House District 47 Representative Jeb Steward (R) spoke with the Sun about the upcoming legislature budget session, and some of the comments, questions, and concerns he has taken from his constituents.

“I’ve been getting hammered by some of the local officials,” Steward said on the request of state funding for various local projects around his district.

“Smaller towns have been hit hard, but there are several questions that have not been answered,” Steward said.

“What is the appropriate response of the state, and why have these towns not prepared for the budget reduction?” Steward asked.

“The governor told local entities around the state to be ready for a 10 percent budget reduction this year, and we are finding a lot of these entities may have not prepared for this.”

Steward said that among constituents, he has encountered strong resistance to federal mandates on healthcare reform.

“People I have talked to are concerned with loss of state’s rights in general, in addition to the administration’s action on healthcare, and the environment.”

Steward also said the majority of people in Carbon County are supportive of the governor’s proposed excise tax on wind energy.

“Wind energy should not be treated differently than any other industry, so the state is proposing an excise tax that would mitigate the impacts of wind development...not an onerous tax that would stifle the development,” Steward explained.

The legislator also commented on a bill that has been proposed to suspend the power of eminent domain for power lines on wind development areas, for one year, as requested by Governor Freudenthal.

“This is an issue that begs for more coordination and cooperation,” Steward said.

Steward said that with planned development, power lines would be well-organized, compared to his view of what could potentially happen without planning and regulation on wind development areas.

“A map of what could happen without coordination would make the power lines look like spaghetti that someone had thrown on a wall.”

“We worked on the eminent domain statutes, but we still have not made them to support the property owner as much as we would like.”

Steward said that one issue he has been working on, emergency medical service (EMS) in the state, has seen progress, but still needs help.

“EMS in this state can still be described as fragile...it is still weighted heavily on volunteers,” Steward said.

Steward explained that he has been proud of his work on a budget footnote that has secured pension funds for emergency medical technicians.

After taking a question from a Saratoga citizen on why the state has no medical school, Steward explained in depth what Wyoming is doing to develop and grow medical professionals in-state.

“We have sheer numbers against us in trying to establish a medical school in this state,” Steward said.

However, the legislation is not completely ignoring the need for more medical professionals in Wyoming.

The Washington-Wyoming-Alaska-Montana-Idaho (WWAMI) program allocates a certain number of slots for medical students of states with no school to attend the University of Washington Medical School.

The state will pay the student’s tuition, and the student is required to practice in-state after graduation.

Students may opt out of practicing in their state, and pay back tuition costs, but this is not a major concern for Steward.

“We have seen good data on the program...there has been a 67 percent return rate so far.”

Wyoming is currently allocated 16 slots, which Steward is trying to increase to 20 within two years.

Editor’s note: In the upcoming Feb. 17 edition of the Saratoga Sun, read about new State Senator Jim Elliott’s first budget session.