Revenue committee advances bill to temporarily exempt state-owned land while task force studies "governmental purpose"

The Senate Revenue Committee voted to advance Senate File 68 on a 4-1 roll call after hearing presentations from the Department of Revenue and the Office of State Lands and Investments about the impact of a recent Wyoming Supreme Court decision.

The bill would exempt land owned by the State of Wyoming from property taxation for tax years 2025 and 2026 while creating a task force charged with recommending a statutory definition of what constitutes land "primarily used for a governmental purpose." Committee members voted to "work the bill" and approved it on a roll call (Senator Case, No; Senators French, Ihde, Pappas and Chairman McEwen, Aye).

The action follows the Oct. 9, 2024 Wyoming Supreme Court decision in State of Wyoming v. Uinta County Assessor, which the Department of Revenue said left uncertainty about whether state-owned parcels leased to private parties should be taxable. Brenda Henson, director of the Department of Revenue, told the committee the ruling exposed a lack of statutory definition for "governmental purpose" that county attorneys and assessors have historically relied on.

Henson said department staff estimated the number of state grazing-lease acres that assessors may need to value for 2025 at roughly 3,400,000 acres and that the department used GIS overlays and its annual agricultural land study to produce a high-end estimate for possible 2025 property taxes. The Office of State Lands and Investments requested a supplemental appropriation of $3,000,000 from the governor to cover assessed taxes where lease agreements do not require lessees to pay property taxes.

Jason Crowder, interim director of the Office of State Lands and Investments, told the committee "there's no money to pay it right now" and said the office would need a legislative appropriation if the Legislature does not enact an exemption or a policy requiring pass-through of taxes to lessees. Crowder also described complications the task force would need to address, including parcels with multiple overlapping leases (grazing, mineral, commercial) and the potential for double assessment.

Committee members raised practical questions about the scope of the bill compared with a narrower agriculture-committee bill that would focus only on grazing leases. Ken Gill, property tax division administrator, traced the issue back to legislative work and public discussion in the mid-1950s and summarized why assessors and county attorneys need clearer statutory direction.

Supporters at the hearing, including Jim McGavin of the Wyoming Stockholders Association, urged the committee to move the bill forward and noted potential inequities for lessees whose leases renew after Jan. 1, 2025. Opponents or cautious members asked for more study, but a majority voted to advance the measure with a built-in sunset.

If enacted as written, Senate File 68 would provide a two-year statutory stay that exempts state-owned land from property taxation while the task force studies and reports recommendations to the Legislature, and would include a modest task-force appropriation the bill lists as $20,000 for interim work.

The committee's action sends the bill to the next step in the legislative process; further amendments and appropriation decisions remain possible.