Lori Millin
Democrat for Wyoming House District 8
Welcome to my website!
HOW THE 2009 LEGISLATURE HELPED YOU AND YOUR FAMILY
Several measures emerged from the 60th Legislative session that will help Wyoming's economy in the future.
In the 2007 session the legislature authorized the University of Wyoming to enter into a memorandum of understanding and contract relating to the construction of a supercomputing center to be built with industrial development revenue bonds issued by Laramie County, with the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) paying rent to repay the bonds. This year’s legislation authorizes the University board of trustees to buy the facility housing the supercomputer by pledging the University’s federal mineral royalty stream to fund the bonds. One condition of the agreement is that the National Science Foundation transfer 100% of its ownership of the facility to the University.
I’ve worked for many years in the health care field and you, my constituents, tell me that health care is among your top priorities, so when my colleagues in the legislature failed by one vote to pass legislation that would have created a pilot project to offer health insurance to 500 working people who couldn’t afford it on the open market, I can’t tell you how frustrated and disappointed I was. The House also defeated a proposal to expand KidCare– the state children’s health insurance program (SCHIP)– to allow 3,700 more children to benefit from the program. We did a lot of good in the session, but the failure of legislation in that area was a great disappointment. I won’t stop working on that, however, and will be right back at it in the interim on committees which deal with that issue…. However, the Legislature did pass two bills that aim to give health insurance holders more leverage when negotiating disputes with insurance companies. Senate File 95 would establish independent review boards to conduct hearings for policyholders to appeal claims that insurance companies have denied. Senate File 62 would remove so-called discretionary clauses, which can allow insurance companies to deny procedures even if they are covered in individual’s policies.
Several bills were passed benefiting our men and women in uniform for our Wyoming National Guard, their families and our veterans. I have attended numerous deployments to send our troops off and let them know we in Wyoming do care about them, their mission, and their safe return.
The Legislature passed Worker’s Compensation amendments, which aim to ease the financial burden on injured or deceased workers and their families. Among other things the bill will provide cost-of-living adjustments for people who are permanently disabled and increased compensation for families of worker’s killed on the job. It also provides bridge payments for people receiving temporary disability benefits but waiting for permanent partial impairment or permanent partial disability payments to go into effect. Please do not hesitate to contact me for further explanation of this legislation or any others as it is important to Wyoming’s workforce and our families.
Lawmakers passed three bills designed to jumpstart an underground carbon dioxide storage industry in Wyoming and protect the state’s coal industry... House Bill 80 addresses how owners of underground pore space (the space between particles in the soil) will benefit from the injection of carbon dioxide, and it stipulates that carbon dioxide injectors can proceed with their efforts if they strike agreements with at least 80 percent of land owners. House Bill 58 assigns liability for underground carbon dioxide to the injector in most circumstances, while House Bill 57 stipulates that mineral rights supersede the right to store carbon dioxide.
In addition, legislators continued our efforts to promote “clean coal” development in Wyoming by partnering with General Electric to locate and build a $100 million coal-gasification demonstration plant in the Cowboy State. The facility will help develop gasification technology for Wyoming’s high-moisture coal to burn it cleaner and more efficiently. While the nation’s economy is in crisis, I believe it is more important than ever that the Legislature continue to make wise investments in our own state's economic future.
Although 2009 was not an official budget session, the state finances colored everything the Legislature did this year due to the uncertainty facing the country and our state’s finances right now. Of particular concern were the prices of coal, oil and natural gas, taxes from which provide an enormous chunk of the state’s budget. Lawmakers did not make any budget cuts, establishing Wyoming as one of a few states not to be cutting services to its citizens. Still, the Legislature was unable to make the large kinds of investments that have become more common in years when the budget picture was a lot brighter.
We clarified the Governor's authority to direct all agencies and entities receiving state funds to prepare proposed budget reductions of 5% & 10%.
They're here! After the very postive response we got from our TV ads last time, we decided to film some more for this time. We did two ads and have them posted on YouTube:
If you like the ads and want to help put them on the air, please make a donation. They cost $9 each time we run them. Let me know if you like them or which one you like best. Thanks.
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Thanks again and have a great day!
LORI
I just received a nice e-mail from a new friend with whom John and I worked in El Salvador. We try to make one trip per year overseas to do cataract surgery. Our friend sent a nice summary of this year's clinic with some good pictures. If you are interested, check it out at:
http://www.pazsalud.org/volunteer_reflections/
Click on the April, 2008 link. PeaceHealth!
