Senate advances budget after hours-long fight that strips most funding from Wyoming Business Council

Cheyenne — The Wyoming Senate’s committee of the whole reported Senate File 1 favorably on Feb. 13, 2026, advancing the state’s general government appropriations bill after several hours of consideration and heated debate over funding for the Wyoming Business Council.

Senators approved the budget package after the Joint Appropriations Committee (JAC) made multiple program-level changes, including a near-elimination of state support for the Wyoming Business Council. The JAC left $2,000,000 and two full‑time equivalent positions to the state budget department to manage wind‑down and outstanding obligations and de‑appropriated $54,900,000 from the Business Ready Communities account, according to committee remarks.

The cut drew sustained floor criticism from senators representing districts with businesses and startups that have relied on council programs. "I can't imagine anybody in this chamber could look at the data from [SBIR and related programs] and say, 'wow, we've gotta get rid of them,'" said Senator Rothfuss, who urged a more surgical reform rather than wholesale elimination of the council’s programs. He named the SBIR matching program, SBDC supports and manufacturing works as examples of initiatives senators said had produced measurable returns.

Senator Salazar, chairman of the Joint Appropriations Committee, defended the reductions and framed them as accountability measures. "I don't have confidence in the leadership of the Wyoming Business Council right now," he said on the Senate floor, describing a large gap between the council's funding requests and the governor's recommendation and questioning available evidence of agency success.

Supporters of the JAC approach said the committee is responding to repeated concerns about governance, lack of clear metrics and the council's tendency to "pick winners and losers." Opponents said the move risked eliminating useful programs and disrupting projects already in process, and called for an interim review or more targeted statute changes through the Minerals and Business Committee.

Other budget actions adopted by JAC and the committee included reductions to department technology replacement requests, adjustments to retirement system salary authority, and footnotes for school‑related funding items. The package also included policy items that shift some permanent fund spending policy and move certain capital and reserve transfers into the legislative stabilization framework.

The committee adopted the budget report and rose to deliver the recommendation that Senate File 1 do pass. The full Senate adopted the committee of the whole report on the floor later in the session.

What happens next: The budget report now moves through the remaining legislative steps; senators may offer second‑reading amendments in the coming days, and the body will consider final passage and reconciliation before adjournment.