Funding for Cody area shooting complex in jeopardy

When both the Wyoming House and Senate included $13.5 million for a planned shooting complex outside of Cody within their versions of the state’s supplemental budget, it appeared the Park County project had passed its final test.

But amid disagreements between the two chambers, the Senate announced Wednesday that it wouldn’t pass a supplemental budget at all — a move not seen in decades of sessions. 

As a result, “all of the funding allocations that were included in the supplemental budget, including the State Shooting Complex, is in jeopardy,” Rep. Rachel Rodriguez-Williams, R-Cody, said Thursday via email.

Since the bombshell announcement, lawmakers have been trying creative ways to get funding for certain projects into other bills. On Friday, state Sen. Larry Hicks, R-Baggs, attempted to stick $10 million for the complex into the state’s omnibus water infrastructure construction bill.

“This is about economic development,” Hicks said. “It’s probably one of the better economic development projects this body has put out in a number of years.”

That effort failed on a 15-16 vote.

Monday, after an attempt to recover the supplemental budget failed, another attempt to add the funding as an amendment, this time in a road easement bill, failed when it was determined to be out of order. 

Sen. Dan Laursen, R-Powell, said supporters were working on a new tactic after Monday’s failed vote: Get an entirely new bill to fund the complex passed within a day. He said it requires amending rules “which is tough,” but the funding wasn’t entirely dead yet as of Monday afternoon. 

It was Friday’s amendment, however, that nearly restored funding. 

Sen. Ed Cooper, R-Ten Sleep, was among those to argue in favor of the amendment, noting the funding was appropriated two years ago and the amount of work already put in.

But a number also spoke in opposition, either because of the project itself, or because of the manner in which it was trying to get passed. That included one Park County legislator. 

“Whether you’re for the state shooting complex or whether you’re against it, does it belong in a huge water bill?” said Sen. Tim French, R-Powell, who was among the 16 senators to vote against Hicks’ amendment.

Supporters of the complex — which would be built on state land south of Cody — are holding out hope that lawmakers will still find a way to approve the funding.

Nephi Cole, director of government relations-state affairs in Wyoming for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, has been working to get the shooting complex approved since the beginning. Cole said Friday afternoon that it feels like the effort has “fallen as a casualty to a different fight.”

“It would be an absolute tragedy for a project with this much potential, that’s had this much work in it, this much support, to fail because of an inability to meet in the middle when we all know we’re supportive of actually going to the same place,” Cole said. “The only issue we’re having is people deciding which route to take to get there.”

Glenn Ross, a member of the Wyoming State Shooting Complex Local Working Group, noted that thousands of dollars and volunteers have already been invested into the project. 

“If we don’t waver, if we keep our resolve, Wyoming will lead the nation in support of our Second Amendment rights and the shooting sports,” Ross said. “If we need to pull it across next year we will, but that is not our goal. We would like to get started before inflation gives us another kick.”

The Senate’s unexpected decision to scrap the supplemental budget came after the body spent weeks preparing and debating it. Park County lawmakers played an instrumental role in getting the complex’s funding included.

Laursen sits on the Joint Appropriations Committee and voted to include it in the committee’s budget draft.

And in February, all of the county’s representatives banded together to turn back some House members’ attempts to put more restrictions on the project or scrap the state funding altogether; thanks in part to the support and advocacy from local lawmakers, the effort by Rep. Mike Schmid, R-La Barge, to defund the project failed on a 25-35 vote.

Laursen said lawmakers probably should have protected the shooting complex funding by including it in a standalone bill, “but you never think this is going to come about,” he said of the Senate nixing the budget bill.

“I don’t know what fell apart, just difficulties between the two houses is a lot of it,” he said Friday morning, adding, “Those above me decided what they decided.”

Laursen said he’s among a group of lawmakers “trying to figure out how to keep the project moving forward,” saying the complex would be “fantastic” for the area.

“We still have five days,” he said, “and lots of things can change in an hour.”

The next attempt came Monday with an amendment to HB 219, County and municipal roads on state lands-easements granted, sponsored by Sen. John Kolb, Rock Springs, and co-sponsored by Laursen and Cooper.   

“Obviously we’re trying to fit this into a bill that moves the state shooting complex forward,” Kolb said, adding “Construction costs are not getting any cheaper. This project has been approved at numerous points of time by this body … This rises past the usual shoehorning.”

The amendment asked to put not just the initial $10 million first approved in 2023, but also $3 million from the tourism reserve and projects account, into the bill on third reading. 

Monday morning Jennifer Thoma, executive director of the Cody Country Chamber of Commerce, urged people to reach out to senators who had opposed the Friday vote, to vote yes Monday. 

She said a contingency from Cody headed to Cheyenne to meet with and try to convince legislators. In the end, legislators didn’t even get a chance to vote.

After Sen. Chris Rothfuss, D-Laramie, contended it was “not germane” to the underlying easement bill, Senate President Bo Biteman declared the amendment out of order. However, Rothfuss said he supported the complex and would help write a new bill to quickly get the funding approved.

“We need to trust the process,” he said.