Absent Fed Help, State Budgets Will Be the Worst in Decades

Governing: Something’s about to happen in Wyoming that hasn't been the case since statehood, back in 1890. Given the drop in oil prices, it’s possible that by June not a single rig will be drilling for oil there. Meanwhile, the drop in electricity demand is slowing or stalling work at coal mines in the nation’s largest production state.

Add it all up and Wyoming’s government is facing a severe decline in revenues. “The pessimistic scenarios looking out over a two-year period show about a 25 to 30 percent drop in revenue,” says Wyoming House Speaker Steve Harshman. “That’s not something anybody’s ever seen.”

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