At the end of a two-hour town hall, a man asked Park County legislators a question: Will it ever be possible to reduce the state budget?

The conservative legislators present who represent most of the county were optimistic, to a point. 

“I think that the Joint Appropriations Committee, during the interim, proved that it can be done. The House of Representatives proved that it can be done,” Rep. Rachel Rodriguez-Williams, R-Cody, said. “However, the people of Wyoming need to want it, and in order to want it, they're going to need to — no offense to the colleagues of my Senate, we have conservatives here in Park County — but their colleagues in the Senate, there are lots of seats that need overhauled, and you need fiscal conservatives, and not only the House, but in the Senate as well, to make it happen.”

Williams was joined by fellow Reps. Paul Hoeft, R-Powell, and Nina Webber, R-Cody, and Sens. Dan Laursen, R-Powell, and Tim French, R-Heart Mountain for the April 20 gathering at Northwest College’s Yellowstone Building to provide their thoughts on the budget session and answer questions about their votes.

One of the big themes was the budget, and how the more conservative budget they wanted — one Laursen and French trimmed as part of the appropriations committee — was amended until it was nearly as expensive as the budget Gov. Mark Gordon originally proposed. 

“We worked hard at it,” French said, noting the appropriations committee was mostly a conservative group. “We thought we did the responsible thing, presented a responsible budget. Well, after all was said and done … the governor’s budget was essentially put completely back in. So what the H did I spend all this time down here doing for? That was kind of disappointing and frustrating that you're proud of the work you're doing, you're doing a good job. And then that happens.”

Hoeft noted that, despite the budget frustrations, a lot of good bills were still passed — 125 in all — and all of the legislators noted some of their successes. 

“It was some really rewarding work,” he said. “We tried to do our best.”

Hoeft was proud of supporting bills that make it illegal to drive on state roads without being able to speak proficient English, require Wyoming to honor other states’ restorations of felons’ firearm rights, essentially ban abortions after roughly six weeks (though that act is now on hold) and school recalibration. 

In addition to sharing his frustrations with the budget process, Laursen spoke of his and likeminded legislators’ successes, including bills to provide more support for firefighters and to ease the process of forming a state guard, made up of volunteers who can assist communities before the National Guard is available. 

“We worked hard with the adjutant general, and he was very in favor of it,” Laursen said. “He wasn’t three years ago, but with trouble in Iran, he realized we really do need backup.”

Laursen said the state guard would be mainly used for local emergency and disaster relief, a major role for the guard that was initially envisioned during World War I, after National Guard soldiers were sent to France. 

Webber spoke of her frustrations on the large amount of elections bills that had been worked on over the past year but failed to pass, including ones to strengthen the ability to hand count ballots, something the Park County GOP has been pushing for for years. 

But she, too, was optimistic about the conservative wave continuing, at least locally. 

“This is the first time in a while that Park County has a solid group of Wyoming conservative Republicans,” Webber said. “We support and defend the Wyoming Republican Party platform.”