Joan Barron
Latest from Joan Barron
Joan Barron: National Groups Scripting State Lawmaking Is On The Rise Again
Columnist Joan Barron writes, "Senate President Bo Biteman, R-Ranchester, said he attended a National Confrence of State Legislatures, but was not impressed. The discussion was on marijuna, a topic he had no interest in, he said, noting he felt the organization had a liberal bias."
Joan BarronApril 19, 2025
Joan Barron: New Rules Review Grows Government
Columnist Joan Barron writes, "The late Democratic Senator Robert H. Johnson was a force in the Republican- dominated Legislature in the 1970’s."
Joan BarronApril 12, 2025
Joan Barron: It's Time For State Lawmakers To Sit Down And Learn Stuff
Columnist Joan Barron writes: "The Legislature’s interim studies are a great way for lawmakers to get educated on the basics of established programs. This is of particular value for the high number of new legislators elected in 2024, who showed their need for more education in the recent session."
Joan BarronApril 05, 2025
Joan Barron: Sure Hope You Can Find Your Birth Certificate By Next Election
Columnist Joan Barron writes: "I don’t think anyone wants to see illegal aliens voting in Wyoming elections, though the possibility is remote. But I also don’t believe that people want to disenfranchise residents who cannot comply with the new voter registration requirements."
Joan BarronMarch 29, 2025
Joan Barron: What About Accountability For New $7,000 School Voucher Payments?
Columnist Joan Barron writes, "What protection, readers have asked, is there to prevent a parent from taking the $7,000 school voucher and letting the kid sit on the couch and watch TV all day?"
Joan BarronMarch 22, 2025
Joan Barron: Alan Simpson Grew To Be A Statesman
Columnist Joan Barron, who has covered the Wyoming legislature since 1970, writes, "Calling themselves ‘just a couple of country lawyers,” Simpson and Herschler outsmarted the hot shot attorneys who flew in from New York and D.C. The trona industry won and the defeated eastern lawyers flew out of Cheyenne."
Joan BarronMarch 18, 2025
Joan Barron: More Wyoming Women Should Run For Election
Columnist Joan Barron writes, "The three senior women Senate leaders to watch are Tara Nethercott, a Cheyenne lawyer and majority floor leader; Sen. Cheri Steinmetz, a Torrington rancher; and Wendy Schuler, a retired Evanston teacher."
Joan BarronMarch 15, 2025
Joan Barron: Maybe Next Year Will Be Better
Columnist Joan Barron writes, "It was a good thing for the Legislature to quit two days early this year. That way the lawmakers could not do any more damage to the Legislature as an institution than they already have."
Joan BarronMarch 08, 2025
Joan Barron: Legislature Pedaling Back 50 Years
Columnist Joan Barron writes, "The recent movement to ignore the supplemental budget is clearly Freedom Caucus-inspired and is meant, at least partially, to target and embarrass Gov. Mark Gordon."
Joan BarronMarch 01, 2025
Joan Barron: The Silence of the Sponsors
Columnist Joan Barron writes, "“This was not the finest hour for the Wyoming House of Representatives.”
Joan BarronFebruary 22, 2025
Joan Barron: Freedom Caucus’ Top Priority Bill On Stage Next Week.
Columnist Joan Barron writes, "When the legislators return next week after their crossover long weekend, they will find Senate File 69 waiting in the house."
Joan BarronFebruary 16, 2025
Joan Barron: A Revised Tax Reform Bill Is A Test For Local Governments
Columnist Joan Barron writes, "What stood out was the lack of trust many legislators have with their local governments in regard to spending. There were no claims of fraud, just overspending or maybe not being transparent about where the money goes."
Joan BarronFebruary 08, 2025
Joan Barron: Whatever Happened To The Wyoming Caucus?
Columnist Joan Barron writes, "The traditional Republicans may be holding back in hopes that the extremist Freedom Caucus will go too far and will 'hoist itself on its own petard' to borrow a very old saying from Shakespeare."
Joan BarronFebruary 01, 2025
Joan Barron: Needed -- A 101 Course On Property Taxes
Columnist Joan Barron writes, "I think it’s clear that the lawmakers need to know precisely how the tax revenues from property taxes are spent other than that what they learn from their tax statements outlining the mill distributions."
Joan BarronJanuary 25, 2025
Joan Barron: It Was Like A Religious Ceremony But No One Was Singing
Columnist Joan Barron writes, "So the juggernaut is off with the leaders promising to pass 20 bills in the first 20 days of the session including the five priority bills. The House Freedom Caucus has shown its muscle."
Joan BarronJanuary 19, 2025
Joan Barron: Freedom Caucus Calling For Unity Is “The Big Switcheroo.”
Columnist Joan Barron writes, "The biggest surprise to me was the declaration that the Freedom Caucus will strive for unity this session. This is a real switcheroo for a group that banned traditional Republican lawmakers from their caucuses."
Joan BarronJanuary 11, 2025
Joan Barron: Wyoming Secrecy LLC Laws Create Absolute Nightmare For Federal Courts
Columnist Joan Barron writes, "Why can’t the Legislature do more to lift the corporate veil on the identity of Limited Liability Companies who choose to register here? Or why can’t the state do a better job of enforcing the laws it has?"
Joan BarronJanuary 04, 2025
Joan Barron: A New Years’s Eve Party to Remember
Columnist Joan Barron writes, "He got overly amorous and ended up falling in the bathtub. I maintained that I did not push him; he wasn’t hurt and behaved himself thereafter."
Joan BarronDecember 29, 2024
Joan Barron: A Dark Chapter In The Push For Women's Rights
In January, 1973, the Wyoming Senate voted to ratify the ERA. “Supporters in the gallery cheered and rushed outside to crown the nearby statue of Esther Hobart Morris with a garland of gold carnations."
Joan BarronDecember 21, 2024
Joan Barron: The 2025 Wyoming Legislature Is An Aberration
Columnist Joan Barron writes, "After 50 years of tracking the Legislature I have no clue about what the new class will do when they gather next month for the general and budget session."
Joan BarronDecember 14, 2024
Joan Barron: The Fight Over Triple Trailers -- The Undemocratic Initiative Process
Columnist Joan Barron writes, "If you add up the number of ballot questions Wyoming voters approved over the years, the number is mighty puny. This was the intent of the legislators who passed the initiative and referendum law in 1968."
Joan BarronDecember 07, 2024