Two dangerous abortion bills remain alive.

View this email in your browser ([link removed])
[link removed]


** 2022 Wyoming Legislative Budget Session
Update No. 4
------------------------------------------------------------


**
Important Dates This Week
------------------------------------------------------------
Today, Monday, March 7 – Last day for bills to be reported out of committee in second house.

Friday, March 11 – Session adjourns by midnight.

You can read bills, view proceedings and find the legislative schedule here: [link removed]


** Abortion Bills Move to Second Chambers
------------------------------------------------------------


**
SF 83 – Prohibiting Chemical Abortions
------------------------------------------------------------
Suspending the session rules again, the Senate went past the March 1 chamber crossover deadline to clear this bill on a third reading on March 2. It has moved to the House for introduction, but is not yet assigned to committee.

If this bill passes the House, it would effectively outlaw abortion in Wyoming by banning the use of abortion pills. It would impose penalties of six months in prison and a $9,000 fine for any physician or person who violates the law.


**
------------------------------------------------------------


** HB 92 – Trigger Bill
------------------------------------------------------------
This bill would automatically ban abortion if the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade.

Jackson Rep. Mike Yin's proposed amendment to make exceptions for women who become pregnant following sexual assault or incest was rejected in the House, where the bill cleared last week.

Earlier today, it passed through the Senate Labor, Health & Social Services committee without opposition and will now be considered by the entire Senate.


** Redistricting Process in Turmoil
------------------------------------------------------------
A House redistricting plan that took months of effort and negotiations was rejected by the Senate last week. The body adopted a radically different plan that potentially fails to protect the constitutional rights of one-man-one-vote, risking a court challenge.

Courts have held that redistricting plans that are within 10% deviation comply with the 14th Amendment. The Senate plan is 11.25% out of deviation.

The Senate rejected the House’s plan because it would add two House seats and one Senate seat. Senators opposing the 93-legislator plan claimed to be concerned about growing government and the added costs. The Senate bill passed on a 20-10 vote.

The Senate map will now go back to the House for a vote and efforts to find compromise, but if that fails and the House votes down the bill, it will go to a conference committee. The committee, comprised of three representatives and three senators, will continue efforts to reach an agreement.

If that committee fails to reach an agreement, resolution could fall to the courts – a prospect that worries many in the Legislature.


** House and Senate Agree on a Budget Increase
------------------------------------------------------------


**
Bill Headed to a Conference Committee to Resolve Spending Difference
------------------------------------------------------------
The House and Senate both passed a budget amendment to increase spending by $90 million, but will still need to resolve $46 million in other spending differences between the two bills.

A conference committee with five legislators from each chamber will now meet and negotiate a compromise for consideration. All members appointed to the committee are also members of the Joint Appropriations Committee.

Lawmakers will be tasked to iron out differences on funding for teachers and juvenile justice, among other issues.

The most glaring disagreement on spending between the chambers is whether to provide a cost-of-living increase for teachers. In October, the Joint Education Committee suggested a $25 million increase to help Wyoming’s rural schools attract and retain high-quality teachers.

Both chambers will also need to compromise on a difference of $1.8 million in spending on Community Juvenile Services Boards, which are designed to help communities provide programming to keep kids out of the criminal justice system.

The largest chunk of the budget increase is $75 million to be used as state matching funds for federal infrastructure programs awarded to Wyoming under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. That appropriation is contingent upon the federal government spending $4 for every dollar that Wyoming spends on such infrastructure grants.

The bill provides an additional $7.5 million for community colleges, with legislators citing the struggles facing community colleges as a result of recent cuts.

Other boosts include funding for the university and college rodeo teams, for a U.S. Forest Service Good Neighbor Authority program, for work education and support for individuals with developmental disabilities, for the Department of Revenue’s property tax relief fund, for court-ordered youth treatment facilities (which legislators said are strained), for the burial of indigent people, and to fund a statewide conference to address suicide among first-responders.


** Some Good News
------------------------------------------------------------


**
SF 84 – Mineral Royalty Tax Relief
------------------------------------------------------------
Following vigorous opposition in the House Minerals Committee on Friday, this bad bill was tabled and effectively killed for this legislative session. It would have reimbursed oil, gas and coal corporations tens of millions of dollars for any increases in federal mineral royalty rates.


**
HB 43 – Trophy Game, Big Game and Wild Bison License Allocation
------------------------------------------------------------
A bill that passed the House on Friday would boost the percentage of moose, bighorn sheep, mountain goat, bison and grizzly bear hunting licenses that go to Wyoming residents. If this legislation gets Senate approval this week, it would cut back on non-resident opportunities to pursue the listed species, making only 10% of all tags available to out-of-state hunters.

That leaves the 90% to residents, who would see a slight bump in their lottery odds of pulling a tag. Because moose, bighorn sheep, mountain goat and bison hunting is relatively limited (and modern grizzly bear hunting is yet to occur), residents would still face long odds to pull a tag if HB 43 becomes law.


** UW Women’s Studies Program Keeps Funding
------------------------------------------------------------
A legislative committee on Friday decided against a budget amendment that would have stripped the University of Wyoming’s Gender and Women’s Studies department of all of its funding.

Instead, the Legislature’s Joint Conference Committee replaced the gender studies measure with a provision that requires the university to report to two legislative panels on the school’s general education requirements, as well as any policies or regulations that incentivize or disincentivize students to take certain course work outside of the majors.

While this compromise measure retains the program's funding, it also highlights a legislative session that seems to take aim at diminishing women’s role in society.


** Tell Your Senator to Vote 'No' on Two Bad Bills
------------------------------------------------------------


** HB 105 – Coal Severance Tax Reduction
------------------------------------------------------------
This bill will be voted on by the Senate this week. Please contact your Senator, Mike Gierau, or Dan Dockstader, and ask them to vote NO on HB 105 so we can preserve revenue for local services.

HB 105 would lower the state severance tax rate on surface coal from 7% to 6.5%. This revenue helps fund local services, and big coal corporations do not need this handout.

Unbiased studies consistently show that a lower tax rate does not lead to higher coal production or more jobs – all it does is take money away from local services to further enrich coal executives and shareholders.


** SF 61 – Sage Grouse Game Bird Farms - No Certification Expiration
------------------------------------------------------------
This bill, which would extend temporary approval to farm sage-grouse, should be defeated to effectively end this bad experiment. The bill was amended on Thursday in the House Travel Committee to extend the pilot program by seven more years rather than indefinitely. The first five years provided no value to sage grouse conservation, and the effort represents a big step on the path toward privatization of wildlife in our state.

The House is ready to start voting on SF 61 this week, but extremely strong public opposition has given them pause. Contact your representative and ask them to vote NO on SF 61.


** Transgender Sports Bill Would Likely Face Litigation
------------------------------------------------------------


**
SF 51 – Fairness in Women’s Sports Act
------------------------------------------------------------
A bill that the Senate passed on a final 24-to-5 vote has moved to the House but has not been scheduled for debate. The House hopefully will avoid this controversial bill after ACLU of Wyoming Advocacy Director Antonio Serrano said in a statement to the Casper Star-Tribune last week that “by signaling out transgender students and enacting a sweeping ban on participation in athletics, SF 51 violates both the U.S. Constitution and Title IX of the Civil Rights Act."

He also pointed out that costs for potential litigation fees would likely be extremely high. In a court case in Idaho challenging a similar law, costs are expected to reach $10 million if it goes to the Supreme Count.

If the House passes the bill into law, it would ban transgender girls and women from competing in high school women’s sports. It would require individuals to use the sex assigned on the birth certificate to determine who can compete in a sport as a female. The bill does not ban transgender males from participating on men’s sports teams.

Currently, the Wyoming High School Activities Assn. already has a policy that handles high school transgender issues on a case-by-case basis.


** You can contact Teton County legislative members by email:
------------------------------------------------------------
Senator Mike Gierau, Senate District 17 - [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])

Senator Dan Dockstader, Senate District 16, Lincoln, Sublette, Teton Counties - [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])

Representative Andy Schwartz, House District 23 - [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])

Representative Mike Yin, House District 16 - [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])

Representative Jim Roscoe, House District 22 - [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])
Donate to Support Teton Dems in 2022 ([link removed])

============================================================
** Teton Dems Facebook ([link removed])
** tetondems.org ([link removed])
** [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])
** Instagram ([link removed])
Copyright © 2022 Teton County Democrats, All rights reserved.

Our mailing address is:
PO Box 337, Jackson, WY 83001

Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can ** update your preferences ([link removed])
or ** unsubscribe from this list ([link removed])
Email Marketing Powered by Mailchimp
[link removed]