Wyoming’s Top Economic Development Agency on Shaky Ground as Lawmakers Debate Its Future

With input from WyoFile and Cowboy State Daily.

The Wyoming Business Council – the state’s main economic development agency – is suddenly fighting for its life.

After years of growing frustration, the Legislature’s Joint Appropriations Committee voted this week to defund the agency, throwing its future into serious doubt just weeks before the legislative budget session kicks off on Feb. 9. The committee also agreed, at least informally, to consider a bill that could dismantle the Business Council altogether. As of midweek, no draft had been released, and it’s still unclear whether lawmakers are talking about a full teardown, a major rework, or something in between.

What’s clear is this: the debate has exposed deep divisions over how – or even whether – Wyoming should use government to help drive economic growth.

Gov. Mark Gordon isn’t ready to let the Business Council go quietly. His office says the funding cut isn’t final and could still be reversed once the full Legislature weighs in.

“The governor wouldn’t have made the recommendations he did if he didn’t support economic development and the Wyoming Business Council,” his communications director, Amy Edmonds, told reporters. “We’re not finished yet. The full Legislature is going to come in, and they’ll have a conversation.”

Supporters warn that eliminating the Business Council without a replacement could make Wyoming the only state in the nation without a state-level economic development agency – a distinction few seem eager to claim.

Even so, the committee’s move didn’t come out of nowhere. Dissatisfaction with the Business Council has been building for years, according to economic development professionals across the state.

Criticism varies depending on who you ask. The agency, which employs 38 full-time and two part-time workers and spends nearly $5.9 million annually on payroll and benefits, has been accused of becoming overly bureaucratic and disconnected from local needs.

Ashley Harpstreith, executive director of the Wyoming Association of Municipalities, said the state’s economic development model needs a reset.

“Local economic development is about building and sustaining communities where businesses can locate, grow and remain competitive,” she said. “That work starts with infrastructure and community readiness, not solely with programs or initiatives.”

She and others stressed the importance of preserving key programs, especially the Small Business Development Center, which the Business Council jointly runs with the University of Wyoming.

Business Council CEO Josh Dorrell has acknowledged the agency doesn’t help everyone who asks. Through a competitive application process, the council decides which communities and projects get state support – a system that has earned it enemies in some corners of Wyoming.

That tension surfaced last summer when Dorrell proposed raising the required local match for the Business Ready Community grant and loan program to a flat 25%. The idea was to concentrate state dollars where they’d generate the biggest return – but it also would have shut out communities unable to afford the higher match. Lawmakers declined to take up the proposal.

To critics, that episode highlighted a broader problem: too much focus on programs and paperwork, not enough on flexible investment in infrastructure and community-level capital.

“Without that foundation,” Harpstreith said, “even well-designed programs struggle to produce real, lasting economic outcomes.”

The fallout from the committee vote dominated a Wednesday forum in Casper featuring Natrona County Republican lawmakers. Rep. Elissa Campbell, R-Casper, didn’t mince words.

“Yesterday was a tough day,” she said, pointing to deep cuts to both the University of Wyoming and the Business Council. “That hurts.”

Campbell and others framed the coming budget session as an ideological showdown over the government’s role in building workforce and economic infrastructure.

Sen. Bill Landen, R-Casper, warned that aggressive budget cuts could undercut Wyoming’s hospitality and tourism industry – the state’s second-largest sector. Nearly 9 million visitors generated $1.5 billion in economic activity last year, he noted, all supported by a workforce of about 40,000 people.

“That doesn’t bode well for small businesses,” Landen said, especially with major cuts proposed for UW, which he called a pipeline for the state’s future workforce.

Not everyone is eager to defend the Business Council as-is. Sen. Brian Boner, R-Douglas, said he prefers tax incentives over grants, pointing to sales tax exemptions for data centers as a “win-win.”

“I’m not sure I’m on board with getting rid of an entire agency,” Boner said, “but I hope this is the incentive they need to become more of a resource for taxpayers.”

Others, like Rep. Art Washut, argued that economic growth requires risk — and that waiting for guaranteed outcomes means missed opportunities.

“If we sit back and have paralysis by analysis,” Washut said, “opportunities shift away from us.”

Even without the Business Council, Wyoming wouldn’t be starting from scratch. Federal agencies still fund rural development and infrastructure, and state entities like the Wyoming Energy Authority and the Office of State Lands and Investments play key roles. But the Mineral Royalty Grants program – once a major source of community infrastructure funding – has shrunk as mineral revenues decline.

For now, Gov. Gordon is standing firm, and lawmakers are clearly divided. Whether the Wyoming Business Council survives, gets reshaped, or disappears altogether will likely be decided when the full Legislature takes up the budget next month.

One way or another, Wyoming’s approach to economic development is heading for a reckoning.