Wyoming House, Senate Agree On Budget, Bill Goes To Governor

The Wyoming House and Senate on Monday signed off on a final biennial budget for the next two fiscal years, starting on July 1.

You can read the final version of the budget as approved by the legislature here.

Governor Gordon Calls Budget "A Win For Wyoming"

The budget bill now goes to Governor Mark Gordon, who issued a statement on Monday afternoon praising the budget:

"What a win for Wyoming! And what a win for the citizens across the state who got involved with their government, after the Freedom Caucus-controlled Joint Appropriations Committee members made sweeping cuts to an already lean budget,  and came forward letting their voices be heard to their representatives.   

I extend my gratitude to the members of the House who courageously opposed the proposed cuts and insisted on asking the tough questions, even late into the night. Questions that focused on transparency as well as, critically, the underlying reasons for making those cuts. These questions struck a chord statewide and were powerfully voiced right here in Cheyenne by citizens from across Wyoming."

The budget notably restores most of the $40 million in block grant funding for the University of Wyoming that the governor had included in his original budget proposal, but which had at one point been targeted by the House for removal.

The final budget allocates $30 million of that. The other $10 million will be restored if UW is able to find a way to cut $5 million and report those proposed cuts to the legislature.

The governor also praised the budget for including raises for state employees.

The two houses as of last week were at one point $170 million apart in their budget proposals. But a Joint Conference Committee on Friday was able to hammer out a compromise proposal met approval from both bodies on Monday.

How They Voted On The Budget

The House voted 59-1 with two absent in favor of the compromise bill:

Ayes: Allemand, Andrew, Angelos, Banks, Brady, Bear, Bratten, Brown, G, Byron, Brown, L, Campbell, E, Campbell, K, Chestek, Clouston, Connolly, Davis, Erickson, Filer, Geringer, Fornstrom, Guggenmos, Haroldson, Harshman, Heiner, Hoeft, Jarvis, Johnson, Knapp, Larsen, L, Larson, JT, Lien, Lawley, Locke, Lucas, McCann, Ottman, Pendergraft, Posey, Provenza, Riggins, Rodriguez-Williams, Sherwood, Singh, Smith, Storer, Strock, Styvar, Tarver, Thayer, Washut, Wasserburger, Webb, Webber, Wharff, Williams, Winter, Yin, Wylie, Neiman
Nays: Nicholas

The Senate vote on Monday was 28-3 in favor:

Ayes: Anderson, Barlow, Boner, Brennan, Cooper, Crago, Dockstader, Crum, Driskill, French, Gierau, Hicks, Hutchings, Jones, Kolb, Landen, Laursen, Love, Olsen, Nethercott, Pappas, Pearson, Rothfuss, Salazar, Schuler, Scott, Steinmetz, Biteman
Nays: Case, Ide, McKeown

While the budget was the primary task of the 2026 legislature, the session is not over. The governor has 72 hours to issue any vetoes, including line-item vetoes on specific provisions.

Aside from the budget, several other bills are still pending in the Wyoming Legislature. The deadline for approving or rejecting those bills is Friday afternoon. Lawmakers will have until midnight on Wednesday, March 11 to try to override any vetoes.