I was born in Monticello, Utah We have lived in Wyoming for 46 years and, We have lived at our current address for 31 years

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My wife Rebecca and I have been married for 47 years come August, with six children, all graduating from a university, five from the University of Wyoming. We have 23 grandchildren. Only 2 of the five children live in Wyoming. My brother, father and I owned a construction company serving the petroleum industry for 35 years, starting with 3 employees and growing to 100.
All the afore mentioned background prepared me well to serve in the legislature. I am in my 14th year of service to the citizens of House District #54 and the State of Wyoming. During my time in the legislature I served 8 years on the Appropriations Committee, four years on the Minerals Committee, four years on the Labor & Health Committee, 10 years on Tribal Relations, two years on the Transportation Committee and as well several select committees and task forces.

1. Healthcare, including mental health and emergency medical services is the biggest challenge we have.

2. Over the past 4-years we have seen a significant erosion for private property rights. People are now subject to the will of neighboring land owners when make a decision on how they want to use their property or who they can sell their property to.

3. We must find additional funding for our highway system. What was an annual shortfall of $400-million dollars 10-years ago has now grown to $600-million annually. We are not able to build the new roads needed nor replace bridges that are nearing the end of their life cycle. We are merely trying to maintain existing highway infrastructure.

To begin with we need to understand some of the data. For example Wyoming ranks 4th in the number of hospitals per 1,000 people with 29 hospitals in the state in 2024, and it ranks 8th in the nation for the same time period for the number of staffed beds available at 1875. These numbers are much better than the states around us. We rank as the 14th highest state for medical cost per capita. If you average out the state we have one hospital for every 18,000 residents, and Colorado on the other hand has 96,000 residents supporting each hospital. Wyoming with its large geographic area and small population struggles to have a hospital close to every community and the low number of people supporting the hospital means they don't have the patient volume to keep prices down, and because the prices are higher residents often leave the state to have elective surgeries further exasperating the problem. When you look and mental health the problem become even more complex.

We have always had the ability through a variety of ways to sell public lands or transfer lands through an exchange process. I think the objective should be to make sure there is a public benefit in the transaction. A case in point was the sale of the Kelly parcel in Teton County to the federal government. People in Wyoming supported the disposal of this irreplaceable parcel to the National Park Service feeling the process was very transparent and the financial benefit to our K-12 schools far exceeded the benefit received by leasing the property for grazing. I believe there is an argument to be made to not reduce the amount of public lands and not increase the amount of public lands. The citizens of the state have listed the protection of public lands as a top priority. I am committed to protecting public lands, and making sure the public is a net benefactor of any sale or trade.

The legislature has responded to the public's desire for property tax relief by passing seven bills (2023 - 1, 2024-3, and 2025-3) in an attempt to provide relief. We need to give the legislation some time to see if the bills produce the intended results. It takes a little time for the medication to take affect, and we need to avoid over-prescribing which could have adverse impact on the entities that rely of property tax to provide services the people want including K-12 funding, county government, special districts i.e. hospital, cemetery, fire, and ambulance. The next step is up to the voters. If they vote for the constitutional amendment to reduce personal property tax by 50%, they will in effect be acknowledging that reduction will require a reduction of services in their county and they are saying with that vote they are willing to accept that reduction in services moving forward and should not expect the legislature to backfill the lost revenue with State General Funds.

Wyoming is in competition with every other state in the nation when recruiting business or industry to our state. Without a central agency like the Wyoming Business Council to field relocation questions and direct them to the appropriate city, town, or county, it is left up to the relocating business or industry to determine which city, town, or county they should reach out to. And perhaps even more important is the help provided to business and industry regarding our permitting process and assistance to navigate the requirements of our state agencies. No one is required to use the Business Council, but most everyone does.
I also think the "Energy Matching Funds" have been incredibly successful in attracting business and industries that are associated with our core industries. The creation of the energy dominance fund is also critical and will contribute to Wyoming's long term stability.

Historically Wyoming has been a model of public participation in the election process. People whether individuals or businesses can support the candidate of their choice in a variety of ways including financial support. Financial contributions are recorded in the Secretary of State's office and is available to the public. I would like to eliminate the PAC money originating in Wyoming or other states that are not required to identify who the contributors are and operate independent of any candidate. I think this kind of money has planted seeds of contempt in the campaign process and stifled the practice of mutual respect among opposing candidates.