Once considered a niche activity, “shed hunting” for elk and deer antlers has become profitable and exploded in popularity. So much so that some legislators say Wyoming residents should have a three-day head start over non-residents
A Wyoming legislative committee on Friday tabled a proposed law that was intended to penalize buying and selling of synthetic THC-derived products for people under 21.
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People with residential rooftop solar installations and those who work in the industry gave the Senate Corporations Committee an earful on a bill that would free electric utilities from being obligated to buy their surplus electricity.
A proposed Wyoming law criminalizing transgender-related treatments for minors narrowly survived its first legislative committee vote Friday, passing on a 3-2 vote.
Sen. Anthony Bouchard attempted humor to highlight a serious concern of his: residential development encroaching on agriculture operations, then complaining that they’re smelly, noisy and bothersome to their sensibilities.
The state House Revenue Committee passed a bill Thursday that would make it easier for Wyoming residents to receive property tax rebates.
In discussing soaring property tax rates which have increased from up to 30% – 50% in his district, Wyoming Sen. Dan Dockstader on Thursday said a “old, beat-up, doublewide trailer on a itty-bitty lot” sold for $675,000 last year
Sen. Lynn Hutchings said she sponsored the anti-CRT bill because factions through the nation are spreading “divisive and destructive,” instruction to young people in a way that undermines gains made by Black people in America.
While some Wyoming legislators push to codify the Indian Child Welfare Act on a state level in case the federal law is overturned, several foster moms say the law discriminates against the very children it was designed to protect by denying them permanent homes.
A bill dedicating $5.25 million to help Arizona and Texas build a border wall and transport migrants to other places passed a Wyoming legislative committee on Thursday afternoon. Gov Gordon said he supports the legislation.
Rep. Jeremy Haroldson told Cowboy State Daily that the reason there are so many gun bills in the legislature this year is Wyoming is “the last hope” for gun owners and manufacturers.
Although some may think in red-state Wyoming that banning foreign ownership of ag land would be a slam dunk, one bill barely made it out of committee on a 5 – 4 vote because of constitutionality concerns.
While some call sending unsolicited absentee ballots to voters a “predatory” campaign practice, others say it’s just being “accommodating.” Legislators are debating the tactic used by Liz Cheney and whether her mailers were unethical.
Letting Wyoming hunters to keep pursuing mountain lions with hounds, even after they’ve filled their hunting tags, would help keep the hounds well-trained and condition the big cats to avoid people and livestock, say proponents of a bill that would allow it.
Sen. Chris Rothfuss expressed frustration with a member of Gov Gordon’s staff on Wednesday after she said the governor still had concerns with a cryptocurrency bill. Rothfuss said the governor’s office was “moving the goalposts.”
Although House Bill 126 wouldn’t turn every trespassing situation into a Roadhouse movie, it would strengthen trespass law to allow physical force to remove trespassers.
The Wyoming State House added an amendment to legislation on Wednesday morning that would allow private individuals and nonprofits to help fund state-run 988 suicide call centers in Wyoming.
Senate File 93, which would have required disclosing the identify of a trust owning an LLC, has been narrowly defeated in a Wyoming legislative committee.
The Wyoming State Senate passed two bills Tuesday: one would grant property tax relief and another would give a housing allowance to state judges.
A legislative committee on Wednesday advanced a media “shield law” by an 8 – 1 vote that would protect journalists in Wyoming from revealing their sources. Wyoming is one of only two states without a shield law.
Blasting feral hogs with the help of night vision scopes from helicopters is highly effective in Texas, said a Cheyenne man who is advocating for the use of night vision in Wyoming to help with the control of coyotes.
Although Chuck Gray’s active legislative lobbying has surprised some people, it doesn’t infringe on any state laws and many legislators have no problem with it. The longest serving member of the House, however, calls it “uncouth” and “unstately.”
The Wyoming Freedom Caucus wants Attorney General Bridget Hill to come out against social credit scores. They said Bridget Hill should “take a stand and protect Wyoming’s extractive industries and way of life.”
People have been planting fake “no trespassing signs” on public land and trying to chase hunters away. A new bill would qualify that as “hunter harassment”l and punishable by fines up to $10,000 for the first offense and up to $50,000 for subsequent offenses.
The owner of a restaurant in Belgium that has been serving horse meat for more than 160 years said Wyoming horses would be great on a menu because they’re free-range and eat natural grasses. The Wyoming Legislature is considering a bill asking Congress to allow some wild mustangs to be rounded up for slaughter.
State Sen. Anthony Bouchard has introduced a bill that would make it illegal for doctors to perform sex change treatments on minors and insurance companies from covering them. “Chloe’s Law,” is named for a woman who transitioned to a man and now regrets it.
Skill-based games are age-restricted in Wyoming, and are something the industry itself has told state lawmakers should be limited to adult locations — truck stops, bars and smoke shops. Senate File 41 would accomplish that and was advanced last week.
There are at least three lobbyists at the Capitol this session who were still elected members of the Wyoming Legislature less than two weeks ago. A bill has been introduced that would require legislators to “cool off” for two years before becoming lobbyists.
Allowing coyote hunters to use night vision on public land would give them the same rights predator hunters already have in numerous states, proponents of bill to do so said. Others had concerns over the safety of the practice.
A bill pending before the Wyoming Legislature would eliminate the state’s “gun free zones,” such as the Capitol building, The University of Wyoming and numerous other locations.
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State Rep. Landon Brown said carving out the $46 million trust fund from a bill establishing the national 988 suicide call center program in Wyoming was the bill’s best chance to pass.
Citing “ballot exhaustion,” costs and potential to confuse voters, a Wyoming House committee killed a proposal that would have allowed state municipalities to test ranked choice voting.
The “Wyoming Parental Rights in Education Act” advanced Friday to the Senate floor. Detractors say the bill squelches speech and marginalizes LGBTQ families, while proponents say the bill upholds everyone’s values by leaving the teaching of those topics at home with families.
House Bill 152 would ban abortion altogether in Wyoming except in cases involving risks of death or serious injury, and it could prevent abortion providers from establishing private clinics on the Wind River Indian Reservation.
If it passes the Wyoming Legislature, Senate File 24 would protect banks from being sued for freezing people’s assets briefly if they believe a vulnerable adult is being exploited.
Wyoming lawmakers deliberated at length Thursday on a proposal that establishes a structure for registering digital property with the Secretary of State, a process that is not yet available anywhere else.
Wyoming Gov Mark Gordon announced on Friday that he has tested positive for Covid. He sad the symptoms are minor and will work from home.
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An effort to expand Medicaid in Wyoming cleared its first hurdle but not before Rep. John Bear added an amendment to the bill that stipulates no state money could be used for transgender surgical operations.
Although some people mocked the non-binding resolution to ban electric vehicles, the amount of national attention it got resurfaced the conversation about the importance of the fossil fuel industry.
A comment state Rep. John Bear made on Thursday morning that dozens of Guatemalans were on a flight that landed in Gillette on Wednesday night has stoked the political rumor mill at the Capitol that it was an influx of refugees.
State Sen Lynn Hutchings told Cowboy State Daily that when she arrived at a polling place to vote, she realized she had no form of identification besides her concealed-carry permit. She said, “I’m a state legislator. I’m going to fix that.”
A proposed law that would give judges in Wyoming’s richest county a $1,900 monthly housing allowance is still alive – but detractors worry judges could turn a profit using public funds on their appreciating houses.
To get a handle on growing herds of wild mustangs in Wyoming and the American West, a resolution being considered by the Legislature says Congress should re-open American horse slaughterhouses so the meat can be shipped to places where people eat it.
Although Rep. Ward said her Covid bill which would also prohibit required vaccines for polio, measles, mumps and other infectious diseases is a way to prioritize the rights of individuals, physicians said it would put Wyoming “back a few centuries.”
Addressing marriage age is an exercise in establishing Wyoming’s state rights, says House Bill 7 sponsor Rep. Dan Zwonitzer. Others argued the state should butt out as marriage is a “contract between a man, a woman and their God.”
U.S. Rep Harriet Hageman on Wednesday told Wyoming legislators that the U.S. is heading for a “fiscal cliff” and it was important that they continue to fight for coal, oil, and gas.
Sens. Charlie Scott and Lynn Hutchings on Wednesday said there should be a provision in the drone bill that would allow a landowner to shoot down drones that are trespassing over private property.
In a legislative committee meeting on Wednesday, the president of the Wyoming Realtors association said commercial drone operators are well-behaved. It’s the “hobbyists who buy cheap drones at Wal-Mart and fly them over their neighbors’ properties,” who are causing all the problems, he said.
Sen. Cale Case has introduced a bill that would repeal net metering, which allows people who produce excess electricity from rooftop panels to sell it back to a utility. Case says it makes energy in the state more expensive and discriminates against the poor.
State Sen. Affie Ellis told a committee on Wednesday morning that her mother was “severely mistreated” when attending a boarding school that sought to assimilate her into a non-native culture. Ellis’ bill would uphold tribal sovereignty over child members.
Sec of State Chuck Gray lobbied against a bill that would have required special elections to fill seats of elected officials if more than half of a term remained. The legislative committee rejected the bill by a 5-3 vote.
The bill would create a $50 million trust fund to pay for the Office of Outdoor Recreation to better promote Wyoming outdoors. Currently, Wyoming is last in dollars and jobs generated by outdoor tourism compared to 11 other western states.
Private cryptographic keys can’t be changed, which creates a problem for legal processes that Wyoming is working to solve. House Bill 86 will prevent a court from compelling through discovery the invisible code that makes up a private cryptographic key.
State Sen. Cheri Steinmetz said the Senate is already “very receptive” to giving community colleges more money so there doesn’t need to be another mechanism for requesting public funds.
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With 34 first-year members of the 67th Legislature – nearly 37% of the 93-member body – freshman legislators have potential to be the most influential first-term class in Wyoming history, but they will have to come together to make that happen.
Wyoming’s trophy species hunters sometimes wait decades before drawing a once-in-a-lifetime tag — if they draw one at all. Senate File 88 would reform the drawing process and could give younger hunters a chance, proponents say.
Although there were concerns that a bill empowering Wyoming game wardens to bust trespassers was an attempt to “back-door”restrictions on corner crossing, those fears appear to have been alleviated as Senate File 56 was passed out of committee to the senate floor on Tuesday.
A movement by some Fremont County Republican Party leaders to publicly condemn U.S. Sen. Cynthia Lummis for supporting same-sex marriage legislation failed Saturday, as did two votes to send her strongly worded letters.
Senate File 12 would create a new kind of liquor license in Wyoming for businesses that want to provide alcohol along with entertainment activities like chicken-roping and ax-throwing.
Nearly 500 decentralized autonomous organizations have registered in the Cowboy State since Wyoming rolled out the red carpet for digital asset companies. They are providing revenue to the state and more opportunity, according to Sen. Chris Rothfuss.
Wyoming is one of eight states with no minimum marriage age. Some in the Wyoming Legislature are trying to change that with a bill that would forbid people younger than 16 from marrying altogether, and would require a guardian’s permission for minors ages 16 and 17.
Wyoming legislators are looking at implementing an alert-system for adults similar to the AMBER Alert. The system would dispatch alerts for missing adults in risky scenarios or for those suffering from cognitive issues or disabilities.
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The resolution to ban electric vehicles in Wyoming by 2035 died a short death on Monday. Supporters said the measure was intended to make a statement against states like California and New York which are banning the sale of gasoline-powered cars.
Elevating from a simple majority to two-thirds vote to overrule House speaker or majority floor leader, some Republicans say factions are finding middle ground. Others, however, say they’ve instead installed “the king and his count.”
Wyoming lawmakers are proposing a “Parental Rights In Education” bill which mirrors Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law passed last year. It would forbid teaching about gender identity and sexual orientation to school children.
Wyoming has had only two incidents involving delivery of contraband into prisons by drone, but the Department of Corrections says it’s growing across the country. A passed out of the Senate on Monday would make it illegal to fly drones over penal institutions.
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Wyoming senators gave a thumbs up to 10 bills Monday, including one that protects a little-known archaeology site adjacent to the Powars II red ocher mine outside of the ghost town of Sunrise, Wyoming.
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Senators voted down an amendment that would have removed a 30-cent cap on the state’s cigar taxes from SF 42. The amendment would have gutted a bill that lawmakers say restores fairness for small, mom-and-pop shops that sell premium cigars.
Senate File 18 would bring Highway Patrol troopers, as well as Game and Fish wardens and criminal investigators death benefits to a level equal to other law enforcement officers in the state.
The House Judiciary Committee advanced a bill on Monday that adjusts the state’s child support payment formula for the first time in nearly 10 years and would raise payments by roughly 12%.
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The Wyoming Legislature had appropriated $1.2 million for Wyoming to sue other states that have regulations that harm Wyoming’s coal industry. A committee Monday approved a bill allowing the governor more broad authority to spend the money.
Six high school students from Cody have had to go to the emergency room after ingesting a psychoactive substance called Delta-8. Students from Cody lobbied the Legislature on Monday to make it restricted.
Abortion debate expected to heat up as legislators consider polar-opposite bills. One would remove the state’s abortion trigger ban while the other would outlaw abortion-inducing drugs in nearly all uses.
Rep. Ember Oakley says a debate over how much people should pay for court services boils down to taking responsibility for yourself. “We believe in paying your way in Wyoming, right?”
Trespassing by drones in a growing problem in Wyoming, say proponents of a bill that would criminalize it. But some say legislation before the Senate Judiciary Committee is far too lenient and difficult to enforce.
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State Sen. Brian Boner, R-Douglas, was a champion multitasking at the Wyoming Capitol on Friday. Parenting duties unexpectedly came to him so he worked through the day with his 18-month-old son Martin.
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Allowing off-road vehicles to pass underneath Interstate 80 near Evanston could connect a series of trails and be a huge boost to the area’s tourism, say proponents House Bill 42, which was moved to the House floor on Friday.
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Independent power providers told Wyoming lawmakers Friday that if the state doesn’t uniformly do property tax assessments, expect less continuity and more appeals.
In response to California and other states phasing out the sale of gasoline-powered cars, Wyoming legislators have introduced a resolution that would ban new electric vehicles in the Cowboy State by 2035.
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Legislation extending Medicaid coverage for new mothers from 60 days to 12 months passed out of a state House committee by a 5-4 vote on Friday, but not without some passionate debate on both sides.
Scout and Duster, a pair of black Labrador retrievers, sweep the state Capitol building for explosives and other potentially dangerous devices every day during the Wyoming Legislature’s 37-day session, which began this week.
The bill’s proponents said Teton County and some surrounding areas are in desperate need of extra money to retain teachers and other staff as the cost of living has skyrocketed in the region.
A bill being considered in the Wyoming Legislature would limit foreign ownership of Cowboy State agriculture land. The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Dalton Banks is joining others like S.D. Gov. Kristi Noem in a growing concern about Chinese influence over America’s agriculture real estate.
With only three school districts in Wyoming still allowing corporal punishment, Senate File 47 would allow civil or criminal action against any teachers and administrators who do use it.
Members of a Wyoming House committee narrowly voted down House Bill 48 which would have used $40 million to build pedestrian and bicycle paths across the state.
A bill that would have raised some out-of-state hunting tag fees up to 200% for Wyoming big game and trophy game species died in Senate.
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State Rep. Ken Chestek has introduced legislation to take away all election oversight from Secretary of State Chuck Gray. Gray said the effort is “petty” and “unconstitutional”
Emotional testimony helped Wyoming lawmakers advance House Bill 65, which would provide a permanent steam of money to operate the state’s 24/7 suicide hotline call centers.
Calling Wyoming the “Saudi Arabia Of Antelope,” an outfitter and former Wildlife Task Force member said Wyoming should put a premium price tag on its premium – and often once-in-a-lifetime – hunting experience.
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Rep. Rachel Rodriguez-Williams is championing legislation that would prevent towns and counties from banning activities like rodeos. Sen. Dan Laursen says he is concerned with influx of Californians to the state, especially to Jackson.
