracting or planning to extract helium. Speaker Pro Tem Philp noted the companies were paying the tax prior to the Wyoming Supreme Court decision, and surely are watching what is going on in the industry, they could hardly be surprised at the re-imposition of property taxes.

The measure passed Committee of the Whole overwhelmingly on voice vote and will move to second and third readings on Tuesday and Wednesday.

De-regulating child care

House Bill 313 Licensing of employer day care facilities passed on general file by a vote of 29 for 28 against Monday evening. The bill’s title is a bit misleading, since it allows employers to open a daycare center on site without meeting state licensing requirements.

Speaking in favor of the bill were Reps. Lorraine Quarberg, Thermopolis, Jack Landon, Sheridan, Bob Brechtel, Casper, Erin Mercer, Gillette, Mike Madden, Buffalo, Del McComie, Lander, David Miller, Riverton, and Tom Lockhart.

Reps. Cathy Connolly, Mike Gilmore, Casper, Elaine Harvey, Lovell, Tom Lubnau, Gillette, Saundra Meyer, Evanston, and Lori Millin, Cheyenne, opposed the bill.

The speakers fell into two distinct camps on this bill:
* Why wouldn't a company want to license their child care? Licensing provides for the basic health and safety needs of children.
* Licensing is not necessary because parents know what is best for their children.

The ESPC and the Wyoming Children’s Action Alliance oppose the bill. (Since the bill passed Committee of the Whole, there is no roll call vote.) It will be up for second reading Tuesday.

ESPC researcher Sarah Gorin contributed to this report. Thanks also to Deanna Frey of the Wyoming Children's Action Alliance

Take care of Wyoming’s children

Rallying for civil rights for gays, lesbians


Health insurance will be extended to more Wyoming children who live in homes with incomes that barely make ends meet if an effort to expand eligibility for Wyoming’s KidCare CHIP program passes the legislature.

Sen. Mike Massie of Laramie has proposed SF 39 – Children’s health insurance program. His measure calls for opening the program to children in families whose earnings do not exceed 300% of the federal poverty level. The program currently is available to children in families with income up to 200% of the federal poverty level.

Sen. Massie told the Senate Labor Committee Wednesday that nearly 3,700 Wyoming children who currently do not have health insurance would qualify if the eligibility limit is raised. The program presently covers about 5,800 children.

Children who are in good health are more successful at school, he noted.

“If they don’t have the health care, they don’t have the kinds of education outcomes” the state seeks through its huge investment in public schools, he noted.

The federal government presently will pay 65% of the cost of insuring children in families with incomes up to 250% of the federal poverty level. Sen. Massie indicated that it appears the federal government will soon extend that assistance to families with earnings equal to 300% of federal poverty.

Children in general are a healthy group, so the cost of insuring them is fairly low. Blue Cross Blue Shield currently provides the insurance for the KidCare program at a cost of about $188 per month per child, according to Patti Guzman of the Department of Health. Those monthly costs are expected to rise to about $200 per month if the changes proposed by Sen. Massie are approved.

Guzman noted that federal law requires coverage of all eligible children, regardless of pre-existing conditions.

The measure enjoys broad support. The Wyoming Hospital Association, AARP, the Wyoming Children’s Action Alliance, the Catholic Diocese of Wyoming, the Wyoming Nurses Association, and the ESPC testified in support of the expansion of coverage in Wednesday’s hearing.

Supporters noted the program provides insurance relatively cheaply and significantly reduces the incidences of uncompensated care that hurt doctors, hospitals and other providers. That reduces the cost shifting that has led one group to estimate that $934 of the average family’s $12,000 health insurance premium goes to cover the cost of uncompensated care in the American health system.

Senate File 39 also proposed coverage of up to 3,500 parents or guardians of eligible children. But Sen. Massie, noting that separate bill to provide insurance to some adults has been sponsored by committee Chairman Charles Scott already has been approved by the committee, suggested that the adult-coverage portion of his bill could be excised.

It was, but not before Sen. John Schiffer of Kaycee made a strong case for including it. Sen. Schiffer noted that Wyoming’s economy often trails the nation’s by about 18 months. With the U.S. economy in trouble, he suggested the Equality State may see a “slide” in its economy in 2010. He worried that families headed by adults who often are the “last hired, first fired” will need health coverage then.

“You’ve got to have these kinds of programs in place when you hit that slide,” he argued. “This bill goes to the heart of the health problem in that population.”

"This bill goes to the heart of the health problem in that population." -
Sen. John Schiffer

Sens. Scott, Bill Landen and Rick Hunnicutt were not convinced by Sen. Schiffer. The committee voted 3-2 to remove the coverage of parents or guardians of children who qualify for the program. Nevertheless, the committee approved the measure with the 300% coverage limit. The bill now goes to the Senate General File where it will be heard by the full Senate.

Civil rights for gays and lesbians

Gay rights are the civil rights issue of our era. A measure that would bar discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, HB 203, will be heard by the House Judiciary Committee Monday. It is sponsored by Rep. Cathy Connolly of Laramie and simply provides the same protections that prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, age, national original or economic status.

Considerable public support will be required to ensure passage.

A far more insidious proposal, HR 17 Defense of marriage, calls for a constitutional amendment to allow the state to ignore valid marriage contracts made in other states or countries by people of the same gender.

Proponents say it is not an anti-gay measure. They argue that it is instead aimed at protecting the institution of marriage and will help ensure that children have a mother and a father.

Hogwash.

These adherents are no different than the defenders of segregation and the Jim Crow laws that discriminated against African-Americans living in the South 50 years ago. Those laws and this proposed amendment were and are intended to isolate a particular group of people and deny them rights enjoyed by more privileged members of society.

Wyoming people should shout down this bill. The House Judiciary Committee will hear the proposal next Tuesday, Feb, 3 in Room 302 of the Capitol. Please join us in urging the committee to vote this bill down. Please stand up for human rights and equality in Wyoming.

Hopeful step for health care

Senate Labor considers measure expanding KidCare

Sen. Mike Massie’s children’s health insurance bill, Senate File 39, will be considered Wednesday in the Senate Labor, Health and Social Services Committee - assuming poor weather does not shut down the Capitol. The hearing begins at 8 a.m.

The ESPC sees this measure as part of a “building block” plan for achieving health insurance for all Americans by using existing private and public group health insurance. The Building Blocks framework allows many insured people to continue as they are, but creates more options for small business and individuals.

One of the key building blocks in Wyoming is the KidCare CHIP program. Wyoming KidCare Chip is a public-private partnership providing health insurance coverage for children through age 18 living in households with too much income to qualify for Medicaid, but not enough to purchase health insurance.

Senate File 39 bill extends eligibility for the program to children in Wyoming families who have incomes up to 300% of the federal poverty level. Eligibility currently is restricted to children in families whose income does not exceed 200% of the federal poverty level. The bill also extends coverage to parents of qualifying children, though that number is limited.

The bill contains an appropriation of $390,000 to fund the FY2010 expansion. The fiscal note on the bill foresees spending about $1.2 million in 2011 and about $2.1 million in 2012 for a maximum of 3,720 enrollees.

You can read the ESPC description of the bill here.

Like Lazarus, the Speaker’s property tax bill rises

After being killed on Friday, January 23rd, HB 87 rose from the dead on Monday the 26th, when sponsor and House Speaker Colin Simpson asked the Revenue Committee to hear it again on the grounds he hadn't been there to present the bill Jan. 23.

Speaker Simpson came to the Friday committee meeting but had to leave; the bill was presented by Sen. Eli Bebout, a co-sponsor, who was at the committee meeting for another bill. Four members of the House Revenue Committee -- Reps. Amy Edmonds (R-H12, Cheyenne), David Miller (R-H55, Riverton), Owen Petersen (R-H19, Mountain View) and Mark Semlek (R-H1, Moorcroft) -- changed their Jan. 23 No votes to Yes on Monday.

Thus the 3-6 tally from last Friday became a 7-2 majority in favor of the bill. It was re-referred to Appropriations, where it will be heard on Wednesday along with the homestead exemption bill (HB 68).

The ESPC has urged members of the House Appropriations Committee to consider the options for property tax relief carefully. As supporters of responsible fiscal policy, legislators must take care to protect the state’s revenue sources. And a broad base of resources means that the state will be less susceptible to pressure from the state’s biggest taxpayers: the minerals extraction industry.

Wyoming residents already receive government programs and services worth far more than they pay for through property and sales taxes. It’s appropriate that we benefit now from the mineral bounty the state enjoys.

But it also is important to recognize the link between tax investments and good schools, roads, business-ready communities, and needed social services. Moreover, Wyoming residents pay lower taxes on their property than residents of other states. Any legitimate concerns with the residential valuation process should be addressed there and not indirectly through tax rates.

If the Appropriations Committee desires to forward a property tax reduction bill, the ESPC favors bringing out HB 68, the homestead exemption, for two simple reasons: (1) the fiscal impact is dealt with up front; and (2) the tax reduction is tilted toward lower-value homes, whose occupants are more likely to be suffering in the current economic downturn.

Neither argument holds true for HB 87. It enacts a permanent property tax reduction without regard for future economic conditions. It includes provisions to protect local government for only one year, after which the revenue losses will affect local governments significantly. It provides the same percentage reduction to all homeowners, even those not facing economic difficulties.