Draft #4

DRAFT

WYOMING NATURAL RESOURCES ENHANCEMENT FUND

CONCEPT PAPER

BACKGROUND

In the 2003 Session, the Wyoming Legislature considered creation of a Wildlife Trust Fund under the jurisdiction of the WG&F.  This legislation failed due to strong opposition to both the earmarking of funds and the absence of legislative oversight of the expenditure of trust earnings by WG&F.

Recently Wyoming’s Governor has proposed creation of a Wildlife Trust Fund to be funded from a portion of current mineral severance taxes, specifically one cent per mcf of natural gas production.  The potential for continued high state revenues and the likelihood that the majority of these revenues will be expended have made the concept of a trust fund somewhat more palatable to many.  However, control of such trust by a single state agency remains a major obstacle.

The concept outlined below recognizes both the need and desirability of directing additional state revenues toward enhancement of our natural resources for the mutual benefit of wildlife, tourism and our natural resource based economy.

THE FUND

The legislatively created fund will be known as the Wyoming Environment & Natural Resources Fund.  The purpose of the Fund is to provide a dependable source of funding to support our natural resource economy, including agriculture, tourism, hunting and fishing and mineral development, through on–the-ground maintenance or enhancement of Wyoming’s wildlife, wildlife habitat, rangeland resources, open space and natural beauty.

The operation of the Fund will be under the direction of a Commission to be appointed by the governor with the consent of the Senate. There shall be seven commissioners as follows:

¨      One representative of wildlife advocacy interests

¨      One representative of agriculture

¨      One representative of the mineral industry

¨      One representative of sportsmen

¨      One representative of local government

¨      One representative of the tourism industry

¨      One representative of the general public

Each commissioner shall serve for four years with initial terms to be staggered.

Commissioners are charged with receiving and evaluating applications for grants from the earnings of the Fund.  Commissioners shall meet quarterly to review applications, approve projects and assure compliance with the terms of grants.

The commissioners shall employ an administrator and such support staff as may be needed upon approval of the Governor and Legislature.

FUNDING

Assuming that the state has another significant “surplus” this year, the fund will be front loaded with a single appropriation of $100 million.  The legislature and governor could add additional principal in future years when a “surplus” existed up to a cap of $200 million.

Funds shall be invested by the State Treasurer in the same manner as other permanent state funds.  Annually, an amount shall be transferred from fund earnings to the fund corpus as necessary to protect the corpus from the effects of inflation.  The remainder of earnings and appreciation shall be placed into a segregated income fund available for expenditure as outlined herein.

GRANT PROCESS

A Select Committee of the legislature comprised of five members of the Senate appointed by the President and five members of the House appointed by the Speaker will be established to recommend expenditures for approval by the full legislature.

Any individual grant in an amount exceeding $100,000 and any multi-year grants shall be submitted by the commissioners to the legislature for approval.

Small projects are those projects for which grant funds do not exceed $100,000 and for which only a one-time grant will be given. These grant monies may include funding for technical assistance and project administration.  The legislature will annually authorize an amount of not less than 10 percent of the fund earnings nor more than 25 percent of the fund earnings for small projects.  The commissioners are authorized to make small project grants without prior legislative approval.  All such grants shall be reported to the Select Committee at their next meeting.

No Wyoming Environment & Natural Resources Fund monies shall be expended to increase the total amount of government owned lands in this state.

QUALIFIED APPLICANTS

Applications for grants from the fund may be submitted by the following:

¨      Wyoming Game & Fish Commission

¨      Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality

¨      Wyoming Department of Agriculture

¨      Wyoming Livestock Board

¨      Wyoming Oil & Gas Conservation Commission

¨      Office of State Lands & Investments

¨      Water Development Commission

¨      Animal Damage Management Board

¨      County Commissions

¨      Any special district whose primary purpose is consistent with the stated objectives of the Trust.

In addition, any private non-profit or for-profit entity, when sponsored by one of the above agencies, may apply for a small project grant to support our natural resource economy, including agriculture, tourism, hunting and fishing and mineral development, through on–the-ground maintenance or enhancement of Wyoming’s wildlife, wildlife habitat, rangeland resources, open space and natural beauty.