Wyoming Legislature

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By Clair McFarland, Cowboy State Daily

Wyoming Republican leaders are divided over concerns voiced by Democratic lawmakers that rights to contraceptive access and gay marriage are threatened by the Roe vs. Wade decision.

No Republican state legislator interviewed this week by Cowboy State Daily wanted to outlaw contraceptives. But they gave mixed responses on same-sex marriage.  

“No, I don’t plan on outlawing condoms or even birth control,” said Rep. Landon Brown, R-Cheyenne. 

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, in a concurring opinion to Friday’s landmark case declaring that abortion access is not a constitutionally protected right, wrote that rights now considered fundamental — including gay marriage, contraceptive access and private sex acts — may also face future scrutiny as fundamental rights.  

Wyoming law does not recognize gay marriage in its marital definition, but the state allows same-sex marriage anyway, due to a federal court precedent handed down in 2014.  

Reflecting on gay-marriage legislation specifically, Brown said he wouldn’t work to disallow it but added there are bound to be legislators who would, if it ever becomes a states-rights issue.  

“There certainly would be a fringe that would believe that’s our responsibility as a Legislature, to legislate those types of things, but I will tell you I think there’s a vast, and I mean vast, majority that would come absolutely unglued if that were (disallowed) here in Wyoming,” said Brown.  

Brown, along with former Rep. Tyler Lindholm, tried in the past to “actually get government out of marriage completely,” so that the practice would become only a social or religious construct, not a state civil union.  

‘Protect Existing Marriages’ 

The current Wyoming Legislature probably would not support the idea of outlawing contraceptives, such as condoms and birth control, said Sen. Cale Case, R-Lander, agreeing with Brown.  

Case said he predicts that the Legislature would “support laws protecting gay marriage” as well, adding that he’d be among the supporters, and would back legislation to codify same-sex marriage if court precedents protecting it were overturned.  

‘Traditional Family Values’ 

The Wyoming Legislature has a mixed representation from all walks of life, which makes its actions hard to predict, said Rep. John Bear, R-Gillette.  

Like Case and Brown, Bear said he’s not about to outlaw contraceptives. He clarified that he supports criminalization of drugs used to cause abortions, since they are not the same as contraceptives. 

Wyoming’s impending abortion ban also criminalizes the use of drugs to cause an abortion.

However, Bear added, he would decline as a legislator to recognize same-sex marriage in the state’s legal definition.  

“I always promote traditional family values,” he continued. “Those are important for society.”  

‘Can’t Predict the Future’ 

House Majority Floor Leader Rep. Albert Sommers, R-Pinedale, said it’s difficult to predict how he’ll react to any bill in particular, simply because some bills are poorly crafted, no matter how great their intent.  

“Until you see what is decided by the Supreme Court on any of these issues and then what bills come before the Legislature, (you can’t) react to them,” said Sommers. “I can’t predict the future on any of that.  

Sommers noted that he voted twice in the Legislature against recognizing same-sex marriage but said he couldn’t see himself voting to ban contraceptives.  

“What is written in bills matters,” he said. “It’s not an issue until you see it.”  

‘Acknowledged Liberty’ 

The Wyoming Democratic Caucus, that is, every Democratic delegate to the Wyoming Legislature, on Friday dispatched an impassioned statement condemning the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade. The caucus also criticized Thomas’ willingness to review in the future cases dealing with rights that are not listed in the Constitution but which have been considered fundamental by federal courts for years.

“This court has chosen to curtail that freedom that has existed for almost fifty years,” said the statement.

The group said Wyoming’s imminent abortion ban would be “devastating” and will “limit (women’s) ability to choose whether they fully participate in the workforce or are forced to be mothers by the state.”  

In an apparent reference to Thomas’ concurring opinion, the group feared that Friday’s decision would “signal to… LGBTQ youth that you are not welcome here.” 

Multiple Democratic lawmakers told Cowboy State Daily in their own interviews that looking forward, they fear and disagree with the possible impacts of Thomas’ concurring statement.  

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By Leo Wolfson, Cowboy State Daily

A group of 17 Wyoming Republican Party members are asking Gov. Mark Gordon to call a special legislative session to roll back state property taxes to 2019 levels and enact a fuel tax holiday.

Fremont County Republican Party Chairwoman Ginger Bennett, who organized the drafting and signing of the letter, said the current inflation and associated supply chain issues require that a special session be called to address the issue.

“The current economic situation is caused by massive bureaucratic overreach — in some cases, that overreach is simply a matter of statutes and regulations that have, over the years, been promulgated, without thought of ever repealing the action,” Bennett said. “Some of them are unwarranted now, as time has changed the circumstances. There is a need to meet from time to time to consider these, and to bring the laws current with on-the-ground situations.”

Property taxes have skyrocketed around Wyoming in recent months, with some counties claiming increases as high as 50%. The letter suggests letting the Legislature once again consider steps proposed in 2021 by Rep. Chuck Gray, R-Casper to put a 3% cap on yearly property tax growth and to look at a suspension of the state’s fuel tax.

Gray told Cowboy State Daily he supports the idea of having a special session, but said he would take the property tax idea one step further and bring it back to 2017 levels.

Twelve of the 17 people signing the letter sent to Gordon on June 22 are chairmen for their respective county Republican parties.

Bennett said several legislators also suggested to her that a special session be held, although she would not name any. 

Gordon’s communications director Michael Pearlman confirmed the governor has received the letter.

“Many of the issues he is working on are ones that the letter highlights,” Pearlman said. “He is listening to people from around the state and values the opinions that are expressed.”

In May, Gordon promoted a property tax refund program passed in this year’s legislature that gives Wyoming homeowners the chance to qualify for property tax reductions if they meet certain income requirements.

Bennett blames the inflation on policies initiated by President Joe Biden, who Bennett said is “bent on dismantling the American dream.” 

Those policies have negatively affected many families she knows, she said, including her own.

Paul Garbin, a Hot Springs County Republican Party state committeeman, agreed.

“Lots of families can’t afford to buy gas and feed someone in the same week,” he said, although he added he has not spoken with anyone personally who has experienced that dilemma. 

Biden has initiated many policies that have increased regulation and moratoriums on production by Wyoming’s energy industries. These policies have been enacted in keeping with Biden’s goal of reducing greenouse gases and improving the environment.

But Bennett said the policies have also led to inflation.

“Wyoming has resources that, when unfettered by overregulation, can be utilized to effectively decrease inflation,” Bennett said. “These resources include not only our oil and gas industry on state lands, but also other industries on state lands, as well as private industry that depends on state institutions for licensing prior to being able to implement activities.” 

Bennett said she believes the country is in a severe recession. Many leading economists have stated there is a rising likelihood a recession will happen this year but few have said the country is in one currently.

The letter also asks that the state’s fuel tax of 24 cents per gallon on gasoline and diesel be lifted until diesel prices drop to $3 per gallon and at least until Labor Day to assist truck drivers. 

The average price of diesel in Wyoming on Tuesday was $5.70. It has not been below $3 nationally since February 2021.

“The people of Wyoming must travel great distances, and the price being charged at the pump for fuel is a ‘silent’ tax,” Bennett said. 

The letter also demands that Gordon dramatically increase oil and gas drilling on state lands, change oil and gas drilling regulations and statutes so they cannot be used to prevent drilling and work with the refineries in Wyoming and Montana to assure maximum output can be achieved. 

Gordon was also asked to simplify and streamline regulations on meat processing plants, incentivize small sawmill production and increase fertilizer production on state lands.

“We encourage you to work with our legislators to develop additional solutions!” the letter said. “Some of our best resources are the fine minds we have working towards solutions for our people! By working together, we are certain that Wyoming can create sustainable solutions through conservative policy that allow the people of Wyoming to flourish.”

The last special session of the Legislature was called in 2021 to discuss federal vaccine mandates.

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By Clair McFarland, Cowboy State Daily

Lawmakers on Tuesday revived a bill that would make it a felony to consume methamphetamine while pregnant, but would mandate addiction treatment, not prison, for first-time offenders.  

Rep. Ember Oakley, R-Riverton, brought her proposal back to the Wyoming Legislature Joint Judiciary Committee during its Tuesday meeting in Lander.

The bill was killed by the Senate during the Legislature’s budget session earlier this year.

If passed, the bill would make consuming meth and other non-prescribed illegal drugs — excluding marijuana — a felony punishable by up to five years in prison, but would also provide what Oakley called a “groundbreaking” mandate on judges to sentence first-time offenders to treatment rather than prison.  

She said that Wyoming’s existing child endangering statutes punish as a felony the simple act of having methamphetamine in the same vehicle or room as a child – but currently, the act of ingesting the drug “when you’re physically connected with the child” is not considered child endangerment . 

Drug Court Touted 

Oakley’s presentation of her bill followed the committee’s discussion of court-ordered drug treatment programs that featured testimony from Northern Arapaho tribal government officials, judges and health experts about the effectiveness of “drug courts,” or judge-ordered addiction treatment.  

Oakley said it was fitting that her bill would follow such testimony, and referenced the speakers who had praised court-ordered treatment programs. 

However, some of the speakers who had touted court-ordered treatment remained in the room to testify against Oakley’s bill, which would rely upon court-ordered treatment for first-time offenders.  

Sen. Ed Cooper, R-Ten Sleep, who voted in favor of a motion to draft a new bill for committee review later this year, said the conflicting testimonies confused him.  

“I’m confused by a couple of the folks that came up to testify,” he said. “They’re telling us what a wonderful thing the treatment court is, and then come up here and testify against a bill that goes hand-in-hand with the treatment court.”  

Cooper said Oakley’s bill may need modified, even to the point of reducing the penalties for those who offend more than once, but he believed the bill should move forward nonetheless.  

‘He Still Loves His Mother’ 

Sunny Goggles Duran, director of White Buffalo Recovery Center and foster parent to two children who suffered from prenatal drug exposure, said she was concerned that children would suffer if their mothers were taken away from them to be placed in prison. She also said mothers wouldn’t seek prenatal treatment if they were worried about being sentenced to prison because of their drug use.

Goggles Duran spoke of a little boy in her care who had many birth defects including cleft palate, missing fingers and other issues, and said the health problems could be linked to a lack of prenatal care, as his mother was fearful of being punished for her drug addiction.  

Goggles Duran worried that adopting the felony crime against meth and other drug use while pregnant would further discourage mothers from seeking care.  

The boy “did not get prenatal care,” said Goggles Duran. 

“We don’t want to deter these parents from getting the necessary medical prenatal care,” she said.  

Goggles Duran also said that the child’s mother is still a “loving” mother who should not be in prison, because her son still needs her.  

“He still loves his mother. His mother is a loving mother and has raised two other children before she was consumed by this addiction,” said Goggles Duran. “And she needs the services that will help her.”  

Rep. Art Washut, R-Casper, countered Goggles Duran’s testimony concerning the lack of prenatal services, saying that while mothers abusing drugs may not get prenatal are if the bill were adopted, “I’m not sure they’re getting any prenatal care now,” given the testimony.  

“I’m sure this bill is the right thing to do,” added Washut.  

Vote 

Committee Co-Chair Sen. Tara Nethercott, R-Cheyenne, who had vehemently opposed Oakley’s bill on the Senate floor in March, voted against the bill, as did Rep. Karlee Provenza, D-Laramie.  

The bill advanced with several ayes, and is now slated to be refined in the judiciary committee over the coming months.  

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By Clair McFarland, Cowboy State Daily

After a grieving mother on Tuesday told lawmakers of her son’s tragic death after a crosswalk collision in Cheyenne, a legislative committee started drafting a new vehicular homicide law.

The Legislature’s Joint Judiciary Committee agreed Tuesday to direct the Legislative Service Office to draft an enhanced version of the state’s law against vehicular homicide. 

Current law designates the crime as a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine. The bill being drafted by LSO would add a possible felony-level penalty for drivers who kill pedestrians within crosswalks or school zones.

Higher penalties for drivers who cause pedestrian fatalities are possible under the law currently. However, more intense penalties depend on the defendant’s state of mind – such as the disregard for life required for aggravated assault charges or the premeditation and malice required for first-degree murder.

‘If Only I Had Known’

Janelle Jones became emotional as she told the committee of her son, Makaili, or “Mak,” and how he died Nov. 5 following a crosswalk collision with a distracted driver.

Nothing about that day seemed different when it started, Jones said.

“I made him breakfast,” she said. “I set out his allergy medicine. I woke him up to get ready for school. We chatted casually over breakfast about the upcoming day’s events, and he was going to meet a friend after school and go to a movie.”

When the boy stood to leave, said Jones, he beamed while uttering a bit of teenage slang.

“Mak turned to me and flashed me the biggest smile, and enthusiastically said ‘Mom, doesn’t my outfit look fresh?’” She recalled with a tearful laugh.

“I said ‘Yes, you do look cool,’” she said, adding “If only I had known it would be the last time I would see my son smile.”

Seven minutes later the assistant principal at McCormick Junior High School called Jones, telling her to get to the school.

Sirens wailed.

Jones found her son “lying in the road,” surrounded by first responders performing CPR.

“I sat on the curb and watched in horror,” she said. “My hands wouldn’t work to dial my husband’s number on the phone. I forgot how it worked.”

Paramedics continued their CPR efforts the entire way to the hospital in an ambulance ride Jones did not get to share.

Jones was escorted by law enforcement to the hospital, where she was overcome by furious denial.

“No,” she remembered thinking when she saw two chaplains appear. “They cannot tell me this.”

An emergency room doctor and neurologist met with Jones. The  neurologist warned her that if Mak survived, he’d be paralyzed from the neck down and have little to no brain function.

X-rays and CT scans were taken while ventilator tubes and other emergency procedures were followed, to no avail. Jones was allowed to join her son in his room.

“My son died in my arms at 10:06 that morning,” said Jones. “I had to leave the hospital without my baby.”

Not Looking At The Road

Citing “dash cam” footage in the case, which is still ongoing, Jones said that her son waited at the crosswalk facing the school. Three vehicles in a line stopped for him, in the westbound lane.

But Mak hadn’t seen a vehicle in the eastbound lane which collided with him after the woman driving had been watching her daughter.

“She only turned to look at the road when her daughter shouted ‘MOM!’” said Jones.

“While there was no intent,” she continued, “this was not an accident… this was 100% preventable.”

Missing Piece

Jones told lawmakers that she has started a nonprofit organization called “For Mak” and has raised $110,000 for safer crosswalk systems.

But she said she believes there’s still a missing piece of the puzzle – criminal deterrence.

Other states such as Colorado and Utah, Jones noted, have felony punishments for vehicular homicide.

She hopes Wyoming would follow suit, adding that she believes harsher penalties may compel drivers to pay more attention and possibly prevent collisions.

In the committee discussion, Rep. Art Washut, R-Casper, told his fellow committee members he doubted simply enhancing the penalty for vehicular homicide would deter distracted driving because most people don’t pay attention to criminal penalties.

However, he added that as a punishment, “it’s not inappropriate to consider a felony level crime for the taking of a life.”

Rep. Ember Oakley, R-Riverton, said while the topic is highly emotional, lawmakers should use caution when assigning felony punishments for accidental crimes.

“I think the argument for (punitive) deterrence when you’re discussing accidents is low by definition,” said Oakley, adding that most significant-level crimes are punished harshly because of the criminal intentions associated with them.

Washut made a motion to change the crime of vehicular homicide from a misdemeanor crime to a felony, but that motion failed.

Rep. Barry Crago, R-Buffalo, made a new motion, which later passed with a mixed vote, for an enhanced penalty option for felony punishments when the vehicular homicide occurs in a crosswalk or school zone. 

The enhanced penalty option would not replace the existing misdemeanor option; prosecutors would have the discretion to evoke the enhancement as needed.

Rep. Karlee Provenza, D-Laramie, had spoken against the enhancement, saying she was concerned the state would give families the impression that victims who died after collisions in crosswalks or school zones were of more value than victims who were struck elsewhere.

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By Clair McFarland, Cowboy State Daily

Drones have been flying over Wyoming prisons in attempt to drop contraband to inmates, the director of the state Corrections Department told a legislative committee Monday.

Dan Shannon told members of the Legislature’s Joint Judiciary Committee drones have been flown over the state’s minimum security prisons and dropping tobacco products to inmates.

 “We do have issues with drones,” Shannon said as the committee began studying the issue of trespass by drones.

The committee is developing legislation to make drone surveillance and object delivery over prisons punishable by misdemeanors — or felonies, depending on circumstances.

The committee is also examining ways to define drones in the state’s criminal code and draft a bill that would make drone trespass and surveillance over private property a crime punishable by law.

All bill concepts are still in their infancy.

Shannon, who said drones dropping tobacco products over minimum security facilities has been a problem, also said corrections staff in other areas conduct a daily rooftop check over prison facilities with their own drones.

Shannon noted in a later interview that tobacco, which was outlawed from the state’s prisons in 2007, is so valuable, it’s a form of currency in WDOC institutions.

Because it’s outlawed, tobacco is considered contraband. Guns, communication devices, drugs, alcohol, and tools to escape also are considered contraband under the law.

The use of drones either for good or ill is a “two-way street,” Shannon told the committee.

He said that law enforcement agencies have been willing to help stop the illicit fly-overs, but added state law is limited and does not allow prison staff to “stop” a drone.

“I certainly would like to have the authority to stop that drone, especially if there’s a weapon or narcotics attached to it,” said Shannon. “I consider (the drone) a threat.”

“As much as I like the idea of shooting drones, I like the idea of a drone battle, maybe we should authorize that” in statute, quipped Joint Judiciary Chairman Rep. Jared Olsen, R-Cheyenne.

State Rep. Art Washut, R-Casper, made a motion to craft a bill addressing drone flights over prisons.

State Rep. Ember Oakley, R-Riverton, asked the Legislative Service Office to include language in the draft bill that would allow prison staff to “capture or disable the drone by whatever means necessary.”

“It’s pretty strong, but policy-wise I would put that forward,” Oakley added.

The committee approved the direction, as well as a provision brought by Rep. Barry Crago, R-Buffalo, matching penalties for the delivery of contraband by drones to other laws against importing contraband into prisons.

For example, smuggling a firearm into a prison on one’s person can be a 10-year felony; the punishment for gun-dropping by drone would match that penalty under the bill now being contemplated by the committee.

Sen. Tara Nethercott, R-Cheyenne, emphasized that photographing or otherwise studying prison occupants or procedures by drone should be illegal under the bill as well.

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By Leo Wolfson, Cowboy State Daily

Wyoming should recognize the intergalactic military Space Force as part of the state’s military structure, members of a legislative committee have agreed.

Members of the Legislature’s Transportation, Highways and Military Affairs Committee approved a bill for consideration during the Legislature’s general session next year that would list the Space Force National Guard with other branches of the state’s military in Wyoming law.

Maj. Gen. Gregory Porter, Wyoming’s adjutant general, told committee members even though there are no Space Force personnel in Wyoming yet, military officials are thinking about how Space Force might look in the state.

The new military branch was first proposed by former President Donald Trump. Its creation drew strong reactions from many in the public, with some making comparisons to it being the American version of “Star Wars,” from both negative and positive perspectives. As of 2021, Space Force reported having an enlistment of about 13,000.

The administration of President Joe Biden is opposed to the creation of a national Space Force National Guard saying it would not deliver any new military capabilities.

But Porter defended continuing with the establishment of Space Force, noting there are already 1,500 Space Force National Guard members across seven states. Making this into a nationalized unit, he said, would only cost around $250,000, and mostly consist of “changing some name tags.” 

“It’s going to cost America a whole lot more money to not establish a space national guard,” he said.

Porter said the billions of dollars already invested in this program will go to waste if Space Force is folded in with the U.S. Air Force.

In addition to recognizing Space Force, the bill approved by the committee would make Space Force National Guard members eligible for reduced college tuitions and other benefits provided members of other branches of the military in the state.

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By Clair McFarland, Cowboy State Daily

If the landmark abortion rights case Roe v. Wade is overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, Wyoming legislators will have to take hard stands on the issue of abortion, according to a leader in the state Senate.  

In a U.S. Supreme Court majority opinion draft that was leaked on Monday to Politico, Justice Samuel Alito, said to have authored the opinion, advocated strongly to overturn the landmark 1973 abortion case.

Roe v. Wade made abortion in the first trimester of pregnancy legal in every state. It remains the law of the land since the Supreme Court has not issued its final ruling on the case that spawned the court’s review.

“This is going to really open a new discussion if the repeal goes forward as the leaked draft suggests,” said Senate Minority Floor Leader Chris Rothfuss, D-Laramie. “All of the prior debate has been speculative and politically safe for proponents of turning back abortion. It was always just politics to them, because nothing could really be done (to overturn Roe v. Wade).” 

If the ruling becomes official, the state’s authority over abortions would be magnified, Rothfuss said, while the authority of the federal government would be diminished.

As a result, some legislators who have publicly supported outlawing abortion will have to determine whether such legislation, which would carry more weight than in the past, is something they really want, he said.

‘Embittered Our Political Culture’ 

Alito wrote in his draft opinion that creating one national law for abortion has not unified the nation, but has “embittered our political culture for a half-century.”  

“Roe abruptly ended that political process” of states’ sovereignty over reproductive laws, wrote Alito.

“It imposed the same highly restrictive regime on the entire nation, and it effectively struck down the abortion laws of every single state,” he added.  

Alito called the Roe ruling an “exercise of raw judicial power” sparking a “national controversy.”  

“We hold that Roe and (Planned Parenthood v. Casey, a related 1992 case) must be overruled,” he wrote. “The Constitution makes no reference to abortion, and no such right is implicitly protected by any constitutional provision.” 

Defenders of the Casey precedent rely, he wrote, on the Fourteenth Amendment, which forbids states from stripping U.S. citizens of the right to life, liberty and property without due process.  

Alito averred that abortion access is not implied in those rights.  

Trigger Ban 

The Wyoming Legislature this year passed a trigger ban – a law that would ban abortion in Wyoming five days after any Supreme Court repeal of Roe V. Wade.  

Abortion still would be legal in cases of serious risk of death for the mother, rape, and incest.  

The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Rachel Rodriguez-Williams, R-Cody, while pleased with the content of the ruling, told Cowboy State Daily on Tuesday she was concerned for the integrity and privacy of the high court’s deliberations process in the face of the first-ever leak of a draft opinion.  

“The leak is unfortunate,” said Rodriguez-Williams. “There definitely needs to be an investigation, because a breach of the court’s confidentiality is almost an assault, and I’m skeptical as to why somebody chose to do that. It’s very unfortunate.”  

Rodriguez-Williams said the Supreme Court’s best reaction, in her opinion, would be to prioritize the case contemplating Roe v. Wade to quickly finalize the ruling and provide less time for outside interference to foment.  

Still, she added, the draft opinion looks hopeful for the trigger ban’s impact.  

“Wyoming is in a wonderful position, having passed (the law) during this last session,” she said. “We’re prepared and in a position where, because of the bill, we’d be able to ban abortion given… the reversal of Roe V. Wade.”  

“It solves the problem of abortion in Wyoming,” she added.  

Wyoming’s neighboring states of Idaho, Utah, and North Dakota also have trigger bans in place, as do Mississippi, Texas, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Tennessee.  

Grandstanding? 

Rothfuss said he believes that due to polarization and peer pressure within the Republican party, some Republican legislators who voted for the trigger ban may not have really wanted to see it implemented, but voted for it because they thought it wouldn’t go anywhere.  

“There are many Wyoming Republicans,” said Rothfuss, “that understand the politics of the abortion debate and understand that if they support a woman’s right to choose, that they will be vilified by this absurd, extremist statewide GOP party that doesn’t represent the interests of any rational Wyomingite. And so they believe their vote to be politically expedient – and inconsequential.”  

Rodriguez-Williams told Cowboy State Daily that it’s possible some who supported her bill were merely being “politically expedient.”  

But she countered that the majority of Wyoming citizens, in her experience, hold pro-life values. 

She added those values will become a factor in the upcoming elections, since state legislators now have power over the abortion issue.  

Rodriguez-Williams took an opposite view of the Fourteenth Amendment from abortion-rights advocates, arguing instead that the right to life and liberty should be safeguarded for the unborn.  

“(Roe V. Wade) denies the right of a child to be born,” she said. “It denies a child to the pursuit of life and liberty… everything that they’re entitled to.”  

Rape and Incest 

Rodriguez-Williams said abortion clinics are a “rapist’s best friend,” and she objected to the rape and incest exemptions to her bill because she believes rapists can hide the evidence of their crimes by securing abortions for their victims.  

“More violence does not bring healing to a victim,” she continued, adding “Abortion is a violent procedure.”  

New Bills Brewing 

Both Rothfuss and Rep. Mike Yin, D-Jackson, said they expected to see new abortion bills in the 2023 legislative session, especially bills attempting to remove the legal exemptions of death risk, rape, and incest for performing abortions.  

Yin said he hopes to bring a bill of his own reversing the trigger ban.  

“In my opinion this (repeal) would end up increasing our suicide rate, which is already too high, and leading to people getting illegal abortions,” said Yin. “Because they can’t (potentially) get a legal one within their communities.”  

Yin said the pro-life movement strikes him as contrary to Wyoming’s prevalent libertarian leanings.  

“Frankly I’ve always considered Wyoming a live-and-let-live state, and this is one (issue) where Wyoming has chosen to have the state tell someone what they can and cannot do with their body.”  

Yin, like Rothfuss, feared that anti-abortion laws in Wyoming are a product of pressures within the Republican party rather than sincere beliefs throughout the party.  

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By Clair McFarland, Cowboy State Daily

When crafting laws to keep shady operatives from stashing their money in Wyoming, lawmakers should be careful not to chase off honest businesses, according to state Treasurer Curt Meier.  

With some federal officials looking for ways to force some businesses to provide more information about themselves, Meier told the Legislature’s Revenue Committee on Thursday the state must proceed carefully with any proposed changes in its own business rules.

“If the federal government gets too involved in regulating LLCs (limited liability companies) and any other corporate structure,” said Meier, “they’re going to find a way to tax it. We’ve got to be careful what we support.”  

Wyoming has been the focus of national news stories in recent months for its business-friendly policies, which allow companies and trusts to form in the state with fewer restrictions than those imposed in many other states, opening the door to the creation of trusts that could be used to hide billions of dollars.

As an example, an investigation by the International Consortium of Journalists revealed that Russian billionaire Igor Makarov used Wyoming to house, secretly, millions of dollars in assets including real estate and a 13-seat private jet held through an LLC and trust in Wyoming.
Trusts in Wyoming manage about $31.5 billion in funds. 

Couple that with the lack of an income tax in Wyoming, and the state has proven an attractive place to put money or manage property. The state also benefits from revenue from business filings: the 2022 fiscal year is expected to yield about $7.5 million in new LLC filing fees. 

Redefining ‘Bank’

Following the 2021 leak of the “Pandora Papers” — an exhaustive dossier of offshore filings used to hide the money and assets of billionaires, world leaders, celebrities and politicians — members of Congress have introduced a bill that would vastly expand the legal definition of banks.  

Financial institutions, or banks, are subject to federal know-your-customer and anti-laundering laws. Under the proposed Enablers Act, introduced in the U.S. House in October, the definition of “financial institution” would expand to include financial advisers, art and antiques traders, attorneys or financial notaries, some providers of trusts, public accountants, public relations fronts for anonymous businesspeople, and third-party payment services.   

Meier told the legislative Joint Revenue Committee on Thursday that more federal rules will lead to more federal taxes.  

He added he feared an earlier federal law, the Corporate Transparency Act, though touted as an anti-terrorism and anti-money laundering effort, would breed “intrusion into our daily lives,” another layer of “bureaucracy,” and a rigid dossier of nearly “everybody’s” personal information.  

Meier said Wyoming needs to be able to identify its business operatives and to have discoverable data on them to ferret out “bad actors.” But he said he would not support a public exposure of all business identity data of the kind collected by banks, because people have a right to privacy.  

“If you have a corporation that’s almost like you’re the king of that corporation, (like) you’re the king of your house,” said Meier.  

Meier proposed the secretary of state’s office be required to compare its data on business holders, routinely, against federal lists of money launderers, terrorists, other “bad actors” and their aliases – then turn the results of that cross-check over to law enforcement.  

‘This Isn’t Secrecy’ 

Speakers at Revenue Committee took differing stances on the Pandora Papers.  

Chris Reimer, a Jackson attorney and law partner, said large shady business fronts are the exception in Wyoming, not the rule, and he feared that burdening all of the state’s companies with tax and oversight laws would drive beneficial and law-abiding businesses to other states.   

He referenced an October story in the Guardian concluding that 81 of the trusts identified by the Pandora Papers as being used to hide wealth were held in South Dakota, whereas two were held in Wyoming.  

Reimer, who repeatedly criticized Washington Post stories describing Wyoming as a “tax haven,” discouraged lawmakers from “making reactionary changes based on sensationalized reporting.” 

“It seems to me the question is whether Wyoming should abandon a favorable and very privacy-centric (system),” he said. “And this isn’t secrecy. This is an interest in privacy; in not having others see our business. There’s nothing wrong with that, it’s a very human emotion and very human thought. Do we want to trade that for regulation oversight or taxation?” 

Registered Agents 

A Washington Post story published April 5 focused on Wyoming “registered agents” or people serving as required business representatives for companies they may know very little about.

“One agent,” wrote the Post reporter, “represents more than 250 companies – dozens linked to foreign owners – from a beige camper parked at a barren crossroads north of Cheyenne.”  

Reimer said these kinds of registered agents and the “shell companies” they front are on their way out of the system.  

“The so-called ‘secret shell company’ you’ll see referred to in the Pandora Paper-type articles,” said Reimer, “is a thing of the past.” 

“It’s over,” because of the Corporate Transparency Act, he said.

Reimer did not respond to an email Friday morning asking whether the new act would pursue identities behinds trusts that hold LLCs. State leaders in the past have been stymied by anonymous companies registered to trusts, not individuals. 

The Corporate Transparency Act is a federal law that passed in 2020 which will require corporations and limited liability companies — LLCs — to disclose ownership information directly to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network of the U.S. Treasury Department. The database is not running yet.  

“Every single corporation or LLC filed in Wyoming, or any state in the nation,” Reimer said, “(will) have to tell the federal government the full legal name, birthday, current street address, and tax ID number of each beneficial owner of any corporation or LLC ever filed.”  

Though accessible to federal bureaucrats and enforcers, the registry will not be public.   

Cowboy Cocktail 

Reimer also referenced the term “Cowboy Cocktail,” an LLC or corporation owned by a trust rather than an individual, specifically a domestic asset protection trust, in which the maker of the trust can also be its beneficiary.  

“Although I would never call it the ‘Cowboy Cocktail,’” Reimer said, “this is a standard procedure for any client who wants to hold an asset that is particularly dangerous from a litigation perspective.” 

For example, he said, a house across from a bar in Laramie is owned by an LLC, which is in turn registered to a trust – because of activities that could occur near that house due to its location.  

Reimer said the notion that Cowboy Cocktails are used as tax shelters is “ridiculous” because banks – and therefore federal anti-laundering laws – still are involved in the money transfers of those setups. 

Reimer also noted that state taxes, such as California’s income tax, can be dodged by filing in Wyoming, where there is no income tax, but federal taxes cannot.  

“Cowboy Cocktail” holders, though not exempt from federal taxes, may still enjoy anonymity. 

$31.5 Billion in Wyo Trusts

Conversely, an official with a money transparency activist group based in Washington D.C. disagreed with Reimer, saying that Wyoming’s laws make it a haven for illicit activity.  

“Wyoming has attracted and protected capital from people who undermine our security,” said Ryan Gurule, policy director for the Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency coalition. 

“Secrecy under Wyoming laws appeals to oligarchs,” like Makarov, he said.   

Gurule asked rhetorically whether Makarov’s stash had yielded “measurable economic gains for local communities,” and added that Wyoming’s generous business laws “inadvertently contributed to this problem.”  

Gurule suggested reforms to boost business and trust transparency and raise identity-disclosure thresholds required to establish companies.   

Trusts in all states are, traditionally, private.  

Gurule noted that while there are federal checks on banking operations, foreign operatives with their wealth in trusts can “entirely circumvent, in some cases” the U.S. banking system – to the detriment of both Wyoming’s profitability and U.S. national security.  

“This legislative body, just like Congress, has an important role to play in ensuring Wyoming and U.S. financial systems are not inviting for bad actors,” said Gurule.  

A Wyoming-based lobbyist agreed with Gurule. 

Jennifer Lowe, Equality State Policy Center executive director, said Wyoming should legislate the business-transparency issue because its reputation is at stake.  

“A negative light has been shone on the state and some of the practices we have here,” said Lowe. “This is just one leak, the Pandora Papers. Who knows what’s really out there?”  

Mixed Reception 

Joint Revenue Committee members had a mixed reaction to the opposing testimonies.  

Committee Co-Chair Sen. Cale Case, R-Lander, said he was open to suggestions from both sides and hoped to “move forward” in some way. 

Rep. Patrick Sweeney, R-Casper, said he suspected that national news stories had painted Wyoming with “broad strokes.” But he said he was also aware that not all assets can be “monetized” and therefore not all values go through the banks.  

Rep. Mike Yin, D-Jackson, repeatedly expressed concern over whether Wyoming is a magnet for foreign nationals trying to hide their money from their home countries.  

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By Wendy Corr, Cowboy State Daily

Travelers to Yellowstone National Park could see some delays on the drive from Cody to the park this year, thanks to a series of major road construction projects in Park County.

But experienced travelers probably will not be caught off-guard by the work, said a spokesman for the Wyoming Department of Transportation.

“I think we are very conditioned into the idea that we have to do road improvements in the summer, and it just doesn’t happen in Cody here,” said Cody Beers. “It happens all over the country in the summertime. So drivers, travelers, tourists, they’re used to it.”

The Wyoming Department of Transportation will have four major construction projects going on this summer in Park County, which will directly impact travel, Beers said – and that’s just this year.

“We’re going to be working our way down the North Fork (Highway between Cody and Yellowstone), over the next four or five years,” Beers told Cowboy State Daily. “We’ve got projects every year between Cody and Yellowstone.” 

Of the four construction projects in Park County this summer, the project that will affect the most people is on a 10-mile stretch of highway just east of Yellowstone on U.S. Highway 14-16-20.

“It’s pavement work, we’re working to do some guardrail repairs and improvements, which starts next week, May 2, and then paving will begin about mid-June,” Beers said.

Beers said there will be some traffic delays early in the project, but they will be fairly short.

“There will be a pilot car leading vehicles through the project, because we’ll be working on half the road,” he said. “And there will be very short delays until we start paving in June, and then we could have 10- to 20-minute delays of traffic going back and forth to Yellowstone.” 

According to WYDOT representatives, the last time this stretch of road was repaired was in 1997 and since the normal service life for pavement is about 20 years, it’s past time for maintenance on this stretch of road.

“We appreciate everyone’s patience, but these are pavement improvement projects that are designed to bring a road which is right on the edge of falling apart, back to a new state,” Beers said.

Work on the road into Yellowstone is set to begin Monday, May 2, and is anticipated to continue through August. But that’s not the only project that will cause delays for travelers taking in the views around Cody this summer.

“We’re also doing a slide project up on Chief Joseph (Highway) on this side of Dead Indian Pass,” Beers said, referring to an ongoing effort to stabilize Wyoming Highway 296 between Cody and the Beartooth Highway in Montana. “So there’s going to be some one-way traffic through that slide right where that big red hill is.”

Other projects include pavement rehabilitation on U.S. Highway 14A between Cody and Powell and a paving project near Meeteetse, Beers said.

“So there’s going to be some short-term delays around Cody,” Beers said.

Ryan Hauck, Executive Director for the Park County Travel Council, said that for residents, educating travelers about the best routes will be key to creating a positive experience for tourists in spite of construction delays.

“We just have to prepare to educate everyone that’s coming in, whether that is individuals, whether that’s our big motor coaches, international (travel) is starting to come back this year as well,” Hauck told Cowboy State Daily. “And then help them navigate through that. Best routes, maybe less popular areas, how to get to those areas.”

And it’s not just the east gate to Yellowstone, Hauck pointed out, that will see travel delays due to construction.

“Jackson is going to have it on their end as well,” he said, “and they have construction at their airport through June.”

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By Clair McFarland, Cowboy State Daily 

Multiple representatives in the Wyoming House have experienced trespass by drone, leading some to endorse a law that would make the activity a crime.   

State Rep. Dan Zwonitzer, R-Cheyenne, said he’s excited to develop legislation criminalizing drone trespass, which is the act of flying a remote-controlled aircraft over another’s property, especially in a way that invades privacy.   

Some of his eagerness to confront the issue stems from being “a person who has had other people flying drones over their property, and not been very happy about it,” said Zwonitzer.   

In similar story to an account told last week by House Majority Speaker Rep. Albert Sommers, R-Pinedale, Zwonitzer related that a drone flew over his home near Cheyenne in January while he was not home but his spouse was.   

Zwonitzer added that his spouse knew the drone was flying low because it could be heard before it even came into view.   

He believed it was there for “nefarious purposes,” said Zwonitzer, speculating that people with political motives could have been using the drone to snoop. But the trouble, he added, is that a drone can’t be asked why it is on someone’s property. 

“You can’t yell at someone to get off your place when it’s a drone,” he said. “If they drove up to your property you could say ‘Hey you’re trespassing; I need you to leave.’”  

Drones don’t allow for direct conversations.   

“It sure felt like a personal invasion of privacy,” he said.   

Zwonitzer clarified that he hasn’t envisioned what any bill might look like yet because he and the Legislature’s Judiciary Committee, which he co-chairs, still have to explore relevant factors, Federal Aviation Administration guidelines and other issues.   

While there are reasons other than political snooping that may motivate a drone-operator to send a drone over someone else’s farm, said Zwonitzer, he still wishes his options to confront it had been less “murky” in the eyes of the law.   

“I had a drone flying over my property and I couldn’t shoot it down, and I didn’t know what my options were,” he said. “I think it’s good to work on clarifying the law.”  

Though subject to prosecutor discretion, Wyoming law regards drone-shooting as property destruction. 

Sommers sponsored a bill during the Legislature’s recent budget session designed to put restrictions on the operations of drones over private property. He withdrew the bill before its introduction so it could be crafted after more study in the Judiciary Committee this interim. 

Sommers said his desire for the bill stemmed in part from the fact that one day when he was not at home but his wife was, a “drone came right at our kitchen window.” 

“If I’d been home that day I would have shot that drone down,” he told Cowboy State Daily earlier this month. 

Harassing the Wildlife 

Another House delegate, Rep. Chip Neiman, R-Hulett, told Cowboy State Daily that hunters on his land have witnessed drones haranguing wildlife.  

Neiman had co-sponsored Sommers’ bill this winter.  

Neiman told Cowboy State Daily that a public highway runs through his property, and “I’ve had, actually, people park on the highway and send a drone loose, over my hayfields, over my property to look at wildlife. And they’re too low.” 

Neiman said the drones are chasing deer and other wildlife, but as unmanned aircraft they’re impossible to confront, and often will retreat to their owners’ vehicles when they “see” someone approaching.  

In November, said Neiman, he heard the “high-pitched squealing” of a drone cresting a neighbor’s hill, “racing” onto his own property, and “running deer when my hunters were here, trying to harvest deer.”  

Many hunters, including children just learning the sport, pay a fee to hunt on Neiman’s land, he said, which helps to recoup the cost of feeding and overseeing the wildlife who frequent it.  

“I don’t mind if you look at stuff,” using a drone, Neiman said, “but interfering with a quality hunting experience and molesting the wildlife” is problematic.  

A Wyoming Game and Fish regulation forbids game-scouting by drone.  

Neiman speculated that pilots sending drones over his property are pursuing a variety of goals, including “just having fun,” viewing wildlife for enjoyment, and scouting game.  

Neiman said he He said he envisioned legislation that would promote mutual respect: for drone-fliers to respect property rights and privacy, and for landowners to respect drones as someone’s property as well.  

“A lot of times folks don’t realize the responsibility they have to make sure they’re not affecting someone’s private property,” said Neiman, adding that in most cases, fliers are just seeking “fun, and they don’t perceive they’re bothering anybody.”  

On the other hand, he added, as drones become cheaper and more prevalent, extra care should be taken to ensure that they don’t disturb domestic livestock and wildlife.  

“That’s the whole point of private property rights and asking for permission,” said Neiman. “Respect other people’s stuff.”  

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By Jimmy Orr, Cowboy State Daily

On the unofficial holiday for marijuana enthusiasts (April 20), a former Republican state senator who supports legalizing marijuana said Wyoming will never OK the drug until the federal government steps in.

Bruce Burns, who represented Sheridan in the Legislature from 1995 – 2018 and sponsored legislation that would have legalized medical marijuana, said Wyoming is far too conservative for the drug to be made legal in the state without changes in federal law.

“The only way it will ever be legalized in Wyoming is if it’s on the federal level,” Burns told Cowboy State Daily on Wednesday.

“Because Wyoming is such a Republican state, the real competition is in the primary,” he said. “So there’s a race to be bottom, so to speak, to see who can be the most conservative.”

As a result, he said, the Wyoming Legislature is more conservative than the people its members represent. Conversely, elected bodies in California and Massachusetts are more liberal than the people they represent, he said.

Conservative Versus Libertarian

And there’s a difference, he said, between conservative Republicans and Libertarian Republicans. The latter are more open to legalization because they believe in less government.

That’s where Burns puts himself on the political spectrum and, as such, sponsored legislation that would have legalized medical marijuana.

The effort failed, he said, because of politics.

“Marijuana has good medicinal uses,” he said. “But it’s being ignored because of the political view of marijuana.”

Burns said he saw first-hand the positive applications of the drug when he, at the request of an uncle who was dying of lung cancer, purchased some pot and drove it out to New York.

“I secured him some pot and went to visit him in Long Island,” Burns said, mentioning that the statute of limitations had run out. “It had such a curative effect on him that he ended up gaining 15 pounds before he died.”

“But most importantly, it made his transition much more comfortable,” he said.

Wasting Resources

For the most part, Burns said, living in a conservative state is a good thing. But not when the issues involve marijuana.

Not only is Wyoming wasting money on incarcerating people, he said, but the state is missing out on the economic benefits of legalization.

“You’ve got places like Colorado which is making millions of dollars in tax benefits because of it,” Burns said. “At some point, I wonder if our deficit hawks in Wyoming are going to realize that.”

If Burns had his way, the state would decriminalize the drug.

“If somebody is caught with pot, I would make the penalty no more than a parking ticket,” he said. 

What’s the difference?  Burns said by decriminalizing marijuana, it gives the states a political way out.

“You’re giving the states permission to do it without there being any great punishment for it,” he said.

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By Clair McFarland, Cowboy State Daily

Lawmakers in Wyoming will address the issue of property-invading drones this year.  

Crafting trespassing laws pertaining to drones is a top priority for the Legislature’s Joint Judiciary Committee in the coming months, according to committee chairs Rep. Jared Olsen, R-Casper, and Sen. Tara Nethercott, R-Cheyenne, who presented the issue Friday to the Legislature’s Management Council.  

“One, (the topic) does have to do with drones as it relates to hunting, and two, it does have to do with drones as it relates to residential uses,” said Nethercott.

The Judiciary Committee hopes to consider “whether someone can fly a drone in your back yard,” Nethercott continued, and “whether you have the right to remove it or trespass the owner of that drone.”

The Management Council, made up of legislative leaders, agreed to let the Judiciary Committee study the issue as one of its topics of consideration this year.

Neither Nethercott nor Olsen responded to phone calls requesting further comment.  

There is no penalty in Wyoming for flying a drone over someone else’s property, except for cases of voyeurism.   

Can You Shoot It? 

House Majority Floor Leader Rep. Albert Sommers, R-Pinedale, sponsored a bill in recent months that would have made it a misdemeanor to fly a drone below 200 feet over private lands or homes. But during the February legislative budget session, Sommers asked the House to hold back the bill so it could be developed more as an interim topic.  

“When I crafted the bill I’d heard of multiple experiences about drones kind of invading privacy,” Sommers told Cowboy State Daily on Monday. One of those experiences was at his own remote home – when a drone “came right at our kitchen window” while Sommers’ wife was home and he was not.  

“If I’d been home that day I would have shot that drone down,” he said.  

But existing property destruction laws may prohibit that reaction, Sommers added. He said the prospect and consequences of shooting errant drones is another legal facet deserving “thoughtful discussion.”  

Other concerned citizens have spoken with Sommers about drones scaring wildlife from a river bottom and drones approaching their houses, he said.  

Sommers noted additional issues for the committee to address, such as what happens when a realtor using a drone to scout a house with the owner’s permission accidentally veers onto a neighbor’s property.   

The proliferation of nano drones, which can fit in a person’s hand and sometimes have video capabilities, “creeps me out worse,” quipped Sommers.  

Expectation of Privacy 

Sommers wondered aloud whether younger generations still expect privacy.  

“Do we in society today have any expectation of privacy?” he asked. “Or has that concept of privacy slowly dwindled as the internet and everything else has expanded?”  

Sommers spoke of satellite imaging, which he said has been a boon in exposing the realities of the war in Ukraine, but has eroded people’s expectation and understanding of privacy.  

Conversely, he said, Wyoming residents may also have a libertarian streak prompting expectations of a broader, less regulated arena in which to fly drones.  

“It’s a changing world and so I think that’s a great discussion,” he said.  

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By Clair McFarland, Cowboy State Daily 

A state senator who missed last fall’s special legislative session and two days of this year’s budget session was in Greece attending to his official duties as a U.S. representative in a Greek foreign relations group.

Sen. Stephan Pappas, R-Cheyenne, joined the World Hellenistic Interparliamentary Association in 2017, a little more than two years after he became a state senator.    

The retired U.S. Air Force General with 100% Greek heritage is now the treasurer for the organization, which was created in 1996 and counts among its members legislators of Greek descent from about 20 countries.

The organization is designed to improve foreign relations with other republics and expand global trade prospects for Greece and Cyprus.  

Cyprus is an island country nestled between the coasts of Syria and Turkey.   

“I go to Greece a lot and work with the Greek government on issues of trade, military significance,” Pappas told Cowboy State Daily on Monday in a phone interview.   

Of particular concern to Pappas is WHIA’s work to encourage American investors or investors from other democratic countries to buy publicly-owned Eastern Mediterranean ports to prevent Russian and China from winning them.   

Ports For Sale  

The European Union ordered Greece to privatize much of its publicly-held air and sea infrastructure as part of a 2010 bailout plan agreed to after the country’s 2008 economic collapse.   

A Chinese company in 2009 bought the controlling interest for Port of Piraeus near Athens. Then last year, a Russian oligarch purchased controlling stock in the Port at Thessaloniki.   

Two strategic ports still are up for grabs: Alexandropouli and Kavala in northern Greece.   

Pappas wrote to Wyoming’s congressional delegation in 2020, asking the delegates to assist and encourage Kentucky-based Black Summit Financial Group to place a bid for Alexandropouli, to prevent another Russian purchase of a key military and energy conduit.   

“We cannot have another port in Greece fall into the hands of the Russians, especially at this very strategic location,” wrote Pappas.  

Alexandropouli could be crucial to the unfolding of world events.   

The U.S. military uses the port for transporting personnel and equipment. American officials also see the port as a natural gas conduit for U.S. energy marketing in Europe, according a report by security company Trident Group America, which Pappas attached to his letter.   

By gaining control of the port, “Russia (would) not only be in a position to undermine the United States’ use of the port for military exercises, but also control whose (natural) gas is stemmed into the network, thereby negating America’s ongoing effort to reduce Europe’s dependence on Russian energy supplies,” the study states.   

Pappas said he also is working with Black Summit and the other WHIA delegates, looking for things “that (can help) them get an edge.” He added that he didn’t know the bidding deadlines for the two ports but may learn them soon.   

Tinderbox  

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has intensified efforts to calm Turkey’s military ambitions.   

A longtime NATO member, Turkey in 2019 purchased an S-400 missile defense system from Russia, which Pappas said, “sent everyone in the EU and NATO into a tizzy,” as a signal of increasing cooperation between the two countries.   

As a result, Turkey was booted out of a nine-country collaborative to build and purchase stealth fighter jets as the U.S. deemed the possibility of a technology leak to Russia a security threat.   

WHIA backed Congress’ move to block Turkish involvement in the aircraft program as well as an ongoing bid by Turkey to buy F16s.   

The F16 debate continues, but Pappas said it’s a “touchy situation – when you can’t give (Turkish leaders) what they want but you don’t want to push them away either” into the arms of Russia and China.   

“We (at WHIA) think that selling them more aircraft is a bad idea at this time,” said Pappas. “So we have been asking Congress to block the sale.”   

Turkish plans to buy another Russian S-400 merely add “insult to injury,” said Pappas.   

‘Excused’  

Pappas missed the Legislature’s special session in October so he could attend the Oxi Day Parade in Thessaloniki, an event to which he was invited by Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou.

According to his travel itinerary, Pappas visited with the press, the National Bank of Greece, Greek Secretary General John Chrysoulakis, power company Eunice Energy and other dignitaries.   

That week, the Legislature had called a special session outside its normal lawmaking schedule in an attempt to combat federal COVID vaccine mandates. The session resulted in a $4 million appropriation to the Wyoming attorney general’s office for future anti-mandate litigation.   

“Almost every one of those (special session) bills were, in my mind, something I would have voted no on,” said Pappas, noting that if he hadn’t already accepted the president’s invitation, he would have attended the special session, though he found it a “waste of taxpayers’ money.”   

“Most of (the bills) were punitive against Wyoming businesses – I certainly wouldn’t want to go there,” Pappas said. 

He added that the anti-mandate battleground at that time was not ripe for legislation anyway, because the state’s court case against the enforcing agency, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, was ongoing.   

“Again, that could have waited” for the February budget session, said Pappas.  

The senator also missed the final two days of the budget session, but he told Senate leaders he’d be available by Zoom if needed.   

The session’s final day, March 11, saw a last-minute change to the state’s redistricting – or voter apportionment – update that added three legislators to the body while allowing some counties a slightly larger voter impact than others, to keep like-minded regions intact.    

“Those (changes) didn’t affect anything here in Laramie County, for sure,” said Pappas, who left the state March 10 for celebrations of the 75th Anniversary of the Truman Doctrine in Greece – again at the invitation of the Greek government.   

Pappas said Senate President Dan Dockstader, R-Afton, has encouraged his involvement in foreign relations. He also said he looks for ways to benefit both Greece and Wyoming.

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By Jimmy Orr, Cowboy State Daily

Immediately after the Legislature ended its budget session, Sen. Wendy Schuler, R-Evanston, wasn’t certain she’d be running for re-election this year.

But, now after a few days of reflection, she’s decided she wants another term and another chance to present her bill banning transgender women from competing on women’s sports teams to the Wyoming Legislature again.

Schuler, talking to Cowboy State Daily over the weekend, said it was important to her to introduce the “Fairness in Women’s Sports Act” again next year because a “miscommunication” earlier this month between House and Senate leadership resulted in the bill failing to be introduced in the House despite its solid victory in the Senate.

“This is something that I really have a passion for,” Schuler said of her legislation. “I believe strongly in this and I’m going to try to make this right.”

Last week, Penn State swimmer Lia Thomas became the first transgendered female to win a NCAA swimming championship when she won the 500-yard freestyle title.

The photo of the trophy ceremony struck a nerve with Schuler, a former Olympic athlete herself.

“That picture says it all. It shouldn’t happen,” Schuler said.  “I feel so bad for the fourth place girl who couldn’t get on the podium because of this inequity.”

Many of the spectators at the event appeared to feel the same way as the crowd was relatively subdued when Thomas’ name was announced at the trophy ceremony.

Further, an Olympian who swims for Virginia Tech criticized the NCAA’s policy of allowing transgendered women to compete against biological women, saying in a letter it cost her a spot in a finals event.

“This is my last college meet ever and I feel frustrated. It feels like that final spot was taken away from me because of the NCAA’s decision to let someone who is not a biological female compete,” Reka Gyorgy wrote.

Schuler said even though the Wyoming High School Activities Association has a policy in place regarding transgendered athletes, it has a loophole. Individual schools can still allow transgendered females, or those who just identify as females, to compete on women’s teams.

“After talking to a number of athletic directors, there was not one of them who was in support of this,” she said. “One said he would quit if he was forced to allow a transgendered athlete to compete against biological females.”

As for the decision for people to transition to another gender, she said “to each their own” but when it comes to competition in female sports, it’s not fair to compete against someone who is “biologically superior to another.”

Schuler said she may have her proposed bill “tweaked” to bring it more in line with laws found in states which have successfully passed similar legislation.

She rejected the idea that the legislation shouldn’t be passed if it could end up in court, noting Idaho’s legislation on the topic got sent to the courts.

“You gotta pass a bill for the right reasons,” she said.  “You can’t worry about whether it’s going to get litigated or not.” 

Schuler said she was optimistic about passage next year as many of her colleagues in the House, she said, have signaled support.

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By Clair McFarland, Cowboy State Daily

The Speaker of the Wyoming House of Representatives delivered a tearful farewell at the Capitol last Friday, in the final hours of his career in the Wyoming House of Representatives.  

A veterinarian and rancher by trade, House Speaker Rep. Eric Barlow, R-Gillette, has served the chamber since 2013. He has held the top rank as House Speaker since 2021, and served as House Majority Leader from 2019-2020. He served as a US Marine in the Cold War era, from 1984-1988. 

“Ten years ago… I raised my hand and took an oath to do the best I could while I was here,” began Barlow during his farewell address. “And I had a lot of learning to do, but hopefully somewhere in there I was effective. And toward the end, I thought, maybe I could be helpful in leadership.”  

Barlow was chosen for his first leadership in 2014, as the House Labor, Health and Social Services Committee Chairman, and went on to Chair the Select Committee on Coal and Minerals, the House Rules and Procedure Committee, the Management Audit Committee, and served for two years as Vice Chair of the Management Council.  

“I hope my term, the majority of my time here, I made people feel like I was listening, and I cared, and I was doing good work on behalf of the constituents back home who gave me the privilege to serve here,” Barlow said.  

He acknowledged the other representatives as his “brothers and sisters,” and expressed a special fondness toward the few remaining delegates who were sworn in with him in 2013, as fellow “freshmen.”  

Those are current Majority Floor Leader Rep. Albert Sommers, R-Pinedale, and Republican Reps. Jerry Paxton, of Encampment, Lloyd Larsen, of Lander, Sue Wilson of Cheyenne, Tom Walters, of Casper and Mark Baker of Green River.  

‘Couldn’t Be More Proud’ 

“But the family that gets us here, are the people who are right up here, for me,” Barlow said, gesturing to his own family who had come to see his farewell address.  

The speaker became emotional as he addressed his mother, Bernadette Barlow.  

“Come here, Mom,” he said. A small-statured woman approached Barlow and hugged him as he became tearful.  

“My mother,” Barlow told his colleagues, “was born in Southeast Asia, was a very well-educated attorney, law-professor type in Cambodia, (who met a man) from northeast Wyoming; and (she) came to northeast Wyoming and raised a family with three kids.”

Barlow said his mother has been a “pillar in the community.”  

“Mom, thanks,” he added.  

He then spoke of his two children, calling his daughter a “beautiful person” and his son “a joy.”  

“I couldn’t be more proud,” said Barlow.  

“But I gave up something with them to be doing this.” Turning to his children, he added, “I can’t give it back to you. I just hope maybe something I did while I was here helps you, sometime, along the way. I love you both.”  

Barlow said that, having acknowledged the generation that raised him and the one that he helped to raise, it was time for him to laud his own generation, and the member of it with whom he’s been able to spend his life – “because God said ‘this is the one,’ and that’s this wonderful woman right here.”  

Kelly Barlow was born in Mississippi but attended 18 different schools throughout her youth due to frequent family moves and as a result, said Barlow, “she learned you had to make friends everywhere you went.”  

The pair met in ninth grade at a Gillette junior high school.  

“And we bumped teeth the first time we kissed in the west stairwell at Twin Spruce High School,” said Barlow, prompting a wave of laughter in the chamber.  

They married 10 years later and have been married for nearly 31 years.  

“Kelly you gave up – you did the most – to help for me to be here,” said Barlow, praising his wife’s work ethic and faithful handling of many duties on their ranch. “Thank you for making this service possible for me.”  

Standing Ovation 

Speaker Pro Temp Rep. Mike Greear, R-Worland, delivered a speech on behalf of “the whole body.”  

“Leaders make decisions people don’t like; they make decisions that are necessary; they make decisions that are hard – and all we can ask for our leaders is that they work hard, that they have integrity, they’re honest, and they have service in their heart. And you, sir, have all four of those things and I am honored to serve under you.”  

The House delivered a standing ovation for its Speaker.   

‘Natural Endpoint’ 

Barlow told Cowboy State Daily in a Saturday email that he’s chosen now to leave the house “because I believe my time has come to a natural endpoint.” 

“Let’s be clear, this is not a ‘retirement.’ I am moving on. No golden parachute. No severance package. Just go to the ranch, do what needs to be done there, and prepare for what comes next,” he said.  

Barlow said one of most gratifying aspects of legislation was the tipping point between concept and policy.  

“Whether it is a moving debate, winning a close vote on an amendment, or passing a bill that was important,” said Barlow, those moments emphasize “the vital work we do and how gratifying it is when there is a success.” 

There were also challenges, he said, including tough votes, incomplete information, unclear expectations, and leaving the mission-focused “trenches” of policy-making for the desk of leadership, “where it seems no one is quite satisfied.”  

But looking back on a decade of thought clashes and policy changes, Barlow said “the losses are important too,” because they grant “insight into what can be done better the next time.”  

Barlow was grateful to the people who have mentored him, and hoped that he “provided something positive for someone along the way too.” He also acknowledged the legislative service staff, “who serve Wyoming with quiet distinction and deserve all our thanks.”  

His “seminal” moment, said Barlow, occurred in the 2021 legislative session, when the House hosted a ceremony honoring Wyoming servicemen and women who have given their lives since 9/11.  

“It was a needed reminder that while we serve, our American service members past, present and future make what we do possible,” he said.

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By Clair McFarland, Cowboy State Daily

A dispute over a cell phone in a private legislative meeting last week resulted in a state senator being removed from the meeting by members of the Wyoming Highway Patrol.

“Senate leadership…. just removed me from caucus using Highway Patrol,” Sen. Tom James, R-Green River, wrote on his Facebook page at about 4 p.m. Friday.  

Wyoming Highway Patrol’s “Division O” runs security for the Capitol.  

James did not respond to a phone call Wednesday seeking comment.

The incident occurred during a private meeting of state Senate Republican members, called a “caucus.” Although floor sessions and committee meetings of the Wyoming Legislature are recorded for public viewing, party caucus meetings are private events with rules against recording. 

On Friday, the last day of the Legislature’s budget session, Republican senators met to discuss the redrawing of legislative district boundaries to conform with the latest census results, a process called redistricting.

James said Senate President Dan Dockstader, R-Afton, Majority Floor Leader Sen. Ogden Driskill, R-Devils Tower, and Senate Vice President Larry Hicks, R-Baggs, had arranged for his removal from the meeting after accusing him of recording the proceedings.

James wrote in his Facebook post that the leaders “(accused) me of taking photos and/or video – I was not as that is against the rules – of the caucus with my phone, they said to put away my phone and I refused.” 

“I told them I was not doing what they were accusing me of, but they still had me removed,” added James.  

Commenters to James’ post were critical of Senate leadership.  

“This is what happens when you stand with (Sen. Anthony) Bouchard (R-Cheyenne) and with the people, against the Nazi RINOs (Republicans in Name Only),” wrote April Poley, Bouchard’s campaign spokeswoman. “Thank you Senator James for being a reliable and principled conservative, and for standing against corruption.”  

Hicks did not respond to an email and a phone call.  

Dockstader and Driskill declined to comment. 

“What happens at caucus, I’m not really free to talk about it,” Driskill told Cowboy State Daily.  

‘Flat-Out Refused’ 

Other Republican senators described the incident.  

“I had my phone in there (as well)” said Sen. Lynn Hutchings, R-Cheyenne. “And when they requested that we put our phones up, I put mine in my pocket and that was the end of that.  

“What Senator James chose to do,” she continued, “that was his prerogative and not something I was involved in, in any way.”  

Hutchings noted that Dockstader had told senators that no recording would be allowed.  

“And it’s just being respectful of the caucus,” she said. “But I can’t tell you what Senator James was doing (on his phone). He was standing away from me.”  

Sen. Cale Case, R-Lander, had a different vantage and said it appeared that James was holding his phone up in front of his body.  

Case did not know if James was recording either – but “he wouldn’t put his phone away.”  

“He said he wasn’t videoing, but he didn’t say he wasn’t (audio) recording. And he just flat-out refused to put the phone down or put it away,” said Case.  

So leadership summoned Capitol security “and asked him to leave,” Case added. 

Case said James exited the room peacefully.

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By Clair McFarland, Cowboy State Daily

House Speaker Eric Barlow asked the Wyoming Highway Patrol officers providing security at the state Capitol to investigate reports of a death threat made by one legislator against another, he said.

Barlow said Wednesday that he’d asked the Capitol security to get involved in the threat allegedly made last week by State Rep. John Romero-Martinez, R-Cheyenne, against Rep. Andi LeBeau, D-Ethete.

“As Speaker, I take seriously my duty to promote civil, respectful, and non-threatening discourse,”  he said. “I will utilize every resource at my disposal to protect the health and safety of all those who conduct business with the Wyoming House of Representatives.” 

LeBeau said she was contacted Friday afternoon, the final day of the legislative budget session, by former Rep. Sara Burlingame regarding the alleged threat.

Burlingame told LeBeau that, according to a lobbyist whose name neither woman would disclose publicly, Romero-Martinez had told the lobbyist during a March 10 telephone conversation he wanted to kill Burlingame and LeBeau.  

Romero-Martinez did not respond to a Monday call and text requesting comment.  

Barlow issued a public statement Wednesday noting that he was made aware of the alleged threat on March 10, the day it was said to have occurred.  

“Along with other members of the House of Representatives leadership,” wrote Barlow, “I spoke with individuals involved in this incident to better understand the nature and context of this situation.”  

Barlow wrote that he also asked Wyoming Highway Patrol agents to interview “the persons involved.”  

He said he could not release further details, since the incident is under investigation.  

Wyoming Highway Patrol officials said because the incident took place away from the Capitol and at a time the Legislature was not in session, they did not believe any criminal activity had taken place involving the Capitol. They also noted no ongoing “criminal issue” at the Capitol. 

Burlingame told Cowboy State Daily on Tuesday that she filed a report with the Cheyenne Police Department. The department confirmed a report had been filed, but details have not yet been made available to Cowboy State Daily.

Romero-Martinez defeated Burlingame in her 2020 re-election bid to represent House District 44.

Burlingame said Romero-Martinez lives near her and added their past dealings have been cordial.

LeBeau told Cowboy State Daily on Tuesday she was frustrated that Barlow and other House leaders did not inform her of the threat Friday morning. She said she learned of it Friday afternoon, by calling Burlingame.

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By Clair McFarland, Cowboy State Daily

An alleged death threat made by one state legislator against another has resulted in a report being filed with Cheyenne police.

Rep. Andi LeBeau, D-Ethete, said she was told that Rep. John Romero-Martinez, R-Cheyenne, made a threat against her during a phone call with a lobbyist in the closing days of the Legislature’s budget session.

LeBeau told Cowboy State Daily she was told that Romero-Martinez had said if LeBeau “got in his way,” he would kill her.

In a Sunday Facebook post, LeBeau said the incident disturbed to the extend that she skipped the last day of the session on Friday.

“My last day working on behalf of the people who brought me there was stripped from me,” wrote LeBeau, “I’m healing from a death threat. I’m processing the trauma and stress of violence still being perpetrated upon women by men.”  

The report on the alleged threat was filed with the Cheyenne Police Department by former Rep. Sara Burlingame, now the director of Wyoming Equality, who said she was told she was also included in the threat.

Burlingame told Cowboy State Daily she had been told Romero-Martinez had threatened to kill both women and then kill himself.  

Romero-Martinez did not respond to a phone call and text on Monday seeking comment.

LeBeau said she was told on the afternoon of March 11 that Romero-Martinez, R-Cheyenne, had made a threatening comment about her in a phone call with a lobbyist the previous day. 

Burlingame, who was defeated in her 2020 House re-election bid by Romero-Martinez, had found out about the phone call hours before LeBeau, and had been trying to contact LeBeau via text.  

“So I call her,” during a break from House action, LeBeau remembered. Burlingame told LeBeau on the phone that a lobbyist had related details from a “disturbing phone call” with Romero-Martinez, in which, LeBeau related, “he was basically suicidal, and then stated that if ‘they,’ meaning me and Sarah, didn’t get out of his way, he’ll just have to kill us.”  

Burlingame, who said she lives near Romero-Martinez in Cheyenne, said their dealings up to this point have been cordial. 

She added she had not spoken to him since the incident was reported.

Capitol Security 

Wyoming Highway Patrol officers who provide security services for the Capitol confirmed they had received a report from Burlingame that Romero-Martinez was alleged to have made an indirect verbal threat against LeBeau while on the phone with a lobbyist.

“It was a phone call between the lobbyist and him (Romero-Martinez),” said Wyoming Highway Patrol Lt. Clayton Barker, whose “Division O” runs security at the Capitol. 

“It was just kind of a hearsay: his word versus her word, or whatever the case may be,” added Barker.  

Barker said because the incident occurred away from the Capitol and outside of session hours, the patrol officers concluded that no criminal activity occurred at the Capitol.

Barker told Cowboy State Daily that Burlingame had asked to file charges against Romero-Martinez.  

Barker said he advised Burlingame to contact the Cheyenne Police Department instead.  

Burlingame said she did file a police report with Cheyenne PD on Monday. The details of the report were not immediately available.

No ‘Criminal Issue’ 

Capitol police spoke with Romero-Martinez about the phone call.  

WHP spokesman Jeremy Beck said the conversation was intended “to make sure he was not a threat to himself or anyone else.”  

And after that discussion, the officers concluded that Romero-Martinez was not a threat, said Beck.  

The WHP report of the incident is not yet complete, he added.  

‘Safe, Rather than Sorry’ 

LeBeau said the incident reflects a breakdown of House leadership.  

She related that she had spent that Friday morning, March 11, in the House chamber with Romero-Martinez, unaware that he had allegedly made a threat.

She did not learn of the incident until an afternoon break, when she called Burlingame.  

LeBeau went to the office of House Minority Floor Leader Cathy Connolly, D-Laramie, to calm down.  

Connolly asked House Speaker Eric Barlow, R-Gillette, to speak with LeBeau.  

According to LeBeau, Barlow said he was aware of the incident and had been at a recent event with Romero-Martinez, who “looked fine” at the time, but he then instructed LeBeau on how to lodge a complaint or involve law enforcement.  

LeBeau also said Rep. Sue Wilson, R-Cheyenne, had been aware of the incident but had not mentioned it that morning. Wilson, according to LeBeau, said she didn’t place much stock in the alleged comment because she thought it was typical behavior for Romero-Martinez. 

Neither Wilson nor Barlow could be reached by phone for comment.   

“I took a deep breath,” LeBeau related, “and said ‘I’m just going to urge you, when you hear something like this, to err on the side of being safe, rather than sorry.’” 

LeBeau told Cowboy State Daily she felt the incident was a continuation of historical attitudes that sought to “get rid” of Indigenous women.  

LeBeau is a Northern Arapaho tribal member.  

Tribal Treaties

The incident may have stemmed, LeBeau speculated, from a March 8 tribal relations meeting in which Romero-Martinez had offered a bill seeking federal support for further legal codification of American Indian treaties. 

LeBeau resisted the idea strongly, saying it was “divisive” and lacked tribal support. 

The Northern Arapaho Tribe does not have an official federal treaty binding it to the Wind River Indian Reservation, where it dwells alongside the Eastern Shoshone Tribe. 

LeBeau told Cowboy State Daily that this co-dwelling is due to a failure on the part of the federal government to allot the Arapaho Tribe a reservation of its own.

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By Clair McFarland, Cowboy State Daily

State lawmakers are considering ways to exempt American Indians from sales tax payments for online purchases.  

Wyoming Sen. Affie Ellis, R-Cheyenne, suggested the topic as a possible interim study March 8 during a meeting of the Select Committee on Tribal Relations.  

The new legislation would ensure that “if you’re an Indian person and you’re purchasing something (online) that would normally be subject to state sales tax, on the reservation, then you are exempt,” said Ellis, who also co-chairs the committee.  

“I think we’ve got enough information to pursue this a little more and have some conversations.” 

Enrolled tribal members shopping at physical locations on the Wind River Indian Reservation in central Wyoming do not pay sales taxes. But if they shop off reservation lands, they do.  

According to the Wyoming Department of Revenue, non-natives can be subject to taxation on reservation purchases, and retailers pay those collected funds back to the state.  

Hines General Store, a main retailer on the reservation, declined to comment on the system.  

Committee co-Chair Rep. Lloyd Larsen, R-Lander, directed the legislative service office to study the issue further.  

“That’s a worthy conversation to have,” Larsen told Cowboy State Daily in a later interview. “For all entities involved as well as the state.”  

If online vendors neither exempt tribal members nor remit their taxes back to the Northern Arapaho or Eastern Shoshone tribal governments, said Larsen, it could cause legal complications later on.  

“It would really be unfortunate if we got decades down the road and then realized all these sales taxes from Fremont County, that perhaps should have gone to the reservation, were in fact distributed to the county – and then the county would have to pay back some sales tax,” Larsen said.  

Under Wyoming law, companies selling products online must pay Wyoming sales taxes if their gross revenues from Wyoming sales exceed $100,000 or if they have more than 200 transactions with Wyoming residents.

For tax collection purposes, state law generally defines the place an online sale occurs as the buyer’s zip code.

Larsen said he was “confident” the Committee would try to craft legislation that either exempts reservation-based tribal members from online shopping taxes or finds a way to send those taxes back to the tribal governments – but he wasn’t sure how. 

While the tribal town Fort Washakie has its own zip code, some locations in the nearby town of Arapahoe share zip codes with the off-reservation town of Riverton.  

In her own interview, Ellis said developing a gateway scheme for determining the ethnicity of buyers has been “the exact problem” in the nation’s tax structure.  

“A retailer shouldn’t have to look at someone and guess whether they’re Indian” in the brick-front shopping world, said Ellis, adding, “Now that we’re in this world of increasingly dominant online sales presence, that scheme just doesn’t make sense anymore.”  

Ellis said she and the other Tribal Relations delegates will have to conduct much more research before determining whether tax exemptions or the remission of tribal members’ online taxes to the tribes is more appropriate.  

“At this point we really need to start educating ourselves on what the law says,” said Ellis. “And start visiting with our tribal partners, with both tribal councils. It’s way too early for me to guess that outcome.”  

The Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho Tribes both dwell and maintain their own governments on the Wind River Indian Reservation.  

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By Jimmy Orr, Cowboy State Daily

By a margin of nearly two-to-one, Wyoming’s Senate voted Thursday to remove Sen. Anthony Bouchard, R-Cheyenne, from his committee assignments.

Bouchard was removed from his committee assignments on a vote of 19-10 after a number of serious charges — including one that he threatened other members — were levied against him by Senate leadership.

President of the Senate Dan Dockstader, at the end of the day’s session, stepped down from the chair so he could initiate the action which some observers called “an unprecedented move.”

Dockstader, without going into specific details, said Bouchard showed “a continued pattern of intimidating and disorderly conduct and other behavior which is unbecoming of a member of the Senate.”

“Members of the Senate, this is in regards to showing open support for vulgar and threatening attacks on a member of the Senate, continued support of such statements even during the season, filming used as a threatening measure, and using intimidating tactics against members of the Senate and members of the public,” Dockstader said.

Senators voted to remove Bouchard from the Legislature’s Management Audit Committee, Senate Agriculture, State and Public Lands and Water Resources Committee, Senate Labor, Health and Social Services Committee and Select Committee on Legislative Facilities.

Dockstader told Cowboy State Daily Bouchard’s removal from his committees will be in place until at least 2023, when a new Senate president takes office.

During brief discussion of the motion, some senators said without specific details, they had a problem voting on the motion to strip Bouchard of his committee assignments.

“I don’t know what’s going on,” said Sen. Affie Ellis, R-Cheyenne. “I just don’t know what we’re talking about and I don’t feel like I’m making an informed decision.”

Dockstader declined to provide details, choosing instead to repeat his formal statement to the Senate.

Bouchard, speaking on his own behalf, said he was in the firing line because of an incident he had with “hospital lobbyists.”

Reading from his Facebook page, he said he “told the hospital lobbyists that video was coming on their COVID fear tactics.”

Bouchard then explained that he was planning on shooting a video to show how the lobbyists were using these “fear tactics” to combat legislation.

“That’s all it is,” he said. “I don’t know why people are afraid of things that are already online.”

Bouchard repeated that he still intended to produce the video and claimed his freedom of speech was being infringed upon.

Bouchard did not discuss the charge of threatening other members of the senate.

Sen. Tom James, R-Rock Springs, an ally of Bouchard’s, said he was present at the incident cited by Dockstader and disputed the Senate president’s account.

“There was no threatening tactics,” James said. “It was just a matter of saying that we’re going to be transparent about what happened. There was nothing threatening.”

Sen. Bo Biteman, R-Sheridan, another friend of Bouchard’s, claimed the Cheyenne Republican was being targeted because there were many other senators who didn’t like him.

“Kicking somebody off of their committee because you don’t like them sets a really dangerous precedent,” he said.

That was quickly disputed by Sen. Larry Hicks who chided Biteman for the claim and said the issue was over Bouchard’s actions, not if he were a likable person.

Following the vote, Bouchard told Cowboy State Daily the 19 members who voted to remove him from his committees were “Republicans In Name Only” opposed to his conservative stances.

“The RINOS that run the state of Wyoming decided that I’m dangerous to their agenda, so they decided to kick me off of my committees,” Bouchard said. “I was told of their plan 15 minutes before they motioned to remove me. The vote was preordained. It’s called a kangaroo court.”

After the vote, Sen. Cale Case, R-Lander, who voted against the action, said in the nearly 30 years that he’s been in the legislature, the removal of someone from their committee assignment has never happened.

Former state senator Diemer True, who represented Natrona County from 1971 to 1991, told Cowboy State Daily he couldn’t recall that action ever being taken either.

“This is an extraordinary event,” True said.

Bouchard has served in the Senate since 2017 and was re-elected in 2020 to a 4-year term. He is running against U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney in the GOP primary for Wyoming’s lone U.S. House seat.

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By Jennifer Kocher, Cowboy State Daily

A bill that would ban abortions in Wyoming should the U.S. Supreme Court decide to overturn its landmark abortion ruling Roe vs. Wade passed the Senate on its third reading Thursday morning.

House Bill 92, introduced by Rep. Rachel Rodriguez-Williams, R–Cody, would ban abortions in the state except when the mother faces serious risks of death or irreversible physical impairments.

Left intact was an amendment added by the Senate that would allow abortions in cases of rape or incest, an amendment that was rejected by the House. As a result, the bill will now head for a joint conference committee, where members of the House and Senate will try to reach a compromise over the language.

The exception amendment elicited debate among a handful of senators when it was approved on Wednesday, including its sponsor, Sen. Cale Case, R-Lander, who argued that a woman should have autonomy over her own body, particularly in cases when she has been traumatized by the circumstances leading up to that pregnancy.

Sen. Lynn Hutchings, R-Cheyenne, argued against the amendment, saying that historically, sexual assaults take years to adjudicate in the courts.

“And by that time, the young lady could have had two or three children,” she said. “Incest, and this may sound amazing to you, may be the only way for this young lady to be able to prove that she has been molested. Taken away, that evidence, by taking away a life, may mark that young lady for life, sentencing an innocent human to death because of the way they were conceived.”

On third reading of the bill Thursday morning, Hutchings also introduced an granting the state’s governor – as opposed to the attorney general – final review of the Supreme Court case related to the overturning of Roe vs. Wade.

The landmark legislation of Roe vs. Wade made abortion federally legal in the country, taking away the state’s rights to make it illegal.

During the third reading of the bill Thursday morning, Sen. Case urged the body to vote against it, calling it “a form of bondage.”

“Mr. President, to have the state control these very intimate, personal private decisions is a very big step,” he said. “…I hope that we won’t pretend like everything is black or white. We won’t pretend like the servitude of women doesn’t matter. We will stand up and we will not pass this bill.”

The bill passed 24-5 with one excused.

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By Jim Angell, Cowboy State Daily

A bill aimed at prohibiting Wyoming law enforcement officers from enforcing unconstitutional restrictions on Second Amendment rights won final approval from the House on Wednesday.

Representatives voted 43-15 to approve Senate File 102, the “Second Amendment Protection Act” in its final House review

Defenders of the bill debated opponents who maintained the bill should be killed because it was weaker than one considered and rejected earlier in the session.

“I, for one, would like my constituents to have something rather than nothing,” said Rep. John Bear, R-Gillette. “When we say it’s a weak bill, but we’re willing to go with no protection at all, which is weaker?”

SF102 would prohibit any Wyoming law enforcement agent from enforcing unconstitutional federal restrictions on the Second Amendment. If an unconstitutional federal rule was enforced, the enforcing officer could face one year in jail and a fine of up to $2,000.

The bill had been roundly criticized by backers of another gun rights bill, SF87, the “Second Amendment Preservation Act.” The bill, which failed to win introduction early in the session, would have allowed citizens to sue officials they felt were responsible for enforcing unconstitutional barriers to the Second Amendment, including increases in taxes and fees on ammunition.

Rep. Dan Laursen, R-Powell, tried to amend SF102 to essentially replace it with SF87, but the attempt was ruled out of order by House Speaker Eric Barlow, R-Gillette, because of procedural rules he said would prohibit the consideration of the same bill twice in one session.

But opponents of SF102 said it provided no actual protection for Second Amendment rights.

“SF102 is weak at best,” said. Rep. Bill Fortner, R-Gillette. “Do we want a bill that’s got teeth in it to … put us first or do we want a weak bill that does nothing to protect us?

SF102 had the support of Wyoming’s law enforcement officers, who opposed SF87 and one like it introduced and rejected in 2021 because it allowed them to be sued if they enforced a law someone considered unconstitutional.

“The reason being they thought police officers and sheriffs, all the law enforcement should have an upper hand to control we the people,” Fortner said.

Opponents also argued the bill would require action by one branch of government against another.

“SF102 says one branch of government is going to hold the other branch accountable,” said Rep. Robert Wharff, R-Evanston. “And that fails every time.”

However, the bill’s backers objected to the description of Wyoming’s law enforcement officers as wishing to maintain the “upper hand” over individuals.

“They do care about our rights,” Bear said. “They protect them every single day. It’s a mischaracterization to say they think they are above us. We need to be careful we don’t become like the crowd that wants to defund the police.”

The Senate will now be asked to approve any House changes to the bill. If the two chambers agree to the changes, the bill will be sent to Gov. Mark Gordon for his signature.

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By Jennifer Kocher, Cowboy State Daily

A bill prohibiting the use of electronic devices in stalking crimes has cleared its first hurdle in the House after winning approval from a House committee.

Senate File 100, which was approved Tuesday in its first review by the full House, would create a crime covering those who use electronic devices such as “tiles” or cell phones to stalk people. 

In the past, stalkers had to physically track their victims, following them in vehicles or sitting outside of their homes or work, or they placed telephone calls by landlines. Such tactics made it easier for law enforcement to catch and prosecute them because they were in plain sight, according to law enforcement officials.

In the digital age, however, stalkers have become much more sophisticated, using computers, cell phones, global positioning systems and other devices to track and terrorize their victims from the comfort of their homes.

However, Wyoming’s stalking laws have lagged woefully behind when it comes to prosecuting crimes using such devices, said bill sponsor Sen. Bill Landen, R-Casper, who told legislators he wanted to close loopholes in Wyoming’s stalking law with SF100.

SF100 would expand on existing laws to also make stalking through the use of electronic devices such as cell phones, IPads, computers and tracking “tiles” illegal. Tracking “tiles” are typically used to help people track personal items such as keys, wallets, purses and backpacks, but in recent years have been repurposed to track victims.

In last week’s House Judiciary Committee meeting, Landen said the proposed legislation emerged out of his experience in his 30 years as an administrator at Casper College, where he saw numerous examples of young victims being stalked. Landen noted the most common targets are young women between the ages of 18 and 24. In most cases, the stalker is someone they know or who they have been involved with.

New venue for stalking

The proposed bill in no way changes the definition of stalking, but rather updates the law to address the new methods in which stalking is occurring in 2022, according to Taylor Courtney, investigations sergeant for the Natrona County Sheriff’s Office.

This new legislation is vital, Courtney said, because it clarifies the language concerning digital modes of stalking and allows such incidents to be charged as felonies, which currently is not the case.

Increasingly, Courtney said his department is seeing more cases of stalking involving electronic devices, particularly with perpetrators accessing apps, email and other personal accounts on cell phones or IPads to track a victim’s movements and then intimidating them by exerting control over their lives.

“If you think about your own cell phone and what you have on there, everything from your contacts with friends, bank account information, messages and other communication and all your social media, our entire lives are on our cell phones or iPads,” he said. “And that is the most target-rich environment for somebody who’s stalking.”

Given the typical connections between the victim and the perpetrator, the stalker knows passwords, email addresses and other personal information that makes it easy to access accounts and exert control over the life of a victim.

“What a stalker is doing is trying to control, create or instill fear to be able to have power or just for the sheer thrill of being able to scare someone and make them change their pattern of life,” he said. “It’s an obsession.”

Upton Police Chief Susan Bridge, who also spoke in favor of the proposed law in an earlier House committee meeting, said that she and her department have also seen an increase in these types of electronic stalking cases. 

In one case she references, an estranged husband was tracking his ex-wife through AirTags that he asked the couple’s son to conceal on his mother’s car, so the husband could follow her every movement.

“We are seeing this more and more,” she said, noting that SF100 would be the perfect solution for prosecuting these crimes.

Clearing the House

Rep. Art Washut, R-Casper, said on the House floor the bill is the legislative response to the modern evolution of stalking.

“Today, the world has changed,” he said. “Surveillance occurs through small devices that can be dropped into a purse or into a car or behind a license plate. It can also occur with certain computer applications that allow you to follow individuals, cell phones and the location of the cell phone or GPS system in some automobiles.”

Washut, a former police officer, repeated earlier concerns voiced by  legislators about the law interfering with a parent’s ability to monitor their children via their cell phone location.

“First and foremost, you must establish that we have a crime of stalking occurring and a harassment aspect of stalking is occurring,” he said.

The bill was approved Wednesday for a third and final reading Thursday in the House.

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By Jim Angell, Cowboy State Daily

A plan to make Wyoming the only state in the nation with its own digital currency won initial approval from the state House on Tuesday.

Representatives approved, in its first full floor review, Senate File 106, which would authorize Wyoming’s treasurer to issue “stable tokens.”

Stable tokens are a form of digital currency backed by solid assets, said Rep. Mike Yin, R-Jackson, who presented the bill in the House.

Yin said the values of most digital currencies can be very volatile, while Wyoming’s stable tokens, being backed by the state’s assets, would remain constant in their value.

Stable tokens allow people to trade in the digital realm without experiencing rapid fluctuations in the value of their currency, he said.

“You get the stability of the dollar and the liquidity of being able to transact these tokens … in the virtual world,” he said. 

Under the plan, the state would offer the tokens for sale through digital sources for $1 each. The money paid for the tokens would be invested by the treasurer’s office in federal treasury bills. The principal would be used to back the cryptocurrency, but interest from the treasury bills would go into the state’s coffers.

By being the first state to put such a system in place, Wyoming could benefit from the global digital currency market valued at $150 billion, said Rep. Cyrus Western, R-Big Horn.

“It gives us the opportunity to really capitalize on this advantage,” he said. “There is enormous, almost limitless potential. This is an opportunity for us to continue playing to our strengths.”

Rep. Jared Olsen, R-Cheyenne, said the state’s goal should be to sell tokens to as many people as possible.

“We need to be able to capture the market,” he said. “You want to be able to sell these to anyone outside of Wyoming … because our population is not big enough to generate the revenue we’re looking at.”

Rep. Clark Stith, R-Rock Springs, said while the interest paid by treasury bills is low, as the first state to enter the market, Wyoming could capture as much as 10% of the stable token market, leading to earnings of up to $30 million per year.

The bill will be reviewed a second time Wednesday.

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By Jennifer Kocher, Cowboy State Daily

A bill that would ban abortions in Wyoming should the U.S. Supreme Court decide to overturn its decision in the landmark abortion case of Roe vs. Wade won initial approval from the Senate on Tuesday.

House Bill 92, introduced by Rep. Rachel Rodriguez-Williams, R–Cody, would ban abortions in the state if Roe vs. Wade is reversed unless the mother faces serious risks of death or irreversible physical impairments.

Speaking during the bill’s review in the Senate’s “committee of the whole” — the first review of bills returned by committees — Sen. Lynn Hutchings, R-Cheyenne, explained that the bill is a “trigger bill” that would not take effect until Roe vs. Wade is overturned.

The bill was proposed because the Supreme Court last year indicated it might be willing to overturn its previous ruling, she said.

“It is actually an abortion ban-in-waiting bill and act relating to abortion,” she said. “One limiting the circumstances under which an abortion may be performed, limiting the use of appropriated funds from the state and providing a delayed effective date pending the or highest court’s decision.”

The bill cleared its first full Senate review with no debate and will be reviewed a second time on Wednesday.

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By Clair McFarland, Cowboy State Daily 

A bill that would have made it a felony to consume meth while pregnant has died in the state Senate amid concerns that it could encourage abortions and flood drug treatment centers with expectant women.  

House Bill 85 would have added meth and illegal opioid use while pregnant to the state’s list of child endangerment felonies, which already prohibit exposing children to meth either by giving it to them or having it in their presence.

The bill failed to clear its first review by the full Senate, dying on a vote of 17-8.

Abortions in Prison? 

State Sen. Anthony Bouchard, R-Cheyenne, told the Senate he opposed the bill because he wanted to see more emphasis on treatment. He also said he worried the bill would deter women from getting prenatal care and may prompt them to get abortions.  

“If they go into prison they can get an abortion,” he said. “It’s been decided in the courts, and they can go right in and get that done.”  

In an email to Cowboy State Daily, Wyoming Department of Corrections director Dan Shannon said yes, abortions are available to DOC inmates, but he has never heard of one being performed.

“As abortions opportunities are a constitutional matter, the Department of Corrections must comply with the current law” by not refusing them, wrote Shannon. He added that a confined woman asking for an abortion “would be required to address all medical expenses, transport cost, and court approved removal from the facility.”  

“During my 15-year tenure with WDOC,” he wrote, “I am not aware of an inmate receiving an abortion.”  

Lack of Support 

Sens. Charles Scott, R-Casper and Cale Case, R-Lander, both echoed Bouchard’s concerns that pregnant women may avoid treatment and care over fear of a felony conviction.  

Case said he’d like to see a law welcoming women to state-funded support.  

“Hey, if you have a substance abuse problem and you’re pregnant, come see us right now; we have a program of amnesty; we have a program to get you medical attention,” Case described the ideal law as saying. “We can help you in this miracle that’s happening in your life, to deal with the evil of substance abuse. That’s the bill I want to see.”  

Sen. Tara Nethercott, R-Cheyenne, called the bill’s plan of reliance on probation to keep a pregnant woman sober was “absurd” and said she’d like to see “a more thoughtful solution” crafted in the interim.   

Co-Sponsors 

Bill co-sponsor Sen. Fred Baldwin, R-Kemmerer, said he sponsored the bill as a “knee-jerk reaction,” but didn’t think the state’s mental health systems were ready to accommodate it its requirements.  

But fellow co-sponsor Sen. John Kolb, R-Rock Springs, countered, saying “Feeding the unborn methamphetamine probably isn’t the right idea.”  

He indicated that just the offer of treatment, which he called the “carrot” end of the solution, “does not work, so we need to come up with some new way of handling this.”  

Under Wyoming law meth consumption by anyone is a misdemeanor.

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By Jennifer Kocher, Cowboy State Daily

A bill that would prohibit the use of electronic devices to “stalk” people cleared a House committee on Monday.

The House Judiciary Committee unanimously voted Tuesday to send Senate File 100 to the House floor for a vote.

Bill sponsor Sen. Bill Landen, R-Casper, told the committee the proposed legislation was inspired by his 30 years as an administrator at Casper College, where he saw numerous examples of young victims being stalked.

The majority of stalking victims tend to be young women between the ages of 18 and 24, Landen said. He told the story of one young woman who was unable to get a protective order against her stalker until after the third time he broke into her house.

SF100 would build on existing stalking laws to also make stalking by electronic devices, such as global positioning systems and Apple AirTag, illegal.

AirTag and other tracking “tiles” are usually used to help people track personal items such as keys, wallets, purses and backpacks.

However, stalking crimes involving such devices are becoming increasingly more popular in Wyoming, making it necessary for the legislature to update existing laws that currently are not on the books, speakers told the committee.

Speaking to the committee by Zoom, Taylor Courtney, investigations sergeant for the Natrona County Sheriff’s Office, said the proposed bill does not redefine what stalking is, but adds clarity to definitions about how it can occur.

While police are seeing small “trackers” used in stalking, what they see more often is stalking via cell phones, tablets and OnStar vehicle systems in cars, Courtney said.

“These devices have a GPS system that is already inside of them,” he said. “And all the phones now because of the emerging technology are turning into handheld lifestyle trackers because of the GPS access to the applications that are on your phone.”

Stalkers can then access Google and iCloud accounts to track a victim’s finances, photos, emails, videos and anything else that is accessible through a computer or cell phone.

He referenced the case of one young woman in Casper whose stalker had gained access to her accounts, including her email and Netflix account, and was sending her intimidating emails documenting where she was and what movie she might be watching.

“She and her mother were scared out of their minds because they believed he was sitting right outside of her window actually watching them,” Courtney said.

Upton Police Chief Susan Bridge, who also spoke in favor of the proposed law, said that she and her department have also seen an increase in these types of electronic stalking cases. In one case, the estranged husband of a wife in the process of getting a divorce had their son put multiple tracking devices on the woman’s car so he could follow her every movement.

“We are seeing this more and more often, and just yesterday, our department took another case involving non-specified electronic harassment within the statute,” she said, adding Weston County’s attorneys were hesitant to pursue the case given the lack of legal ramifications.

This proposed legislation, Bridge said, would fill these gaps in law.

After a discussion made clear that parents tracking their children using these devices would not fall under the legal definition of stalking, the bill passed by a 9-0 vote.

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By Jim Angell, Cowboy State Daily

A bill that would prohibit Wyoming law enforcement officers from enforcing unconstitutional federal firearms regulations was approved in its first full House review on Monday.

Senate File 102, the “Second Amendment Protection Act,” was approved by the House “committee of the whole” on Monday, send it on for a second reading on Tuesday. The “committee of the whole” is when bills returned by committees receive their first full House review.

Supporters of the bill argued it was a good compromise to protect the Second Amendment rights of Wyoming’s residents.

The bill had been criticized by some as not going far enough to protect Wyoming residents from federal overreach in the area of firearms regulations.

But supporters maintained that if nothing else, the bill was a step in the right direction to support constitutional rights.

“This is moving in the right direction,” said Rep. Jeremy Haroldson, R-Wheatland. “Really, it comes down to what’s constitutional and who’s going to uphold that. I don’t know if any legislation is going to change that.”

Legislation had been proposed last year and again during this session that would have allowed residents to sue law enforcement agencies and government entities for enforcing what would be defined as regulations aimed at impeding Second Amendment rights.

Critics said SF102 should have been rejected in favor of the other legislation.

“It’s weakened verbiage, it’s not the bill we need to bring forward this year,” said Rep. Bill Fortner, R-Gillette.

But backers maintained SF102 had the support of law enforcement officers from around the state and was designed with their input.

“It’s a very short, sweet bill,” said Rep. Mark Jennings, R-Sheridan. “Leaving the lobbyist aspect out of this, I have yet to have a single individual from our law enforcement community … call me up and tell me they don’t want to support this.”

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By Clair McFarland, Cowboy State Daily

A two-year budget detailing spending of roughly $2.7 billion from the state’s main bank account in fiscal 2023-24 was approved Monday by both the Wyoming House and Senate.  

The budget for the state’s “general fund” authorizes spending of about $400 million less than the budget for 2021-22, which was approved in 2020 just days before COVID measures prompted unprecedented spending cuts nationwide.  

Savings 

Despite the cuts, about one-third of the members in each chamber voted against this biennial budget, with many delegates voicing concerns that the planned expenditures would diminish the state’s legislative stabilization and reserve account, a special savings account used to make up shortfalls between income and expenses.

“Under the current budget,” said Senate Vice President Larry Hicks, R-Baggs, “and the bills we currently have passed, we will have a LSRA of $1.457 billion” by the end of the biennium. 

That is  $103 million less than the account’s starting point of $1.56 billion.  

“We’re going backwards on our savings account, folks, so just keep that in mind as we go forward,” Hicks said.  

On the House side, Speaker Pro Tem Mike Greear, R-Worland, said he was “disappointed” with the budget and not confident that the LSRA would be replenished.  

“It’s a long time before that happens in this current environment,” he said. 

Greear referenced “geopolitical instability” such as the Ukrainian war impacting the global economy, which he said would “translate into our investment account.”  

“I wish we would have looked at shoring up these reserve accounts a little more to steady (the budgeting process),” he said.  

But Rep. Bob Nicholas, R-Cheyenne, argued the increasing oil prices may result in a more optimistic picture.  

“The (fiscal projection) in January had $60 (per barrel) for oil and less than $4 (per gallon) on gas,” said Nicholas. “We know we’re going to have better returns from that,” he said.

Last week, the price of a barrel of West Texas Interimediate crude oil, the benchmark price for Wyoming oil, topped $96.

Nicholas also said the use of federal American Rescue Plan Act funds for projects that are “immediate and needy” should help alleviate some of budget concerns.  

School Foundation 

The state’s School Foundation Program, the main source of funding for Wyoming’s schools, was also the source of some debate, as it was in 2020.

The foundation program is slated to pull $127 million from the LSRA in this budget to help with its expenditures of roughly $1.8 billion, Hicks noted in the Senate. 

“That’s the structural deficit we currently have in K-12 (school funding),” he said.

He added the structural deficit has been “baked in, into the foundation program” because of a failure last session to work out a 6% spending cut with the state House.

Investment Account 

The strategic investment project account likewise, said Hicks, contained $171 million last month, but could be drained by the current plan.  

“We’re leaving here with zero (in SIPA) and it … doesn’t look like there’s going to be any more money that flows from our general budget all the way down.,” he said.  

School Construction 

Wyoming plans to spend $245 million in capital construction for its K-12 schools this biennium.  

“There was not enough money to fund all the school capital construction in this budget, so we transferred $14.7 million out of LSRA,” said Hicks, along with another $4 million from the school foundation program, then another $46 million out of the school capital construction savings account itself.  

Hicks said that was a broad overview of some larger items in the budget.   

“And you can see where the structural deficits are at,” he added.   

Infrastructure Match 

On the House side, Nicholas, noted that $75 million of the budget is being set aside to use as grant matches for the Congressional infrastructure funding due to hit states next year.  

“There’s $1.4 billion dollars in it and it requires various matching components,” said Nicholas, “so we’re going to have to have matching dollars set aside in order to capture that infrastructure bill.”  

With both chambers having agreed to changes made during the three-week review of the budget, it is now headed to the desk of Gov. Mark Gordon for his signature.

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By Jennifer Kocher, Cowboy State Daily

A bill that would make abortion illegal in the state if the U.S. Supreme Court decides to overturn its ruling in the landmark abortion ruling Roe vs. Wade was sent to the Senate floor on Monday.

The Senate Labor, Health and Social Services committee voted unanimously to approve House Bill 92, introduced by Rep. Rachel Rodriguez-Williams, R–Cody, for full Senate debate. 

As written, the law would ban abortions in the state except when the mother faces serious risks of death or irreversible physical impairments.

Monday’s hearing was a continuation of one that began in committee Friday but was ended because of a lack of time. During the the two days of testimony, speakers appeared about evenly divided in their support for or opposition to the bill.

Rev. Tim Lasseter, president of Park County Right to Life, urged the committee to approve the bill as a way to protect innocent lives.

“I can think of no greater thing than protecting the innocent and unborn,” he said. “It says in the Bible that God knows when a sparrow falls from the nest. How much more will he care about and how much more does he care about an innocent life? This is simply a bill that would protect those innocent lives should Roe v. Wade be overturned.”

Michigan pro-life activist and attorney Rebecca Kiessling, flew to Wyoming to testify in person in favor of the bill after addressing the committee by Zoom on Friday.

Kiessiling is an attorney and activist who was conceived as the result of a rape and who nearly died before birth when her mother underwent two illegal abortions, she said.

She argued that the right to personhood is protected under 14th Amendment, which she said protects the right to life under all conditions.

“And once you recognize that personhood, you can’t discriminate, and exceptions are discriminatory,” she said. “…I deserved to have been born, and I wasn’t lucky. I was protected. Legality matters.”

The bill was sent to the Senate floor despite objects voiced by several Wyoming residents.

Hannah Thomas, a Cheyenne resident and third-year medical resident at Harvard Medical School, argued that banning abortions puts a woman’s health at risk. Citing multiple studies, Thomas said that making abortion illegal does not stop the act but rather puts women’s lives in peril when they seek unsafe procedures that result in death and other complications.

Thomas also said legislation that puts restrictions on a physician’s right to treat their patients would deter current and future physicians like herself from establishing practices in the state.

Lander attorney Christine Lichtenfels likewise argued no government should mandate a woman’s choice to an abortion.

Lichtenfels also took offense to language in the bill that would ban abortions from being performed because of a woman’s emotional or psychological health.

“When Wyoming statutes and common law recognize that emotional mental and/or psychological injury, and in the case of child abuse, constitutes abuse and is criminal by legislating that only the physical condition of a pregnant woman’s body matter,” she said, “it’s as if women as just livestock. That is the definition of dehumanizing and I ask Legislature not to dehumanize women.”

Others such as Dr. Larry Meuli, pediatrician and former state legislator and former leader of what would become the state Department of Health, said that legislation such as HB92 sets a terrible precedent on what he sees as government overreach by telling a doctor how he or she can treat a patient as well as giving the government authority over a person’s life.

He also shared former U.S. Senator Al Simpson’s advice to the Wyoming Republican Party not to let the issue of abortion tear the party apart.

“When I was in the Legislature, it was kind of live and let live,” Dr. Meuli said. “And I know that it is not part of present Republican beliefs.”

Several others, including committee member Sen. Troy McKeown, R-Gillette, spoke about the sanctity of life and defending the unborn fetus, which he said is protected under the Constitution.

“I know what my Constitution says, and it really boils down to a personal definition of when that (fetus) is a life,” he said. “It’s not just the man, there’s two people and somebody has to protect the second person. This isn’t really a whole religious argument. 

“This is a belief structure, and our laws are based on Judeo-Christian values and the First Commandment says what? ‘Thou shalt not kill,’” he continued. “At the end of the day, to answer your question, that’s where we’re coming at from this. When everything is said and done, that baby in the womb doesn’t have a vote or a choice.”

The bill will now be sent to the Senate floor for debate during the “committee of the whole,” the full Senate’s first review of bills approved by committees.

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By Clair McFarland, Cowboy State Daily
Photo by Matthew Idler

A bill classifying methamphetamine use while pregnant as a felony crime narrowly passed the Senate Judiciary Committee on Friday, winning approval on a 3-2 vote despite some vocal opposition.

House Bill 85 is now slated for review next week by the Wyoming Senate. 

The bill would add meth use while pregnant to Wyoming’s child endangerment statutes, but it also would order judges to sentence first-time offenders to probation and treatment.

The sentencing requirement is “groundbreaking,” said bill sponsor Rep. Ember Oakley, R-Riverton, because such mandates for the judicial branch are not seen elsewhere in the law.   

Oakley added the treatment-first requirement to her bill early this week after opponents argued the prospect of a felony charge would discourage women from getting prenatal care or drug treatment.  

Felony Status 

Among the bill’s most vocal opponents was Lauren McLane, a University of Wyoming law professor who expressed concern the stigma that accompanies a felony conviction. 

McLane noted that she was not speaking for UW but for herself as a criminal justice reform advocate.  

“What we’re going to do here is we’re still going to give the mother of the unborn child a felony conviction,” said McLane, “and that felony conviction will cause not just probation and treatment but will result in cyclical travesty” including employment and other difficulties.  

Oakley maintained the bill allows for the deferral of an official conviction as prosecutors and judges deem appropriate.  

In Wyoming, felony convictions can be deferred and ultimately dismissed pending completion of a probation program.  

Committee member Sen. Ed Cooper, R-Ten Sleep, added he believes people who commit felonies should have felony convictions.  

“Harsher penalties (under this bill) kick in for subsequent offenses – as they should,” said Cooper, who voted for the bill. “The thought of a felony following a person through life: yeah, that’s the consequence of committing a felony.” 

Korin Schmidt, director of the Wyoming Department of Family Services, told the committee that her department received 115 reports last year of newborns testing positive for drugs immmediately after birth. Of those cases, 37 resulted in the child being taken into protective custody, she said.

Chair Opposes

The bill was sent on to the Senate floor despite the opposition of committee Chair Sen. Tara Nethercott, R-Cheyenne, who said more time was needed to properly craft the bill. She also said the Legislature’s refusal to adopt similar bills four times in the past was “telling.”

“This law is not on the books and I think that’s a telling piece for Wyoming’s history,” she said, “which is certainly in favor of protecting children and (is) tough on crime.” 

Nethercott said she would like to gather more data on drug-exposed babies in Wyoming and to contemplate “some smarter solutions to addressing that gap” in the law.  

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By Clair McFarland, Cowboy State Daily 

The Wyoming Legislature has nearly finalized its plan to spend $22 million on its own operations over the next two years.  

Senate File 2, also known as the legislative budget or “feed bill,” would appropriate about $22 million to fund the body’s staff, technology, travel and consulting needs during the 2023-24 biennium. 

It passed its third reading with overwhelming support Wednesday in the House of Representatives and is on its way to the Senate, where members will be asked to concur with any House amendments.

‘Small Footprint’ 

House Speaker Rep. Eric Barlow, R-Gillette, introduced the feed bill to the House on Monday by contrasting it against the much larger expenditures fueling the executive and judicial branches of state government.  

“I want to put a little bit of perspective on this,” said Barlow. “The general appropriations bill we worked last week was $8.6 billion, round numbers.” 

The state’s general budget also is in the tentative phase.  

“Of that, there’s about $100 million of that is in from the judiciary (branch),” said Barlow. “What I’m trying to portray to you is the legislative branch, when it comes to a budget, as an equal branch of government we have a fairly small footprint at $22, almost $23 million,”  

This biennium’s internal spending plan is up about $2 million from the last budget session: In 2020 the legislature self-funded to about $20.8 million. In 2018 the Legislature passed a $16.2 million biennium budget for itself, compared with about $18.3 million in 2016 and $17.7 million in 2014.  

Amendments Failed 

Rep. Albert Sommers, R-Pinedale, proposed an amendment Wednesday to appropriate extra money for an electronic voting system, but that motion failed.  

Moments later Rep. Dan Zwonitzer, R-Cheyenne, suggested an amendment that would have increased the legislators’ pay to cover their living expenses while attending a legislative session or committee meeting, but that amendment failed. The per diem rate remains at $109 for each elected lawmaker’s working day, plus $150 in daily compensation. 

Many lawmakers, an LSO representative noted last week, choose to forego their per diem when they meet by Zoom virtual link only.  

Wages 

The bulk of the new budget is $9 million to staff the Legislative Service Office, which has about 40 full-time staffers and about four part-timers. LSO performs legal reviews, legislative revisions and provides assistance for policy-makers.  

Elected legislators’ salaries and expenses are to be funded at about $1.2 million combined for full legislative sessions and about $2.26 million for interim efforts.  

The cost for extra staff members to staff legislative sessions set at $649,608.  

Employer paid benefits for LSO and legislators together is budgeted at about $4.6 million.  

The 40-day policy-making sessions held on odd-numbered years cost about twice as much as the 20-day budget sessions of even-numbered years.    

This budget is based on maintaining a legislative count of 60 representatives and 30 senators.

Travel and Dues 

Travel expenses and per diem for out-of-state travel are budgeted at about $232,000.  

In-state travel is to be funded at roughly $2 million.  

The Legislature plans to pay $267,587 in dues to the National Conference of State Legislatures and $76,800 in dues to the Energy Council, which Barlow called a “breadbasket” of the energy industry.  

Another $220,298 is budgeted for the Council of State Governments.  

Expenses 

Telecommunications is slated to receive $50,000 in funding. Network connections and computer backups are to cost $10,000 for the biennium.  

General informational technology and other administrative support are slated at $1 million.  

A line item titled “statutes, session laws and digests,” is budgeted at $395,000.  

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By Clair McFarland, Cowboy State Daily

A bill that make it a felony for pregnant women to use methamphetamine or illegal opiates is awaiting Senate review following its approval in the House on Tuesday.

But before it cleared the chamber on a vote of 46-13, House Bill 85 was amended to order Wyoming judges to sentence first-time offenders to probation and treatment rather than prison. 

The stipulation was designed to address some legislators’ concerns that the prospect of a felony conviction would deter mothers from seeking treatment while pregnant.  

Bill sponsor Rep. Ember Oakley, R-Riverton, introduced the amendment to her own bill on Monday during the House floor session and noted that such sentencing directions are not standard in state law.  

“This is not done in any other offense in our statutes, so this would be groundbreaking,” she said.  

Judges in Wyoming often have discretion in how to sentence convicted offenders.  

“But hearing the concerns and trying to find the balance, I’ve crafted this amendment,” said Oakley.  

The bill’s most vocal opponent, Rep, Karlee Provenza, D-Laramie, voted for the amendment along with the rest of the House, but voted against the bill every time it surfaced for a reading.  

“(The bill is) still a bar between the woman and her physician,” said Provenza. “While I can appreciate the sentiment of this, I stand by what I said last week, which is the solution… is in health care statutes; is in making sure we have programs for them, not any form of punitive measures.” 

The crime of meth use is a misdemeanor in Wyoming. 

If HB 85 became law, using meth while pregnant would become a felony-level crime under Wyoming’s child endangerment laws.

Third Reading 

The two delegates sparred again on Tuesday during the bill’s third and final reading in the House.  

Provenza said she’d hope to see the issue addressed with treatment and counseling programs in the state’s publicly funded health systems instead of the criminal justice system.  

Oakley said making more care available was a fine discussion for the body to have, “but what happens when (mothers) choose not to comply?” 

“The answer is, I guess, never-ending expansion of government programs?” she asked rhetorically, then listed the government services and treatment opportunities that are available currently. 

Even with all the programs, said Oakley, the prospect of a felony conviction would enable the state to “demand compliance and have that accountability” to ensure the “health and safety of many children as well as that mother.”

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By Jim Angell, Cowboy State Daily

A bill that would prohibit Wyoming law enforcement officers from enforcing any federal regulations considered to infringe on the Second Amendment was approved by a committee Tuesday for debate on the full House floor.

Senate File 102, the “Second Amendment Protection Act” was approved by the House Judiciary Committee on a vote of 6-3, sending it to the House for debate.

The measure was approved after chief sponsor Sen. Larry Hicks, R-Baggs, told committee members the bill is based on a the legal concept that the federal government cannot force states to enforce federal rules.

“They can’t hijack the state of Wyoming and say ‘You’re going to enforce something,’” he said.

The bill would prohibit any public entity receiving state money from enforcing federal regulations interpreted as a violation of Second Amendment rights.

Byron Oedekoven, executive director for the Wyoming Association of Sheriffs and Chiefs of Police, said his organization, which helped draft the bill, backs it as a way to communicate the state’s position on federal gun control measures.

“This was several months worth of discussion to come up with a very clean, simple statement to push back, again, to the federal government and say ‘We will not participate in any unconstitutional efforts that would infringe or impede the Second Amendment,” he said. “I don’t know how much stronger we can say that.”

The bill was also supported by some members of the public who offered comments during the hearing that ran for about one hour.

“I believe this bill to be a good bill, a strong bill that does what it needs to, which is protect my Second Amendment rights against the never-ending federal overreach …” said Bill Carmichael.

The bill won committee approval despite objections from the Wyoming Gun Owners group, represented by Aaron Dorr.

Dorr said the bill puts too much power in the hands of public officials, who would be responsible for prosecuting any law enforcement officer found guilty of violating the act. He said he preferred a bill killed earlier this session that would have allowed citizens to take legal action against government officials who enforce unconstitutional federal measures.

“The reality is no county attorney, no county prosecutor and very likely not even the attorney general would ever bring a sheriff, a police chief or their agency into court for a … violation. This is not politically feasible, this is not going to happen. What this has become now is a bill to protect the careers of politicians and not gun owners in the state.”

Also objecting to the bill were residents who said they were worried it would prevent the enforcement of common sense firearm regulations.

“This bill opens the door to extreme interpretation of the Second Amemdent that could prevent reasonable gun safety laws from being enforced in our state,” said Liz Prax. “SF102 … will make our state more vulnerable to unnecessary gun violence, not less. And that will put the Second Amendment in even more jeopardy.”

“The bill will cause confusion and undermine the rule of law,” said Beth Howard, of the Wyoming chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. “It will encourage extremists not to enforce federal laws that they personally disagree with.”

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By Clair McFarland, Cowboy State Daily

A bill that would make the consumption of methamphetamine or illegal opiates by pregnant women a felony has been approved in its initial review by the full House of Representatives.

House Bill 85 will close what sponsor Rep. Ember Oakley, R-Riverton, described as a gap in state child endangerment laws.

“(It should) correct what I believe is an unintentional leaving-out of this conduct of child endangering,” Oakley said during debate on the bill Friday. “Because our child-endangering statutes of course already have anything that would affect or hurt the life of, or endanger the child in anyway.” 

Oakley had noted one day prior in a Thursday meeting of the House Judiciary Committee that it is a felony to have methamphetamine near a child or to give a child meth.  

“But (using while pregnant) is arguably the most dangerous behavior of all those,” she said.  

 Opponents 

The bill was approved by the committee for full House debate despite opposition from the lobbyist for the Northern Arapaho Tribe and a woman who said she was a recovering addict who had been using while pregnant, among other opponents.   

Wyoming Department of Health officials also pushed back slightly on the bill, saying it may cause addicted mothers to avoid seeking mental health treatment for fear of prosecution. 

However, WDH acting director Stefan Johansson said officially his agency has no position on the bill.  

 More Abortions? 

“Do you think that this would incentivize a pregnant woman to get an abortion to avoid getting a felony?” Rep. Mike Yin, D-Jackson, asked during the committee meeting.  

“If a woman is actively abusing and using meth when they’re pregnant,” answered Oakley, “I don’t think they’d be the ones proactively going out of the state of Wyoming to get an abortion.”  

But Michele Foust, who was charged with child endangerment nearly 20 years ago in Lander, Wyoming, disagreed. The charges had been based on reports that both Foust and her newborn baby had tested positive for meth.  

“Absolutely,” Foust said in answer to Yin’s question. “I think if women were going to face severe penalties and be put in prison because they have an addiction problem, I personally think the chances (of an abortion) are higher.”  

Now-retired Fremont County District Court Judge Norm Young dropped the child endangerment charge against Foust in 2005, writing that the child endangerment laws pertaining to meth exposure did not apply to fetuses.  

“I’m not saying I think it’s right or wrong,” Foust said Thursday, “but the law is the law – and a child is birth to 18.” She also called the bill “kind of sexist,” because it only would impact women, and she worried it would infringe “abortion rights and freedom of choice.”  

 Tribal Pushback, Treatment 

The Northern Arapaho Tribe opposed the bill through its lobbyist, Travis McNiven.

“There’s concern (of) more home births, less prenatal treatment,” said McNiven.  

He added HB85 would provide more “stick” with felony charges and less “carrot,” or incentives to seek treatment.

Rep. Andi LeBeau, D-Ethete, who represents a roughly 63% American Indian legislative district centered on the Wind River Indian Reservation, echoed McNiven’s sentiments. 

She said tribal care systems “need help; we need mental help; we need substance abuse help,” and “better collaboration with programs” on the Reservation and with the towns surrounding it, such as Riverton and Lander.  

 Floor Debate 

The need for treatment was a concern that surfaced again on Friday during debate on the House floor, when Rep. Karlee Provenza, D-Laramie, said the policy shift would yield “worse outcomes” because mothers may be afraid to seek medical care or treatment during pregnancy for fear of being charged with a felony.   

“The amendment that needs to be written for this bill probably wouldn’t be germane for it because the solution is to put this in public health – because this is a public health crisis,” said Provenza. “This is not something that the justice system can fix with punitive measures.”  

The bill endured criticism by a House Republican as well, Rep. Bob Wharff of Evanston, who worried it would “victimize” women with “addictive behaviors” and increase self-abortions.  

But Rep. Barry Crago, R-Buffalo, a prosecuting attorney, backed the bill, saying that he didn’t see it strictly as a punitive measure, but as a way for the state to “get help to mothers that need it,” presumably using the longer timeline and probation outcomes of felony-level charges.  

Rep. Sue Wilson, R-Cheyenne, made a similar point and referenced an acquaintance who performed better under government urinalysis requirements.  

 Probation 

Oakley countered Provenza’s concerns about possibly sending pregnant women to prison, saying that even in felony-level cases and with the exception of murder, probation is “the default,” and judges are required by law to make specific findings before sending someone to prison instead.  

“There’s (been) no discussion (today) about what’s good for the child,” she said. “They say it’s simply punitive. No. We’re trying to gain compliance so that the child has a chance, the child can be safe, the child can be drug free; the child can live in a drug free home.”  

Oakley insisted that treatment options are available for women charged with child endangerment, and said that if the Department of Family Services or mental health structures are overwhelmed as a result of this bill becoming law, it would only affirm that “this (behavior) is a very real danger.”  

The bill must be approved in two more readings in the House before heading to the Senate for debate.

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By Jennifer Kocher, Cowboy State Daily

A bill that would ban abortions in Wyoming if the landmark abortion ruling in Roe vs. Wade is overturned moved closer to final House approval Monday without an amendment proposing exemptions for victims of rape or incest.

House Bill 92, which was approved in its second House reading Monday, would automatically ban abortions in Wyoming should the U.S. Supreme Court overturn Roe v. Wade. Only women facing imminent peril from complications of birth would be exempted from the law.

Rep. Mike Yin, D-Jackson, proposed the unsuccessful amendment to the bill that would have provided the exemption for women who become pregnant as a result of rape or incest.

Yin questioned whether representatives were comfortable stepping in to make such decisions for women in those circumstances.

“The question before you is whether you want to force a woman who had by no choice of their own been impregnated, whether you want as the state to force them to bring that baby to term?” Yin said.

Rep. Andi LeBeau, D-Ethete, also spoke in favor of the amendment, saying she opposed the bill itself.

“I have trouble with this bill, and I know it’s probably going to move forward,” she said. “But I stand on this amendment to try to make it better.”

Both rape and incest are felony offenses, LeBeau argued, and should be considered as such in the bill.

“If we’re going to have the government in the room with the doctor and the patient, I think this is a solution to help with this problem and make it better,” she said.

But the sponsor of the bill itself, Rachel Rodriguez-Williams, R-Cody, disagreed, noting her pro-life stance did not allow for such exemptions.

“The reality is that two wrongs don’t make a right,” she said. “Abortion is not healthcare. Abortion is murder.”

Rep. Art Washut, R – Casper, asked how proof would be provided that a pregnancy was the result of rape or incest.

Yin said the decision would be based on the outcome of legal investigations, noting that both rape and incest are crimes.

The amendment failed by a 34-24 decision.

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By Clair McFarland, Cowboy State Daily

A bill forbidding online ancestry websites from selling Wyoming customers’ DNA data is moving through Wyoming’s Legislature with little resistance.

House Bill 86 cleared the House unanimously and on Monday, it passed the Senate Judiciary Committee on a vote of 5-0.  

If it becomes law, the bill would strengthen Wyoming’s genetic data privacy laws by requiring companies like Ancestry.com and “23 and Me” to provide clear and complete privacy policies to the consumer.  

These policies would inform customers about how the data is used and stored. Companies would have to seek separate express consent from their clients to keep biological samples or to allow third parties to use the information for marketing, as with internet “cookies.”  

“Valid legal processes” also would be required for law enforcement to access genetic data.  

These privacy safeguards, said Ritchie Englehardt, would not be forfeited if an ancestry company sold, said Ritchie Englehardt, government affairs director for both Ancestry.com and “23 and Me.”  

He reiterated before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday what he had told the House Judiciary Committee two weeks prior: the companies he represents already have placed these rules in their systems, but the strengthening of the law can hold smaller startup companies to the same standard.  

In presenting the bill to the committee, Sen. Chris Rothfuss, D-Laramie, said the bill’s mission is to ensure that “you cannot waive your right through the minutiae of confusing contracts.”  

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By Jimmy Orr, Cowboy State Daily

A Senate amendment to the state budget bill aimed at eliminating funds for gender studies at the University of Wyoming appears to remove all funding for university academic programs, according to a state senator and several former legislators.

However, Sen. Cheri Steinmetz, R-Lingle, the amendment’s sponsor, said her amendment adopted Friday affects only the university’s gender studies program.

“It’s only regarding gender studies and our staff assured me of that before I ran it,” she told Cowboy State Daily on Saturday. “It was targeted at one particular program.”

Steinmetz’ amendment, approved on a vote of 16-14, specifies the university will not “expend any general funds, federal funds or other funds under its control for any gender studies courses, academic programs, co-curricular programs or extracurricular programs.”

Sen. Cale Case, R-Lander, said during debate on the floor that the amendment is poorly written and would appear to eliminate funding all university programs.

It’s all about the commas, he said. Each item listed in the amendment stands alone and is targeted for a loss of funding — including “academic programs.”

“We just closed down the university,” Case said during debate..  “We’re just wiping out the university in saying they can’t spend any [money] on academic programs, co-curricular programs … or extracurricular programs.”

But Steinmetz said the Legislative Service Office drafted and thoroughly reviewed the amendment and said it would apply only to gender studies.

“All of our budget amendments are reviewed by our legal team and they assured me it was only regarding the gender studies program,” she said.

Several former legislators agreed with Case’s assessment.

“I understand what she is trying to do, but the effect would basically eliminate all funding to the university,” former Park County legislator Tom Jones told Cowboy State Daily.

Former House Speaker Tom Lubnau was more direct.

“Illiteracy just shut down UW. Irony at its finest,” he told Cowboy State Daily on Saturday.

Another former House speaker said he wondered about the genesis of the amendment.

“Hard to believe that is an LSO mistake which leads one to wonder if it was intentionally drafted that way?” former Speaker Kermit Brown wrote on Facebook.

But Steinmetz said objections over the amendment’s wording are not well grounded.

“Everyone likes to create black helicopters when they disagree with something,” she said.

During the floor presentation of her amendment, Steinmetz said she was disturbed to learn the gender studies program at the university teaches students to “translate feminist and social justice theories into service and activism.”

“We’re training activists here is what we’re doing,” she said. “I don’t believe it’s an appropriate use of taxpayer dollars.”

Rep. Cathy Connolly, D-Laramie, said while the amendment could be construed to stop funding to all university programs, she believes most people do know its intent is to eliminate the gender studies department she teaches in and used to head.

“To say that I am annoyed at a third reading budget amendment to eliminate our 40-year program with cutting edge classes and phenomenal students is an understatement,” she told Cowboy State Daily.

Former UW Vice President and legislator Chris Boswell told Cowboy State Daily that his problem with the amendment doesn’t stem from its wording, but its intent.

Boswell noted that gender studies courses are taught at Casper College, Laramie County Community College and Sheridan College. 

“Would those who voted for the amendment also like to eliminate course offerings at our state’s community colleges?” he asked. “The UW offerings have been in place for decades.  This just adds to the ugliness which seems present within the legislative session.”

Others had an issue with the process of making law by adding amendments and footnotes to the budget.

Gail Symons, a legislative activist who runs the website Civics 307, said the idea of legislating through the budget process is a bad idea.

“There are a number of reasons that it is inappropriate to legislate through footnotes in a budget bill,” Symons said.

“Stand-alone bills have to go through committees and provide opportunities for public comment.  The specter of unintended consequences can be averted during deliberations,” she said.

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By Clair McFarland, Cowboy State Daily
Photo Credit: Matthew Idler

Despite lobbyist and lawmaker resistance, a bill that would establish a public hotline for reporting government fraud, waste, or abuse of resources has been approved in its first full review by Wyoming’s Senate.  

Senate File 50, which would also protect whistleblowers exposing government misdeeds from employment ramifications, was approved for floor debate by the Senate Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Committee on Thursday and then was approved to advance in a vote of the full Senate.

“Fraud lines are extremely effective,” aid bill sponsor Sen. Tom James, R-Green River, during a Tuesday meeting of the Senate Corporations, Elections, and Political Subdivisions Committee. “You’re about three times more likely to find… fraud with a fraud hotline than without.”  

James cited cases of government misspending that he believed could have been prevented if a tip line were in place, including a case in which foster parents allegedly kept children in mental health facilities longer than necessary while still receiving care checks for the children. 

He told Cowboy State Daily in a text that he would release more details on the case. 

James stressed any tips received on the line would be investigated.

“This does not sidestep any criminal processes,” he said. “This allows everyone their rights (to due process).”  

After being convicted of a misuse of state resource, a government employee lose his or her protection under the Wyoming Governmental Claims Act.  

“If you’re committing a crime on the people’s clock, with the people’s money, then you shouldn’t have that protection,” he said.  

Medicaid Fraud 

Sen. Charlie Scott, R-Casper, wondered if this same hotline could be used to report misapplied Medicaid funds paid for health care for low-income individuals.

Wyoming splits Medicaid payments with the federal government, 50-50. 

“The place where I suspect the state seeing the greatest acts of fraud is in the Medicaid program,” said Scott. “At about the time the Affordable Care Act passed, the federal government had been policing Medicaid eligibility very vigorously, and they entirely ceased doing that.”  

Scott later said he believes the state has followed the federal government’s example and stopped vetting Medicaid patients fully.  

Wyoming has not opted into Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act, but still receives funding for its existing funding program.  

“I’ve started getting a lot of complaints about people… being on Medicaid programs, showing up in various medical facilities that were clearly not (low-income patients),” Scott said. “Does this bill deal with this situation?” 

James said he believed it would, because the Wyoming Department of Audit could “filter out” calls based on their credibility and pursue problematic claims.  

But Sen. Tara Nethercott, R-Cheyenne, disagreed with James.  

“I think the answer to that, Senator Scott, is no,” she said, pointing to the Medicaid Fraud Control Act adopted by the Legislature in 2019.

Nethercott said James’ bill was written instead to address fraud among “state employees,” not “citizens in the Medicaid program.”  

Scott, however, argued the hotline could help with Medicaid fraud.

In its own mandatory self-analysis report on cms.gov, the Medicaid program alone reported late last year that it had over-funded or otherwise misspent about $144 billion in public funds in 2019 and 2020 nationwide – with $57.36 billion in 2019 and $86.49 billion in 2020.  

Resistance, Approval 

Nethercott also argued the bill “has a couple of fatal flaws,” in her view, because it would compel the Wyoming Attorney General to prosecute the very entities he or she has been appointed to protect.  

She also said references to the Governmental Claims Act “are inappropriate” in the bill because “there are no exceptions” to the act for waste, fraud and abuse.  

“The intention here is laudable, but there are many fundamental flaws in the bill that make it unworkable due to the time” shortages of the 20-day budget session, she said. 

Sen. Ogden Driskill, R-Devils Tower, also criticized the bill, saying it was broad enough to incriminate workers for minor, even well-meaning acts of government waste, such as a state snowplow driver plowing driveways of “little old ladies.”  

Wyoming Department of Audit director Justin Chavez said his staff wasn’t big enough to take on the bill’s demands and he’d need to hire multiple people and bill the Legislature for several thousand dollars.  

Likewise, David Frazier, the director of the Wyoming Association of Municipalities, said he admired the goal but didn’t’ believe SF 50 was “the right vehicle” to achieve it. 

Sen. Cale Case disagreed.  

“I support this bill,” he said. “I don’t think there’s a whole lot of fraud, waste or abuse… But I think the public feels cut out in responding to it.” Case, Scott, and Sen. Brian Boner, R-Douglas, voted Thursday morning to send the bill to the Senate floor for review.

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By Clair McFarland, Cowboy State Daily

A video depicting one Wyoming lawmaker colliding with another on the Senate floor this week was released Thursday by Capitol security.  

Informal reports had surfaced Tuesday evening of a pushing incident between Senate Majority Floor Leader Ogden Driskill, R-Devils Tower, and Sen. Tom James, R-Green River.  

The Wyoming Highway Patrol sent Cowboy State Daily a download link Thursday to a grainy video showing what appears to be Driskill bumping into James.  

James, who declined Wednesday to comment on the incident pending the release of the video, on Thursday did not comment on the video.

Driskill said the video showed the collision was an accident as he had maintained during an apology he issued for the incident on Wednesday.

“Accidents happen,” he said. “There was absolutely no ill intent whatsoever and I think the video shows that. I gave an apology yesterday and I meant it. The apology wasn’t for anything being intentional, but because it was an accident.

In Wednesday’s apology, Driskill said the accident happened when he tried to go around a staffer and his bad leg caused him to stumble.  

“Yesterday when I was trying to get out of the way of a couple of our staff members in front, my bad leg led me to trip into you,” said Driskill. “I had no intent to cause any harm, was just clumsy. I know you’re offended by the bump into you. And (I apologize) to James, and it’s from the bottom of my heart.”  

Video Footage  

In the video released by the Wyoming Highweay Patrol, Sen. Anthony Bouchard, R-Cheyenne, is pictured speaking with James in a narrow space between desks.  

A man who appeared to be Sen. Jeff Wasserburger, R-Gillette, acknowledged Bouchard in passing, then spoke with another person seated on the other side of a desk before leaving the area.  

Driskill entered the area, wove around a person – presumably the “staffer” he referred to in his apology – standing at the far desk, then bumped into James.  

James stumbled perceptibly toward the camera, then, turning and seeing Driskill, flung his right arm somewhat upward as if in a deflective or frustrated gesture.  

Driskill turned toward James. The pair spoke, but there is no audio available on the footage.  

Driskill made hand gestures that that did not appear aggressive, but could be interpreted as dismissive. He approached a presentation board near the wall.  

Bouchard looked toward Driskill, who now had his back to Bouchard and James.  

Bouchard and James, speaking to one another, walked out of the room together.    

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By Jennifer Kocher, Cowboy State Daily

Two bills aimed at restricting abortions advanced through the House Labor Committee on Wednesday morning with strong support.

House Bill 92 would automatically ban abortions in the state if and when the U.S. Supreme Court decides to overturn Roe v. Wade. 

The bill was introduced by Rep. Rachel Rodriguez-Williams, R–Cody, who told the committee that the bill “solves the problem of abortion in the state of Wyoming” and would put the state in the company of several other states that already have such preemptive legislation in place to protect the unborn.

The other bill, HB 149, would prohibit abortions performed because of a child’s disability or because of its sex, race, color, national origin or ancestry.

If passed, the law would impose a sentence of up to 14 years on anyone who knowingl performs such an abortion.

The bill was introduced by Rep. John Romero-Martinez, R–Cheyenne, who said that the bill is a duplicate of one that passed through the House last year but languished in the Senate.

“I call it the rights of the unborn, even though you can’t use that in a title,” Romero-Martinez said. 

The bill is in response to what he said was an increased demand for “designer babies” with some parents choosing to abort a fetus if it has physical or mental disabilities or disfigurements.

“What is happening is a person will get a genetic test, and they find out their child has one of these or may have one of these situations or diagnoses and they’re choosing to have an abortion as a result,” he said. “Some people want to have the perfect child and they’re playing God, frankly.”

Public comment was largely in favor of the bills and included personal testimonies from parents, doctors and clergy among others. 

The commitee approved both bills on a vote of 7-2, with Reps. Cathy Connolly, D – Laramie, and Andrea LeBeau, D–Riverton, voting against.

The bills will now be sent to the House floor for a review by the full House of Representatives.

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By Clair McFarland, Cowboy State Daily 

A school nurse who has been trying for years to promote positive self-image among girls has taken her idea to the Legislature — by inviting women in the body to celebrate No-Makeup Monday.   

And while the movement is still small, a handful of female state representatives for Wyoming walked into the House on Monday with bare faces.  

Rachel Smith has worked as an elementary school nurse in Cheyenne for 11 years. She started going without makeup on Mondays in 2019, and has since gotten some of her female coworkers to do the same.

She told Cowboy State Daily that the action isn’t intended to condemn anyone for wearing makeup, but simply to strengthen women’s and girls’ abilities to make the choice on makeup use for themselves without the pressure of society’s beauty expectations.  

‘Beautiful The Way You Are’ 

“I can’t tell you how many times I’ve told sixth-grade girls, 12-year-old girls ‘You’re beautiful the way you are,’” said Smith, adding “I don’t think sixth-grade girls and young girls should feel pressured to wear makeup.”  

But it felt odd, she said, to share that message from under a fresh layer of color.  

“If you’re sitting there telling a sixth-grade girl she’s beautiful without makeup, and you’ve got your makeup done every day – to the nines – she’s obviously still going to feel that pressure,” said Smith.  

That realization hit her around the same time she decided, in 2019, to forego makeup occasionally to keep her skin healthier. When she did that, said Smith, the response wasn’t good.  

“People would always ask ‘Are you tired? Are you sick?’” she said. “It’s almost demeaning sometimes, for women who want to go out without makeup and get tired of people asking them if they’re sick and tired and ill.”  

And that’s when she decided to start a movement that could rework those expectations.  

“I talked to some of my coworkers, and I said ‘I’m going to go without makeup on Mondays. If you’d like to join me you can. No judgment: if you don’t want to, don’t join me,’” she said. 

About four co-workers did join her, and No-Makeup Monday is now an ongoing tradition.  

State House  

Smith, who married state Rep. Landon Brown, R-Cheyenne, in December, decided this month to invite her husband’s female colleagues to the movement as well.  

“I recognize the strange feeling you might be getting regarding an email with the title of ‘Makeup’ and coming from a male legislator,” Brown wrote in a letter to female legislators last week. “But I would like to explain a great movement that is taking place here in Cheyenne.”  

Brown said the movement was created by his wife to “help young girls recognize the importance of inner self-beauty.” 

“It might be of interest to the women of the House and potentially the Senate,” he wrote.  

Female lawmakers have the ability to empower girls and young women to make image choices for themselves, not because of the pressures of society, Brown later told Cowboy State Daily.  

“Just about every year we’ll see class loads of kids coming into our Legislature all the way from fourth and fifth grade to seniors in college. There are college interns there with us,” he said. “I absolutely think our legislators and Legislature… have the ability to impact these young girls’ lives.”  

‘Confidence Comes From Inside’ 

Rep. Shelly Duncan, R-Lingle, took up Smith’s invitation.  

“This could spark conversations of positive imagery and confidence in young girls or women,” she told Cowboy State Daily.  

“The conversation is not about makeup but about self-confidence and belief in self-worth, and mainly that ‘You are enough just like you are,’” she wrote. “I think that is a powerful message to send.”  

Duncan, like Smith, emphasized that the movement should not shame women who choose not to participate, but rather, should be a beacon of positive self-image over societal pressure.  

“Confidence,” she said, “comes from inside.”

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By Clair McFarland, Cowboy State Daily

A bill that would prevent the release of a person’s mugshot until convicted was approved Monday by a House committee.

Wyoming House Judiciary Committee members voted 5-4 to send House Bill 51 on for a full review on the House floor.

If it becomes law, HB51 would forbid law enforcement agencies from releasing defendants’ arrest mugshots to the public, including news outlets, until those defendants are convicted.  

During the committee meeting Monday morning, State Rep. Ember Oakley, R-Riverton, amended the bill to allow police agencies to release mugshots for any “legitimate law enforcement interest or purpose.” She took out language specifying mugshots could be released only in response to court orders or investigative needs.

Internal Policy Instead? 

Although Oakley later voted in favor of the bill, she suggested to proponents that perhaps sheriff’s offices throughout Wyoming could, instead of seeking a law, simply exercise discretion in which mugshots they release.  

The current law states that authorities “may” release booking photos. In law, a “shall” is a mandate; generally “may” is an option.  

Bill sponsor Rep. Chad Banks, D-Rock Springs, countered that the sheriff of Sweetwater County, who favors the change, may doubt whether “he has the leverage not to share those photos.”  

“I’m not sure whether (the media) are willing to give that up without legal pushback,” Banks added, saying the photos could be considered good “clickbait.”  

State Rep. Dan Zwonitzer, R-Cheyenne, offered an addition to the bill that would let people sue news publishers releasing mugshots for “pecuniary or financial gain,” but that addition was rejected by the entire committee.  

Charges Dropped 

Lifelong Rock Springs resident Wing Lew testified before the committee regarding his arrest in May 22, 2020, after which his mugshot was disseminated.  

At about 11:30 at night, he said, he was headed home from work and was pulled over from Rock Springs police for failure to maintain a single lane of traffic.  

A breathalyzer test