Still more bills become law. . . but not necessarily with the Governor's signature. The Private School Bill

Counties lost their ability to control zoning regulations as they pertain to private schools last week when Governor Gordon, making what was probably the correct decision from a political perspective, if not necessarily from a philosophical one, chose to let the bill that achieved that pass into law without his signature.

The bill came about when a school sponsored by the Freiss family ran afoul of Teton County zoning. The school is apparently housed on the grounds, or in, a Teton County church and is set to loose its lease.  It set about to build its own structure on its own grounds but Teton County did not approve its petition for an exception to zoning requirements.  A summary of the bill is below:

ORIGINAL SENATE ENGROSSED

FILE NO. SF0049

ENROLLED ACT NO. 67, SENATE

SIXTY-FIFTH LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WYOMING

2019 GENERAL SESSION

AN ACT relating to counties; exempting private schools from county zoning authority as specified; and providing for an effective date.

Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Wyoming:

Section 1.  W.S. 18‑5‑201 is amended to read:

18‑5‑201.  Authority vested in board of county commissioners; inapplicability of chapter to incorporated cities and towns; mineral resources; private schools.

(a)  To promote the public health, safety, morals and general welfare of the county, each board of county commissioners may regulate and restrict the location and use of buildings and structures and the use, condition of use or occupancy of lands for residence, recreation, agriculture, industry, commerce, public use and other purposes in the unincorporated area of the county. However, nothing in W.S. 18‑5‑201 through 18‑5‑208 shall be construed to contravene any zoning authority of any incorporated city or town. and No zoning resolution or plan shall prevent any use or occupancy reasonably necessary to the extraction or production of the mineral resources in or under any lands subject thereto. No zoning resolution or plan shall regulate and restrict the location and use of buildings and structures and the use, condition of use or occupancy of lands for the use of a private school as defined in W.S. 21‑4‑101(a)(iii) in any manner different from a public school, provided that the private school:

(i)  Is certified by the professional engineer or architect of record for the private school as being substantially similar to school facility commission guidelines for education buildings and siting and is designed to be constructed with appropriate materials, means and methods;

(ii)  Has capacity for fifty (50) students or more; and

(iii)  Is owned and operated by a not for profit entity.

Section 2.  This act is effective immediately upon completion of all acts necessary for a bill to become law as provided by Article 4, Section 8 of the Wyoming Constitution.

It's difficult not to see this bill in a highly political, and even cynical, way.  Wyoming is big on local control, and that's the official governmental philosophy of the State.  Here, however, the legislature yanked local control from a county in favor of basically no control, or what control there will be being vested in the School Facilities Commission.  A person could see that as a victory for private schools, which is how it likely will be sold, but sooner or later the Federal Government under some future Administration will exercise the same sort of control and we'll be howling.  There's no way to be simultaneously for and against local control.

In the background of this, moreover, its hard not to see this as patronage for the Freiss family of a political sort.  Foster Freiss' backers, including himself, were smarting after his loss and there bill about registration dates for primaries was really caused by the feeling that floods of Wyoming Democrats in a state that hardly has any Democrats crossed over prior to the polls to vote for Freiss.  Added to that has been the long conversion of Teton County from a dirt poor ranching, hunting and skiing Wyoming town to a playground for the mostly Democratic wealthy jet set and the crowed they've attracted, combined with Granolas and Neo-Granolas who are also Democratic.  The Freiss school, which is fundamentally a highly conservative Protestant institution complete with English public school style attire, stands against that.  By funding a special bill for it, the backers could either see themselves as protecting unpopular institutions against local bias or inserting a little of their views back into the county.

Governor Gordon was likely tempted to veto it, but if he had that would have placed him square against the Freiss partisans who preferred Foster Freiss over Governor Gordon.  It was probably wise not to politicize this any more than it already was, so in that context, letting it go was probably the smart thing to do politically for the new Governor.