<html><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:times new roman, new york, times, serif;font-size:12pt">Common sense prevails in Wyoming. "Aircraft Carrier" actually ironic.<br><br><div class="yom-mod yom-art-hd"><div class="bd"><h1 class="headline">Wyoming narrowly defeats measure to prepare for apocalypse</h1><cite class="byline vcard">By <span class="fn">Ruffin Prevost</span> | <span class="provider org">Reuters</span> – <abbr title="2012-02-29T01:31:00Z">17 hrs ago</abbr></cite></div></div><div class="yog-col yog-5u"><br>
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<div class="yom-mod yom-art-content "><div class="bd"><div class="first">CODY, Wyoming (Reuters) - In a sign of rising consumer confidence prevailing over go-it-alone pessimism in the Cowboy State, <span class="yshortcuts cs4-visible" id="lw_1330479132_2">Wyoming</span> lawmakers on Tuesday narrowly defeated a "<span class="yshortcuts cs4-ndcor" id="lw_1330479132_6">doomsday</span> bill" to help the state prepare for a total collapse of the U.S. government and economy.</div>
<div> The bill, rejected on a 30-27 vote by the <span class="yshortcuts cs4-visible" id="lw_1330479132_0">state House of Representatives</span>,
would have allocated $16,000 for a panel of legislators and emergency
managers to study various measures, including a new state-issued
currency, for handling a range of apocalyptic scenarios.</div>
<div> The bill's chief sponsor, <span class="yshortcuts cs4-visible" id="lw_1330479132_3">Republican Representative David Miller</span>, originally had sought $32,000 to fund the task force, but the <span class="yshortcuts cs4-visible" id="lw_1330479132_4">Joint Appropriations Committee</span> later cut that amount in half. Republicans control both houses of the state Legislature.</div>
<div> House members on
Monday had given the bill their initial backing after striking a "poison
pill" amendment that mockingly asked whether Wyoming should purchase
its own <span class="yshortcuts cs4-visible" id="lw_1330479132_1">aircraft carrier</span> and fighter jets.</div>
<div> "I guess a lot of people think if you're trying to
prepare for a disaster, it makes you seem crazy," co-sponsor Kendell
Kroeker said. "I was interested in it mainly because I don't think
there's any harm in being well-prepared."</div>
<div> Supporters of the legislation had cited recent global
economic turmoil and political unrest as reasons to plan for a range of
hypothetical worst-case scenarios.</div>
<div> The bill would have funded contingency planning to
guide Wyoming through "a situation in which the federal government has
no effective power or authority over the people of the United States,"
as well as disruptions in food and energy supplies.</div>
<div> One option the bill contemplated in the event of a
rapid collapse of the U.S. dollar was "the ability to quickly provide an
alternative currency."</div>
<div> Despite the grim
national economic outlook expressed by backers of the doomsday bill,
some who opposed it cited the economic reality that Wyoming is faring
better than most other states.</div>
<div> "We're in relatively
good shape financially, with $14 billion in savings and assets," said
Representative Sam Krone, a <span class="yshortcuts cs4-ndcor" id="lw_1330479132_5">Republican</span> from Cody.</div>
<div> Krone, who voted Tuesday against the doomsday bill,
said other issues like the state's retirement system and public school
accountability were higher on his priority list.</div>
<div> "I just didn't see
allocating $16,000 from the state's general fund to basically cover what
the governor and his director of <span class="yshortcuts cs4-ndcor" id="lw_1330479132_8">homeland security</span> are already doing," he said.</div>
<div> Governor Matt Mead, a
Republican who co-chairs the homeland security committee of the
National Governor's Association, declined to comment on the bill in an
interview with the Huffington Post. But he laughed off the idea of being
the only governor to command his own aircraft carrier, saying, "If we
got an aircraft carrier, we'll need a bigger lake."</div>
<div> Boosted by a strong
energy industry focused on Wyoming's oil, natural gas and coal reserves,
the state has seen an unemployment rate hovering at or below 5.8
percent since summer. The jobless rate nationally dipped to 8.3 percent
in January.</div>
<div> Lawmakers are likely
to soon approve a biennial budget that will allocate more than $150
million in supplemental funding for cities and counties. The state has
billions in permanent savings and is expected to end its current budget
cycle this July with more than $1 billion in its Legislative
Stabilization Reserve Account, dubbed the "rainy day fund" by lawmakers.</div>
<div> (Editing by Steve Gorman)</div>
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