Bill doubles drivers license fees

CHEYENNE - After July 1 this year, the fee to renew your driver's license will be $30, up from $15, if a bill that passed the House Tuesday gets all the way through the Legislature.

House Bill 142 passed the House on a 39-21 third-reading vote. It now goes to the Senate.

The bill increases the fee:

* To obtain a driver's license or instruction permit from $20 to $40.

* For a restricted license from $10 to $20.

* For a commercial or instruction license from $25 to $45, and from $20 to $40 to renew a commercial license.

* To reinstate a driver's license after suspension or revocation from $50 to $90.

* For an identification card from $10 to $20.

Panel approves vet tax exemptions

CHEYENNE - A proposal to qualify more veterans for property tax exemptions will move to the floor after a Senate committee approved it 4-1 Tuesday.

House Bill 33 would extend tax exemptions on primary homes and motor vehicles to include veterans who were drafted or shot at after a cease fire was declared in World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War.

Wyoming already allows exemptions for veterans of those wars.

Larry Barttelbort, director of the Wyoming Veteran Affairs Commission, said immediate postwar cleanup efforts caused many soldiers to stay overseas even though the wars had officially ended.

Rep. Rodney "Pete" Anderson, R-Pine Bluffs, a sponsor of the bill, said it's unknown how much the proposal will cost the state.

"We don't know how many (qualifying veterans) are out there," Anderson said.

Sen. Cale Case, the only committee member to oppose the bill, said he wasn't sure further property tax exemptions were a good way for Wyoming to show support of veterans.

"I love you guys, I really do," said Case, R-Lander. "But, I think that if everyone pays a little we can work together to keep property taxes low."