2021 Legislative Update No. 5
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You can read bills, view proceedings and find the schedule for the State of Wyoming's 66th Legislature (which wraps up today) here: https://www.wyoleg.gov/
You can contact Teton County legislative members by email:
Senator Mike Gierau, Senate District 17 - [email protected]
Senator Dan Dockstader, Senate District 16 - [email protected]
Representative Andy Schwartz, House District 23 - [email protected]
Representative Mike Yin, House District 16 - [email protected]
Representative Jim Roscoe, House District 22 - [email protected]
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Cuts to Education Funding May Be Mitigated
The Wyoming Senate gave final approval to an education funding bill that would cut close to $80 million out of school funding over three years.
Before the session started, the financial outlook for the schools appeared more dire, as legislators were expected to cut $250 million over the three-year period. The Senate and the House must now agree on a final version of the bill before the end of the session today.
The Senate version of the bill only cuts and does not add revenue into the school funding model like the House proposed.
The House bill generates revenue through a 0.5% sales tax imposed only after one of the state’s reserve accounts falls to a certain threshold. A cap is written into that tax that would remove the additional half percent once that account returns to an acceptable level.
The tax will likely be a point of contention when the House and Senate try to iron out differences between the two bills. The Senate considered adding a half-cent tax to its bill this week, but the proposal was soundly rejected.
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House Bill 75 – Voter Fraud Prevention – Passes
This was no surprise, but a restrictive bill requiring Wyoming citizens to present specific forms of photo identification when casting their ballots in elections sailed through the Senate on Thursday and will now head to the governor’s desk for review.
House Bill 75 had 56 Republican co-sponsors, who claimed that requiring photo identification at the polls will restore voters’ trust of the voting process.
Voters will now need to present one of the following forms of identification: a Wyoming driver’s license or identification card, a tribal identification card, a valid U.S. passport, a U.S. military card, a Medicare insurance card, or a Medicaid insurance card.
Sadly, the new law aims to solve a problem that doesn't exist.
If Republicans really wanted to ensure confidence in elections, they could simply admit that the last election was not stolen, that voter fraud remains extremely rare in Wyoming and everywhere else in the nation, with a very small number of convictions in our state in the past several decades.
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Medicaid Expansion Is Sadly Dead for Now
The Wyoming Senate Committee on Labor, Health and Social Services voted last Wednesday to kill a House-sponsored effort at Medicaid expansion. The 3-2 vote, which came after more than three hours of public testimony and debate, likely ends this year’s effort to close Wyoming’s "Medicaid gap."
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Senate File 157 – Property Rights, Limitation on Local Authority – Passes
This new law is an outgrowth of the Gill family’s efforts to develop 26 acres of its property in northern South Park. It will prohibit municipalities from conditioning access to public infrastructure – like sewer lines on deed restrictions – that limits uses zoning otherwise allows.
Teton County officials argued against the bill, claiming a need for local control.
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Senate File 67 – Repeal Gun-Free Zones and Preemption Amendments – Fails
In some good news, Senate File 67 failed. It would have repealed gun-free zones, allowing for the carrying of concealed weapons at any meeting of a governmental entity, including the legislature, public schools, colleges, or universities.
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House Bill 101 – Elk Feed Ground Closing Requirements – Passes
This bill establishes rules and procedures for potential closures of elk feed grounds in Wyoming and requires Game and Fish to consult with the Livestock Board and to get an order from the governor. The possibility of closures emerged with the advent of Chronic Wasting Disease found in elk and deer herds in the state.
Two positive amendments to the bill relieved opposition by the conservation community. The first ensures that Game and Fish retains management over public outreach around feed grounds closures. A second makes sure that any legislative discussion of moving feed grounds from public to state or private lands would include a discussion of costs to the public.
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Three Anti-Choice Bills Pass
Bills that have passed into law but are awaiting the governor’s signature:
House Bill 253 – University of Wyoming Ban on Funding for Abortion
It prohibits UW from using any of its funds to provide abortions for students or health insurance coverage for abortions for students. UW health care workers testified to the legislature that such a law would have almost no impact because most students use private health insurance for their medical care.
Senate File 96 – Homicide Amendments
Creates new crimes of first- and second-degree murder for killing or attempting to kill a pregnant person, and it effectively establishes fetal personhood by defining a “child in utero” as a member of the species homo sapiens at any stage of development.
Senate File 34 – Born Alive Infant Means of Care
This bill unnecessarily modifies an existing Wyoming Statute regarding “means of treatment for viable abortion,” inserts political interference into family decisions, advances a false narrative regarding abortion in Wyoming and stigmatizes physicians.
Governor Mark Gordon vetoed this bill last session, but he is under great pressure from the far right, which seated more members in the legislature in the last election
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Abortion Bills That Failed
Senate File 133 – Prohibiting Abortifacients and Chemical Abortions
Passed the Senate, but was never introduced in the House. It was potentially the most damaging bill to Wyoming women and their partners. The bill would have outlawed two drugs and their generic equivalents that are used to terminate pregnancies between four and 10 weeks. These drugs are not available over-the-counter. They are also used to induce labor during the delivery of a live baby, and to help women dispel tissue when experiencing a miscarriage.
House Bill 70 – Abortion-Informed Consent
Passed House committee, but failed to gain introduction in the full House.
House Bill 134 – Human Heartbeat Protection
It would have banned abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, before many people even know they are pregnant. Passed House committee, but failed to gain introduction in the full House
House Bill 161 – Human Life Equality-Prohibiting Discriminatory Abortions
Passed House committee, but failed to gain introduction in the full House. It would have prohibited abortions done for certain reasons, thereby inserting political interference into family decisions and intruding on the doctor-patient relationship.
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