The ballots are counted and the yard signs are coming down. Now comes the part of the process nobody votes on.
Before a single bill gets debated in Cheyenne, the Wyoming House and Senate have to decide who is going to run the place. The rules are surprisingly loose.
Article 3, §10 of the Wyoming Constitution says the Senate elects one of its members as President and the House elects one of its members as Speaker. That's about it. Technically, the vote happens on opening day of the session. In practice, the decision is made weeks earlier, when the majority party meets in caucus and picks its presiding officers.
In some states, the process comes off the rails. When a majority party is divided, one faction can cut a deal with the minority and form a bipartisan majority coalition. Alaska does this from time to time, with a faction of Republicans teaming up with Democrats to take control of the House or Senate.
Wyoming went down that road about 100 years ago. But in recent memory, the person the majority caucus picks has been the person elected Speaker or President on opening day.
That choice matters. The presiding officer runs the body. He or she hires and fires staff, presides over debate, controls the introduction of bills, names committees and decides which committee gets which bill.
Introduction is where a lot of bills die quietly. The presiding officer decides when, and whether, a bill gets introduced, and then where it goes. Send a bill to a friendly committee and it has a chance. Send it to a hostile one and it's in trouble. Leave it in the drawer and it's done.
Committee assignments may be the most important thing a presiding officer does. Some committees handle the hardest, most controversial issues in state government. Others, not so much. The most powerful is Appropriations, which looks over every dollar the state spends.
Each committee chair runs his or her own committee and decides when, and whether, a bill gets heard. Before a bill reaches the floor, it has to go through committee, and as a practical matter it needs to come back with a "Do Pass" recommendation. Bills that come back "Do Not Pass" go to the bottom of the pile, and the bottom of the pile is a lonely place.
The only other officers defined by law are the Vice President of the Senate and the Speaker Pro Tem, who step in when the presiding officer is absent. The majority party also elects a Majority Floor Leader and a Majority Whip. In Wyoming, the minority party elects a Minority Floor Leader, a Minority Whip and a Minority Caucus Chair.
The Majority Floor Leader (“MFL”) is the traffic cop. Once bills come back from committee, the Floor Leader decides the order in which they are debated. There is a requirement to consult with the Minority Leader, but at the end of the day, the order of debate belongs to the Majority Leader. Whether a bill is heard on the floor, is up to the MFL.
The MFL also decides how long the body stays in session each day. If business is moving too slowly, the MFL keeps everybody in their seats. If members are worn out and debate is getting sloppy, the MFL can call it a night.
In a 40-day session, the biggest enemy is the clock. When the last day arrives, anything that hasn't been heard dies. That's why long, repetitive speeches on the hot topic of the day aren't harmless. Talk long enough, and you can kill a bill at the end of the session as surely as voting it down.
The Whips in the House handle party operations. They carry messages from the Speaker, organize the caucus and count votes. But the duty that touches every member every day is assigning parking spots in the legislative garage. Offend the Whip, and you will get to know the worst parking spot in the garage very well.
Republicans typically meet in a closed caucus. Leaders are elected, and a press release goes out afterward. Who ran, and who voted for whom, is often secret.
Democrats meet in an open caucus, although usually nobody shows up except the Democratic legislators.
This weekend, both parties will caucus, elect their leaders, hand out committee assignments and pick committee chairs.
Those decisions will shape everything that follows. Put members where their strengths and experience fit, and the session has a fighting chance to run smoothly. Put the wrong people in the wrong chairs, and Wyoming is in for 40 days of train wreck.
Tom Lubnau served in the Wyoming Legislature from 2004 to 2015 and is a former Speaker of the House. He can be reached at: YourInputAppreciated@gmail.com
Correction: Last week, I wrote that a bulk of Bextel’s contributions came from a national party. They came from the Wyoming Constitution Party.
