JACKSON, Wyo. — Local representatives have expressed concerns over SF0040, a zoning bill that was amended to include changes to affordable housing policy, arguing that it could set a dangerous precedent for future legislation moving through the Wyoming Legislature.
On Wednesday, Feb. 26, State Senator Mike Gierau spoke to Buckrail and contended that the evolution of Senate File 40 undermines the legislative process. Gierau said that SF0040 was originally just a protest petition bill, which was passed before most towns had zoning regulations, to allow a resident to protest a development. Gierau, who co-chairs the Regulatory Reduction Task Force, requested to revise the bill since most cities and towns now have local building rules and regulations based on community needs.
On Jan. 21, the Senate passed the protest petition bill in a vote of 29-0, where it then moved to the House. The House introduced an amendment to the bill that would remove the ability of cities and towns in Wyoming to require developers to pay into the affordable housing fund. Gierau added that the amendment, which “would end all affordable housing programs in the Town of Jackson,” is not germane to the bill.
“The bill is about protesting a development,” Gierau said. “It has nothing to do with housing fees. We have a law down here that says bills, except the budget bill, have to be on a single subject.”
The Wyoming Constitution includes this law in article 3, section 24.
During a rules committee meeting to discuss the amendment, Chairman of both the Joint Appropriations Committee and Freedom Caucus Rep. John Bear (R-Gillette) told members not to vote against the amendment, according to Gierau. The House then passed the bill, along with the affordable housing amendment, without allowing public comment.
Teton Country Representative Mike Yin shared with Buckrail that the mitigation fee amendment also passed without any debate in the House Appropriations Committee.
“When the bill hit the House floor, I argued that the language was not germane and the process was a cram-down without public comment,” Yin said. “The Freedom Caucus stood with Rep. Bear.”
Gierau said that Rebecca Bextel, who is a real estate agent in Jackson, “convinced Rep. Bear” to add the affordable housing amendment onto House Bill 40, after initially trying to tack it onto the supplemental budget.
Buckrail reached out to Bextel to comment on this matter.
According to Gierau, a bill typically goes through the process of being discussed in committee, then considered by the public before it’s discussed on the floor of each house. Gierau emphasized that the process should not allow a bill to be completely changed after public testimony.
“The two things that I know to be true is that we always trust the process, and when you do so, you honor the institution,” Gierau said. “The reason why this is so important … is because one person, Rebecca Bextel, has decided to come down to Cheyenne and subvert our process. If she is allowed to be successful, we might as well put a ‘For Sale’ sign out front because anyone can then fly down here on their private jet, with enough money in their pocket, and buy their way out of the process. That’s not the way it works around here.”
Jackson Mayor Arne Jorgensen, who is currently in Cheyenne to talk to legislators about Jackson’s housing mitigation program, told Buckrail that the process used to pass the bill in the House was not transparent.
“I am more than happy, as an elected official from Teton County, to have a discussion about the merits of our mitigation program,” Jorgensen said. “But let’s have it in a transparent way, as opposed to under the darkness of night.”
Jorgensen added that the amendment would “gut the housing mitigation program that has successfully been in existence for 30 years.”
On Feb. 19, the Senate’s concurrence vote of 30 to 1 rejected the amended bill. The bill is currently stuck at an impasse in the Joint Conference Committee. According to Gierau, the Senate might reconsider its concurrence vote on the bill on Friday, Feb. 28.
