Throughout this year’s Wyoming Legislative Session, it was clear that a majority of lawmakers in the House and Senate supported funding a planned state shooting complex south of Cody. But up until the session’s last day, it was unclear whether the two bodies would agree on how to fund it.

Ultimately, the lawmakers struck a deal to greenlight the project as one of their final acts — agreeing to release $10 million worth of state funding to get the estimated $19.5 million endeavor rolling.

Though the bill still needs to be reviewed by Gov. Mark Gordon, the local members of the Wyoming State Shooting Complex Working Group cheered the Legislature’s approval.

“We look forward to welcoming thousands of visitors annually and contributing to Wyoming’s economy for years to come,” Forward Cody CEO/President Jake Hogan said in a Friday statement. “This is a win for the entire state of Wyoming.”

If all goes according to plan, the group intends to host 15 to 20 regional and national events and over 10,000 visitors at the site south of Cody each year. 

The background

Lawmakers set aside $10 million for a shooting complex back in 2023, intending for the project to serve as both an economic boost and as a message of support for the Second Amendment. Over the next two years, a task force solicited proposals and reviewed nine proposals submitted by different Wyoming communities seeking to have the complex constructed in their area. Park County’s pitch — which would involve building the facility on over 2,000 acres of state land west of Wyo. Highway 120S — won the support of eight of the committee’s 12 members.

However, under the text of the 2023 legislation, lawmakers still needed to give final approval to the plans before the funding could be released.

After some debate, both the House and Senate included the project in their versions of the state’s supplemental budget. They both approved the release of the $10 million plus another $3.5 million, which seemed to have the project all set.

Then things fell apart. 

A procedural mess

The Senate and House differed on a number of other budget items, and when negotiations between the chambers broke down, Senate leaders announced they just wouldn’t pass a supplemental budget this year.

The decision came in the session’s waning days and spurred a dash to jam the scrapped projects into bills that were still pending. However, that raised new challenges for the shooting complex, as lawmakers who’d supported the funding balked at the idea of including it in otherwise unrelated bills.

The Senate eventually agreed to take an extraordinary measure on March 4: Although the deadline had long passed to introduce new bills, a supermajority of senators agreed to suspend their rules and consider a measure that simply released the original $10 million for the complex. They then agreed to suspend the rules to immediately pass Senate File 198 on all three readings.

“We’re time traveling,” Senate President Bo Biteman, R-Ranchester, quipped as legislation zipped through the chamber in a matter of minutes rather than days. The measure, brought by Sen. Chris Rothfuss, D-Laramie, passed by a vote of 24-7.

However, House members soon rejected that approach. Rather than suspending their rules, they sought to authorize the funding through a bill that was shuttering the state’s strategic investments and projects account; the amendment from Rep. Art Washut, R-Casper, tied the shooting complex to the otherwise unrelated bill by transferring $1 from the strategic account to the project.

Reopening the debate

The House had already spent hours debating the funding for the complex during earlier budget discussions, but Washut’s amendment reopened the argument.

Rep. Mike Schmid, R-La Barge, took to the floor twice to pan the project, which he described as a “monstrosity.”

“This is not the function of this body or the state to get involved in these kind of projects,” Schmid said, asserting the complex would be “cutting the throats” of the Cody area’s existing shooting ranges.

“How would you like it if the state came into your area and put something together or built something to go into direct competition with you? How would you feel about that?” Schmid asked his colleagues. “It’s just not right.”

However, his remarks were disputed by a pair of Park County representatives.

Rep. Paul Hoeft, R-Powell, serves as the executive director of the Powell Rod and Gun Club and its range east of town, and he told the body that the new state complex south of Cody is “not going to affect us in any way.”

Rep. Rachel Rodriguez-Williams, R-Cody, offered that she had yet to meet an organization or business in the firearms industry that’s opposed to the project.

“It’s heavily supported,” she said. “It’s a unique opportunity for the state and it’s been well-vetted by a task force that worked really hard.”

Rep. John Winter, R-Thermopolis, whose district encompasses the site, added that he believes it’s “the best place in the whole state” for the project.

A couple lawmakers expressed misgivings about the wisdom of having a government-funded complex, but still urged their colleagues to support the amendment and release the $10 million, arguing they needed to honor a promise made in 2023.

“Even if this was a mistake in the beginning, we made that mistake and now we’ve got to make the best of that,” said Rep. Ken Pendergraft, R-Sheridan.

Final approval

The amendment to Senate File 169 passed on a 42-19 vote on March 4, but the new version of the legislation was promptly rejected by the Senate, where members didn’t think the $1 transfer was enough to connect the project into the bill. That kept the shooting complex in limbo until Thursday — the last day of the session — when the chambers finally agreed to pull the $10 million from strategic investments and projects account.

The final version of SF 169 passed the House 38-15 and cleared the Senate, 19-9, with Park County’s entire delegation in support.

Supporters of the project were concerned that if the project wouldn’t be able to break ground this year, it’d be a major time crunch next year.

Nephi Cole, director of government relations-state affairs in Wyoming for the National Shooting Sports Foundation and a longtime supporter of a state shooting complex, told the Tribune previously that the 2023 legislation requires the money be spent by June 2026.

“There’s a 2026 deadline on that check, so that can’t just sit there forever,” he said in late February. 

Gov. Gordon now has until the end of the day on March 21 to decide what to do with the bill. Gordon’s office couldn’t say what action he’ll take, but in their Friday news release, the Wyoming State Shooting Complex Work Group members said they’re “looking forward to the governor’s signature.”

The Cody-based group added that it “remains committed to bringing this vision to life and creating new opportunities for economic growth and tourism.”

The members’ plans include raising $6 million worth of donations and sponsorships for the costs not covered by the state. As for the additional $3.5 million in state funding that lawmakers were poised to deliver, it will have to wait until at least the 2026 Budget Session.

(Zac Taylor contributed reporting)