Appropriations committee presents budget preview: targeted additions and cuts, readiness funding for Colorado River litigation

The Senate met in Committee of the Whole to consider the biennial budget (Senate File 1). Committee leaders from the Joint Appropriations Committee (JAC) walked members through the bill structure, the status report and the major line-item changes the committee adopted or denied.

Key committee actions described on the floor include: moving substantial capital construction requests into separate house bills; moving the 'rural health transformation' recommendation into other legislation; and adopting or denying many governor recommendations. The JAC reported net appropriations (excluding transfers) and highlighted multiple large adjustments across agencies.

Notable additions and changes cited on the floor:

- A $5,000,000 one-time footnote added to the Attorney General's budget to prepare for potential Colorado River litigation and to allow contracting with outside counsel familiar with interstate water litigation. Senator Larson said the funding is intended to have the state "ready" for litigation from lower-basin states.

- A $3,000,000 general‑fund addition to create or support an Internet Crimes Against Children unit inside the Attorney General's office.

- Several large transfers and reclassifications of funds across capital construction and program accounts, including moving over $200 million (various accounts) to other bills for explicit consideration.

- Significant changes to Department of Health funding: some governor requests (behavioral health rate rebasing, certain provider rate increases) were reduced or denied, while the JAC increased funding for various Medicaid waiver items and set a wait-list reduction target for the Medicaid supports waiver.

- University of Wyoming: JAC proposed a $40,000,000 reduction to the university's block grant but added footnotes protecting specified units (College of Agriculture, College of Education, School of Energy Resources and certain high-bay research work). Senators debated whether those protections effectively select "winners and losers" among university programs; committee leaders characterized the proposal as an initial posture for floor amendment work.

Committee members repeatedly noted the JAC work product is an initial assembly and that many items will be revisited via floor amendments. The budget process timeline for second- and third‑reading amendments was restated and documents such as the Data Book and status report were made available to members.