| 1 | 1 | | 2025 |
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| 2 | 2 | | STATE OF WYOMING |
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| 3 | 3 | | 25LSO-02441SJ0006 |
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| 4 | 4 | | SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. SJ0006 |
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| 5 | 5 | | School capital construction-constitutional amendment. |
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| 6 | 6 | | Sponsored by: Senator(s) Scott, Biteman, Brennan, Olsen and |
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| 7 | 7 | | Salazar and Representative(s) Andrew, Bear and |
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| 8 | 8 | | Lien |
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| 9 | 9 | | A JOINT RESOLUTION |
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| 10 | 10 | | for |
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| 11 | 11 | | 1 A JOINT RESOLUTION proposing to amend the Wyoming |
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| 12 | 12 | | 2 Constitution to transfer responsibility to construct public |
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| 13 | 13 | | 3 school facilities to school districts by providing mandatory |
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| 14 | 14 | | 4 and optional state funding mechanisms. |
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| 15 | 15 | | 5 |
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| 16 | 16 | | 6 |
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| 17 | 17 | | 7 two-thirds of all the members of the two houses, voting |
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| 18 | 18 | | 8 separately, concurring therein: |
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| 19 | 19 | | 9 |
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| 20 | 20 | | 10 |
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| 21 | 21 | | 11 Constitution, Article 7, by creating a new Section 24 is |
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| 22 | 22 | | 12 proposed for submission to the electors of the State of |
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| 23 | 23 | | 13 Wyoming at the next general election for approval or rejection |
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| 24 | 24 | | 14 to become valid as a part of the Constitution if ratified by |
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| 25 | 25 | | 15 a majority of the electors at the election: 2025STATE OF WYOMING25LSO-02442SJ0006 |
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| 26 | 26 | | 1 |
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| 27 | 27 | | 2 |
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| 28 | 28 | | 3 |
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| 29 | 29 | | 4 (a) The legislature shall by law provide a system for |
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| 30 | 30 | | 5 public school capital construction, subject to the following: |
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| 31 | 31 | | 6 |
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| 32 | 32 | | 7 (i) Each local school district shall be primarily |
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| 33 | 33 | | 8 responsible for providing school facilities for the district |
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| 34 | 34 | | 9 through bonds or other means; |
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| 35 | 35 | | 10 |
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| 36 | 36 | | 11 (ii) The decision of the voters in an election |
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| 37 | 37 | | 12 authorizing capital expenditures for public school capital |
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| 38 | 38 | | 13 construction, however financed, shall be final and neither a |
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| 39 | 39 | | 14 school district nor the state shall be required to fund any |
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| 40 | 40 | | 15 capital expenditure for public school capital construction |
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| 41 | 41 | | 16 rejected by the voters; |
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| 42 | 42 | | 17 |
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| 43 | 43 | | 18 (iii) The cost of paying bonds and interest shall |
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| 44 | 44 | | 19 be equalized so that the required school district mill levy |
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| 45 | 45 | | 20 does not exceed what the mill levy would be if the district |
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| 46 | 46 | | 21 had an assessed valuation equal to the state average per |
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| 47 | 47 | | 22 person assessed valuation, with the applicable federal census |
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| 48 | 48 | | 23 information being used to determine the number of persons. 2025STATE OF WYOMING25LSO-02443SJ0006 |
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| 49 | 49 | | 1 Equalization may be provided for capital construction |
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| 50 | 50 | | 2 financed by other means; |
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| 51 | 51 | | 3 |
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| 52 | 52 | | 4 (iv) Financing of the equalization may include |
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| 53 | 53 | | 5 appropriations or dedicated sources of funds and shall |
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| 54 | 54 | | 6 include, if necessary, a statewide mill levy at a rate to |
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| 55 | 55 | | 7 ensure payment of the equalization. Compliance with the debt |
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| 56 | 56 | | 8 limitation imposed by article 16, section 5 of this |
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| 57 | 57 | | 9 constitution shall be determined using only the school |
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| 58 | 58 | | 10 district's share of the payment for the debt; |
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| 59 | 59 | | 11 |
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| 60 | 60 | | 12 (v) The legislature shall provide a system to |
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| 61 | 61 | | 13 determine which capital facilities are not needed for |
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| 62 | 62 | | 14 education and therefore are not subject to equalization; |
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| 63 | 63 | | 15 |
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| 64 | 64 | | 16 (vi) The legislature may appropriate funds to |
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| 65 | 65 | | 17 relieve hardship. |
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| 66 | 66 | | 18 |
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| 67 | 67 | | 19 That the Secretary of State shall endorse |
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| 68 | 68 | | 20 the following statement on the proposed amendment: |
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| 69 | 69 | | 21 |
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| 70 | 70 | | 22 In 2001, the Wyoming Supreme Court decided in |
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| 71 | 71 | | 23 that providing school 2025STATE OF WYOMING25LSO-02444SJ0006 |
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| 72 | 72 | | 1 facilities was the responsibility of the state, and not an |
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| 73 | 73 | | 2 individual school district. School districts had previously |
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| 74 | 74 | | 3 provided school facilities and had financed the construction |
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| 75 | 75 | | 4 of these facilities through local bond issues approved by the |
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| 76 | 76 | | 5 voters and repaid by a local property tax. The system enacted |
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| 77 | 77 | | 6 by the Legislature to comply with the Wyoming Supreme Court |
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| 78 | 78 | | 7 decision primarily relied on bidding bonuses from new coal |
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| 79 | 79 | | 8 leases, which no longer yields significant revenue. |
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| 80 | 80 | | 9 |
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| 81 | 81 | | 10 This amendment will return school capital construction to a |
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| 82 | 82 | | 11 local system with the addition of mandatory state |
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| 83 | 83 | | 12 equalization aid to raise the amount raised by the local tax |
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| 84 | 84 | | 13 up to what a statewide levy would raise on a per person basis. |
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| 85 | 85 | | 14 The amendment also authorizes, but does not require, the |
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| 86 | 86 | | 15 Legislature to appropriate additional funds to relieve undue |
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| 87 | 87 | | 16 hardships experienced by school districts seeking to complete |
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| 88 | 88 | | 17 capital projects. |
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| 89 | 89 | | 18 |
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| 90 | 90 | | 19 (END) |
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