Gordon, Buchanan see legislative overreach on new Capitol

Gov. Mark Gordon and Secretary of State Ed Buchanan characterized an effort by legislative leaders to maintain some control over the Capitol building after restoration work finishes this year as creeping legislative overreach.

The pushback from the state’s executive branch comes on a bill to let lawmakers control decisions over the Legislature’s chambers, committee rooms and office spaces in the restored Capitol. In the past, those rooms, like all state buildings, have been under the control of the State Building Commission, made up of Wyoming’s five statewide elected officials.

Lawmakers pushing the measure said they have a responsibility to oversee projects the Legislature funds, and cited the hundreds of millions they’ve appropriated for the restoration project.

The bill, Senate File 149 – Capitol complex oversight, initially gave the Legislature an immediate say on building decisions to be made over the “Capitol complex,” a 16-block area in downtown Cheyenne. A senator also raised concerns about the process by which the bill, sponsored by legislative leadership, was brought into the Legislature. Though sponsored by the Management Council, the bill never received a public hearing in that committee.

Read more: https://www.wyofile.com/gordon-buchanan-see-legislative-overreach-on-new-capitol/