2021 Legislative Update No. 4
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You can read bills, view proceedings and find the schedule for the State of Wyoming's 66th Legislature here: https://www.wyoleg.gov/
You can contact Teton County legislative members by email:
Senator Mike Gierau, Senate District 17 - [email protected]
Senator Dan Dockstader, Senate District 16 - [email protected]
Representative Andy Schwartz, House District 23 - [email protected]
Representative Mike Yin, House District 16 - [email protected]
Representative Jim Roscoe, House District 22 - [email protected]
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Two (or Three) Crucial Things to Do for Medicaid Expansion TODAY
House Bill 162 - Medical Treatment Opportunity Act
After 10 years of steady effort, tomorrow (Wednesday) is simultaneously the biggest opportunity and hurdle that Medicaid expansion has faced yet.
The Senate Labor and Health Committee will consider this bill and decide whether to advance it to the full Senate. This committee has already narrowly voted in favor of the Senate version of this bill this session (Senate File 154, which later died when Senate leadership refused to hear it). But a huge amount of pressure from our disingenuous opponents is urging the committee to flip and kill House Bill 162.
An article in Sunday’s Casper Star Tribune provides a well-balanced and accurate portrayal of what Medicaid expansion could mean for health care in Wyoming. Please take a moment to read it before doing the following things.
1. Please write the committee members today and let them know that it’s important to you that Wyoming expand Medicaid.
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2. Join Healthy Wyoming's phone bank party this evening from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m., and encourage likeminded Wyoming residents outside of Teton County to contact their senators in support of Medicaid expansion.
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3. If you live within the boundaries of Senate District 16 and are represented by Senate President Dan Dockstader, he needs to hear from you today.
We need to flood him with brief, polite (hard as that is) requests that he support Medicaid expansion.
Senate District 16 basically includes all of Wilson, Game Creek and the Hoback area. This map of the district from the Secretary of State’s website unfortunately isn’t very helpful.
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Good News But Not a Done Deal for Defeat of Senate File 16
Senate File 16 - New Net-Metering Systems
A controversial bill that had the potential to kill the blossoming rooftop solar industry in Wyoming failed to get the support of the Wyoming Legislature’s House Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Committee on Friday.
Following hours of impassioned public comment against the measure, Rep. Joe MacGuire, R-Casper, introduced a successful motion to table the bill. Chairman Dan Zwonitzer, R-Cheyenne, implied he did not anticipate bringing the bill back before the next week.
The deadline for bills to be reported out of committees in the second chamber is Wednesday. All of Teton County's legislative representatives worked to defeat this bill, including Independent Jim Roscoe, HD 22. Over 50 people signed up to speak on Friday before the House Committee.
Opponents of the bill cannot rest easy until the Wednesday deadline has passed, but there are high hopes that other more forward-thinking solutions can be found to the problem.
Senate File 16 asks the Public Service Commission — the regulatory body in charge of keeping energy rates affordable and power reliable for customers — to establish a new net metering system that would end an alleged “subsidy” received by net-metering customers.
Many thanks to the Wyoming Outdoor Council for steadfastly opposing this bill and providing the following information to explain the issue:
Net metering is a policy that allows owners of small, on-site renewable energy systems (homes, schools, businesses, local governments) to get credit for the extra power they supply to the electricity grid.
For example, when a homeowner’s rooftop solar panels generate more power than what is needed on sunny days, the excess electricity is sent to the grid and can be used by neighbors.
Net metering allows the owners of the solar array to get credit for this extra energy supplied to the grid, which they can use later in the year, covering the cost of future electricity needs. This is how they recoup their substantial investment in their solar arrays.
Recently, states and utilities — who misunderstand or dislike consumer preferences for small-scale renewable energy and don’t understand the value that this provides society and the grid — have started opposing these systems because of claims of cost shifting.
“Cost shifting” is a term that appears to be solely used against small renewable systems; utilities claim that because on-site solar users buy less electricity from them, the companies get less money to cover their overall costs of transmission and grid maintenance.
This argument has two major fallacies.
First, it runs counter to our national and state priorities for energy efficiency and savings. And upgrades for energy efficiency (a policy our own Wyoming Business Council has been supporting through grants and loans for decades as does Lower Valley Energy) have been shown in a recent Department of Energy Report to have a much bigger impact to utility costs than net metering, accounting for a 14% decrease in sales.
Secondly, energy produced from rooftop solar systems in Wyoming is so miniscule (less than 0.04%) that any cost impact is trivial, at best. These bills threaten to destroy an emerging industry at a time when Wyoming should be diversifying its economy and creating new employment opportunities in the energy sector.
There are currently 10 small businesses in our state that provide solar installations, counting for approximately 140 jobs. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, solar jobs are the fastest-growing occupation and solar energy is one of the fastest growing economic sectors in the country. Rooftop solar is an industry we must encourage — not destroy!
Furthermore, these bills threaten the long-term investments made by nearly 900 net-metered customers across Wyoming already. Other states who have enacted similar laws have watched as the price to implement similar changes has soared for both customers and utilities.
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