Legislative News From Cheyenne

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Developments on the eighth day of the Budget Session of the Wyoming Legislature, Wed., Feb. 22, 2012:

BUDGET: Both the House and the Senate finished their first readings of the $3.2-billion budget bill recommended by the Joint Appropriations Committee. The bill needs two more readings in each house.

PUBLIC RECORDS: The Wyoming Senate voted to strip an amendment off a bill dealing with the right to inspect public records, Senate File 25. The amendment the Senate removed would have exempted from public inspection the materials that state agencies or local governments use in arriving at final decisions. The amendment also would have specified that materials sent to fewer than a majority, or a quorum, of the members of a public board were no subject to public review.

WOLF MANAGEMENT: The Senate gave preliminary approval to a bill that would change the state's wolf management law to comport with an agreement that Gov. Matt Mead and U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar reached last year over how to end federal protection for the animals. The bill would create a flexible zone around Yellowstone National Park in which wolves would be managed as a protected game species. Outside that zone, they would be classified as unprotected predators.

JUDICIAL SALARIES: The Senate gave final approval to a bill to increase salaries for state judges. The bill, Senate File 40, now heads to the House.