The 2020 Wyoming Legislature

Goes into session, today.

February 10, 2020

The State of the State Address was delivered to the Legislature by Governor Gordon.

2020  Governor Gordon delivered his 2020 State of the State Address.  It stated:

President Perkins, Speaker Harshman, and Members of the 65th Legislature thank you for your welcome. To the people of Wyoming here and those watching at home, good morning. 

I also want to welcome: Secretary of State Ed Buchanan, Auditor Kristi Racines, Treasurer Curt Meier, and Superintendent Jillian Balow. 

It is a distinct honor to serve with these individuals. Together we have addressed many tough issues this year, always crafting sensible, workable solutions to even the most complex challenges facing some of our state's communities large and small. Thank you for your work. 

We are honored this morning with the presence of our Supreme Court: Chief Justice Davis, and Justices Koutz, Fox, Boomgaarden, and Gray. Thank you for your wise consideration of perplexing issues, and for your thoughtful administration of the law. 

I am really pleased to have Lee Spoonhunter, Chairman of the Northern Arapaho Business Council with us today. And although, unfortunately, travel conditions prevented Karen Snyder, Vice-chair of the Eastern Shoshone Business Council, from being here. Please join me in recognizing them both. 

We are friends, and I have enjoyed building our relationships this year and I look forward to the progress we will make in the year ahead. Our peoples and our governments deserve our best efforts. Thank you also to Secretary of State Buchanan and his team for his partnership with both tribes to advance a good proposal so that Tribal IDs can be used for voter registration. 

I could not be more pleased to welcome Captain Scott Koenig to the Chamber. Captain Koenig is a Wyoming native who along with 29 other soldiers recently returned from Afghanistan. He and the other members of 3rd Platoon of Charlie Company left last January on a challenging mission  to provide 24-hour aeromedical evacuation coverage in Helmand Province. Captain Koening welcome home to Wyoming ---- and know that we are so proud of the talented and brave members of your team. I want to congratulate you for receiving the Air Medal and a Combat Action Badge. 

Adjutant General Greg Porter could not be here today. Taking his place is Command Sergeant Major Harold Pafford. I want to thank him for his leadership and many years of service. As the General says, our Guard is “the sword and the shield. Our nation is lethal fighting force when and the folks who keep our homes safe from fire, flood, and other catastrophes 

A little story here: General Porter, Command Sergeant Major Pafford and I accompanied the First Lady to enjoy Thanksgiving with our men and women in uniform overseas. Jennie grew up in a military family and knows well that any deployment is not easy. Not easy because our Army and Air Guard members are away from those that they love and those that love them. Please join me in saluting our men and women and their families for being the sword and the shield. 

Let us keep in our thoughts all members of our military serving overseas and at home. We thank you and all those many veterans who have defended our nation. 

You know I am especially proud of Jennie and clearly, I married above my station. As First Lady, she established the nationally recognized Wyoming Hunger Initiative. It is so important to so many kids in our state, and true to form, she has done i extraordinary efforts of so many working around the state to address food insecurity. She is making this happen while keeping our ranch running, supporting our family, and loving every moment of being a grandmother to Everett. My equal in every way -- she is the epitome of a Wyoming woman: accomplished, strong, versatile, independent, caring, talented, warm and a lover of the great outdoors. Jennie, my respect for you is absolute. And my love for you is boundless. 

Let us respect all Wyoming women by working every day to live up to our motto: We are the Equality State. 

Thank you, Sarah and Spencer for being here. Your son, our grandson, represents the future generations of our state. Everett is not here today, but his other grandparents, Mark and Shelly Fagin are, Everett is busy studying for an Ag Econ degree with his toy tractor, horses, cows, chickens, sheep, and pigs. 

Finally, on behalf of the citizens of Wyoming I want to sincerely thank the members of the 65th Legislature of the state of Wyoming for your willingness to serve, and your commitment to our great state. These are not easy times and there will be hard choices to make, but I enjoy our work together. I respect and value your thoughts as we face our common future. I ask all of the guests here to join me in applauding our State Legislature. 

Before moving on to the progress we have made and issues we face, I want to offer a few thoughts on this magnificent building. To quote you, Mr. Speaker, from Statehood Day this summer, "Look around you. Take in this place. Take a moment to appreciate it and the history that has happened here." 

A lot has happened over the past year, culminating on December 10th, when we honored Wyoming's heritage as the first government to recognize a woman's vote. 

Before I recognize the good men and women who worked to bring this effort to fruition, I want to present to you Mr. President and to you Mr. Speaker, the first flags that flew over your chambers. 

Just to let you know how this came about, we could not fly either flag last July on Statehood Day because the hardware was broken. The consultants projected it would cost thousands of dollars to repair because the scaffolding had been removed, In fact, it did not look like we would be able to fly flags today. However, Tommy Ojeda and his phenomenal crew landed on a way to fix them for around $300 all in. That is the dedication and ingenuity of our state workforce. 

Let me recognize the members of the original Capitol Oversight Committee, some of whom are here today: Senators Eli Bebout, Chris Rothfuss, Jayne Mockler, Phil Nicholas, Tony Ross, Representatives Kermit Brown, Rosie Berger, Tim Stubson, Mary Throne, Pete Illoway and especially, Governor Mead. Thank you all for your dedication to this effort. 

Mr. David Hart of MOCA Systems must also be thanked for his work in getting this project on track and keeping the Oversight Committee in line. 

Lastly, I hope you will join me in thanking the craftsmen and women whose care is evident everywhere you look in this building. 

So now to the business at hand. 

Today, I am proud to report that Wyoming's economy and the state is strong. 

More people are finding a better future in our state. Our population has grown. Unemployment is down and is at the lowest rate since 2008; gross domestic product is increasing; and personal income is up. Despite some obvious challenges this year, our economy remains strong. 

We are strong thanks to our people. We are strong because we have planned well for challenging times. We are strong because of our industries: energy, tourism, agriculture, and the emerging sectors of knowledge-based business and manufacturing. I am confident we will remain strong by aggressively engaging our future and seizing our opportunities. 

Thanks to the wisdom of our forebears, some in this very room, and the leadership of an extraordinary group of Governors and Treasurers, including Treasurer Meier; Wyoming finds itself in an enviable place amongst our peers. We have savings. This means we have time, not a lot of time, but time to make thoughtful decisions about our future and our budget. 

The budget I presented to you, which the Joint Appropriations Committee passed, was intended to trigger a serious conversation about our future, ways to diversify our economy, and ways to strengthen our state. Wyoming will always depend on our traditional industries but it must also take advantage of new opportunities. 

My budget charts a fiscally stable path. It keeps ongoing spending flat, giving our state time to think about the services we need to provide, and what we can do without. 

This budget took the advice of the Legislature and funded education in an undiminished capacity. In doing so, we will have to spend from our savings. The valve on education funding is stuck open and will require further consideration by this body as to whether that plumbing will hold up over time. 

This is the year we recalibrate Wyoming's funding model. Accordingly, I recommend that this year we carefully consider Superintendent Balow's suggestion to review Wyoming's “Basket of Goods." The basket is what Wyoming mandates to be taught in school. It was crafted before Wyoming schools had access to the internet. We owe it to our kids, and our state, to offer a 21st century, world-class education. 

My budget proposes curbs on capital construction. I did so noting that we are already engaged in several expansive and expensive projects: the State Hospital, the Life Resource Center, the UW Science Facility, the Skilled Nursing Facility, the Wyoming State Penitentiary, and the Casper State Office Building to name a few.

Given that we cannot afford to pay the people we need to staff these new buildings, it makes little sense to continue to build as aggressively as we have when times were more flush. 

In keeping with this administration's desire for transparency. I want to commend Auditor Racines and her office for bringing unprecedented transparency to the State's checkbook with the WyOpen website. My office has also set up a website, Wyoming Sense. It illustrates ing process in a transparent way. Now anyone in Wyoming can easily see what is being budgeted and how it is being spent. 

It may come as something of a surprise, but state government is actually smaller now than it was a decade ago. There are fewer state employees who are being asked to do more with less. They have capably responded by leveraging technology to implement better ways to provide the services our citizens need, 

To further these efforts, I have endorsed strategic investments in new technology and advanced cybersecurity. We cannot afford to fall further behind in this critical area. 

We must also recognize the value of our workforce. We are losing some of our most skilled, productive, and knowledgeable employees because we do not pay competitively. On top of that, we should remember that we had to increase both employee health insurance and retirement contributions, which effectively reduced their take-home pay. 

Let me sum up this problem: It is a vicious cycle. We continually need to train new employees, who then become better candidates for positions in other states with better pay scales. This is unacceptably expensive, and it is costly. We should be thinking about keeping the people who know what to do and how to do it. 

While I understand Wyoming's reluctance to offer permanent salary increases in this revenue climate, I have proposed a one-time bonus aimed at recognizing and retaining talent. If we truly want to reduce government, we can only do it with motivated people who know how to do their jobs. 

Rarely has the importance of good employees been more evident than on July 1st last year when Blackjewel unexpectedly closed down operations at two of Wyoming's largest coal mines. 

While other states with Blackjewel operations vibrated ineffectively, Wyoming sprang into action. The dedicated, talented, and knowledgeable team at DEQ came in to support mine employees and immediately set about stabilizing the mines. Other agencies started working with our miners to find them jobs, provide them earned benefits, and renegotiate mortgage schedules. Things could have been worse, and they were elsewhere in coal country. 

Before moving on, I want to highlight some other important and dedicated public employees: The ones who keep us safe; our first responders. 

This past year several Highway Patrol Troopers were injured. Trooper Jaime Wingard is here with us today. In October, she was investigating a crash on 1-25 outside of Wheatland, when she was struck from behind by a semi-truck, tearing her seat loose and totaling her car. Thankfully, she was wearing her seatbelt and was not significantly harmed. 

It is a stark reminder that our first responders, troopers, firefighters, EMTs, and law enforcement folks put their lives on the line every day. 

Trooper Wingard, for you and on behalf of all law enforcement and first responders please accept our esteem and appreciation. By all means, be careful out there. 

By now Wyoming citizens know too well how a myopic national political attitude to vilify fossil fuels has affected our energy industry. Twenty-eight states have enacted either renewable energy standards or low-carbon policies. These are targeted at the industries that have helped raise our standard of living, built our schools, funded public infrastructure, and made us the premier economy in the world. We produce energy better, more safely, and with more attention to the environment than anywhere else on the planet, and yet our industries are still discriminated against, maligned, and decried as dead. 

Well, not on my watch! Know this -- Wyoming will always advocate for our industries, whether it be to protect against unconstitutional restraint of trade, or in their endeavors to deliver cleaner, more dependable, more affordable, and safer energy to our nation. 

In the galley is Rob Piippo, the mine manager at Kemmerer Mine. Rob represents the dedicated men and women who go to work every day to see that people, mostly outside of Wyoming, can cool and heat their homes, and that the lights come on when they hit the switch. 

I remember the day Rob showed me the mine's pink haul truck, a tribute to women miners and a statement to stand up to breast cancer. Your community, your mine, the people who work there are the heart and soul of Wyoming. Rob, please know that we respect the work you and your fellow miners do every day, and that this Governor will always have your back. 

The problem we face is not burning coal. The problem is that we have not recognized or seized the opportunities to burn it cleaner, to use its byproducts more beneficially, or to remember its role as our country's most reliable source of electricity for over a hundred years.

We in Wyoming are leading the way. Our University, the Integrated Test Center, and the carbon valley in Northeast Wyoming are just parts of this singular effort. However, we must do more. That is why my administration has taken this fight to the Supreme Court. 

Oregon, California, and Washington have each sought to extend the reach of environmental regulations well beyond their borders, to blockade interior states like Wyoming their rightful access to coastal ports. These actions are a blatant unconstitutional restraint of trade. 

A few weeks ago, Montana joined us in bringing an original complaint before the Supreme Court to challenge Washington State's arbitrary action against the Millennium Bulk Coal Terminal. The vehicle is the Millenium Port, but the issue is an arbitrary and capricious discrimination against a useful commodity. It represents a direct threat to our products and Wyoming's way of life. I will defend our state. 

Thank you, Attorney General Hill and your staff for your meticulous work in crafting a strong original brief before our nation's highest court.

On the national stage, I continue to work with our exceptional federal delegation Congresswoman Cheney, Senator Barrasso and especially the yeoman service of retiring Senator Mike Enzi. 

Together we are advocating for legislative and regulatory reform of Section 401 of the Clean Water Act. In November, I traveled to Washington DC to support Senator John Barrasso's bill that does just that. State water quality regulation should be about water quality within one's own boundaries, not used as a weapon by one state to impose its will on another. 

I also have provided resources to the Public Service Commission to closely examine the assumptions made by various utilities' Integrated Resource Plans. Changes in them can impact hundreds of our jobs. It is our duty to verify that the proposed early closures of coal-burning units are truly warranted and economical, and not just philosophical or political. Wyoming genuinely welcomes renewable resources like wind and solar. However, we will not recklessly abandon our most abundant and reliable energy source just because it is unpopular with some people. 

Today, I challenge all of us to work together to make sure that the next carbon capture and sequestration facility is built here in Wyoming. I ask for your support of legislation requiring all new electric generation capacity produced in Wyoming to be reliable, consistent, and that a reasonable portion of it be net carbon negative. In doing so, Wyoming will demonstrate what no other state has had the courage to do: we will require true CO2 sequestration, not just some artificial notion that wind and solar can cure climate change all by themselves. 

I have asked you to add one million dollars for coal market augmentation and preservation. This appropriation will be used to defend our energy industry, to sustain the revenues energy provides for our state, and to support local communities' future planning. 

I urge your support of a $25 million investment to establish the Energy Commercialization Program. This program will provide a coordinated approach to supporting research to speed along technologies that advance zero or net-negative carbon uses for coal and other fossil fuels. I cannot be more emphatic. Time is of the essence. We must act now to prevent coalmines from closing

Last year, Campbell and Converse Counties were rocked by multiple bankruptcies; one in particular came as a shock. Thankfully, there are people in Wyoming who embody the Code of the West. In the gallery is Dan Baker. When his employer abruptly shut down coalmines and sent workers home without pay or notice, Dan and others responded. 

They worked tirelessly to make sure the mines were kept safe, secure and free from hazards so his fellow employees would have a workplace to return to at the end of the legal wrangling in bankruptcy court. Today that mine is up and running again. Dan would you stand so that we can recognize you. 

As the Blackjewel bankruptcy shows, counties are at risk and should not be left holding an empty bag. Consequently, I am supporting proposed legislation to change ad-valorem tax payments to a monthly basis. I realize this presents a seismic shift to our already financially strapped industries. The transition must allow long-term, dependable industries sufficient time to adjust. Wyoming is a patient place and we appreciate our industry; but we all pay our debts and expect others to as well. 

Coal is not the only Wyoming industry under stress. I note with particular urgency the state of our natural gas industry. Today, only two rigs are drilling for natural gas in Wyoming. That is the lowest number in the last 20 years. We have seen bankruptcies and halts in production in this industry too, with equally devastating consequences for local communities. Estimates of natural gas revenue continue to spiral down. I seek the Legislature's support in crafting a temporary, price-based reduction in severance taxes for those most in need. 

Wyoming is exceptional when it comes to energy and minerals.-.-- We remain the nation's leader in coal, uranium, and trona. We are eighth in oil and gas production. Even with today's challenges, Wyoming coal supplies 11 percent of the Nation's electricity. In fact, Wyoming is 

third in overall energy production. With the addition of wind and solar, we are broadening the portfolio of energy we provide to the nation. 

Wyoming is known for our natural resources and our public lands. It can be interesting when your largest landholder is the federal government. Our state's relationship with the feds has ebbed and flowed over the years, but thanks to President Trump, right now our relationship is strong and cooperative. With initiatives like Shared Stewardship, I commit to do my part to keep it that way. We will work with our federal partners to make sure that the 48 percent of our lands within Wyoming managed by the federal government continue to be accessible for all uses. 

Wyoming cares about our natural resources. We love our mountains, our streams, our open spaces, our Red Desert and National Parks. We love to hunt and fish, to climb and bike, to bird and just sit out and take in the night sky. Over the past year, we made significant strides in addressing the challenges and obstacles facing Wyoming's lands, wildlife, and waters. 

In October, I launched the Invasive Species Initiative. We are establishing better ways to combat the spread of invasive species across our state. Invasives are a universal challenge, not just one that affects our farms and ranches. They infect our public lands and waterways and thus impact our wildlife, fire dynamics, tourist operations and even more. It is imperative we meet this challenge head-on. 

Wyoming is the first state in the nation to tackle the important matter of preserving unique wildlife corridors. National Geographic recently recognized Arthur Middleton and Joe Riis for tracing big game migration routes. Their work shows how crucial these corridors are to preserving these iconic populations. 

As we have seen in Jonah, developing an oil and gas play is complex. Regulations are important, but they can also impede development. There is a balance to be struck, one that respects landowners' private rights and maintains Wyoming's wildlife and resources. My Big Game Migration Corridor Advisory Group did just that. 

Marissa Taylor is a rancher and a mom from Uinta County. As a member of the group, she devoted many days this year listening to and working with other citizens from counties, industry, wildlife and recreation interests searching for a sustainable approach to migration corridors. Marissa would you please stand to be recognized. 

What the group crafted was a recommendation that provides a practical way to identify, designate, and protect a few migration routes without offending private property rights. Based on their work, and my own travels throughout the state talking to affected stakeholders on all sides, I have drafted an Executive Order to implement their recommendations. 

My Executive Order provides opportunities for area working groups, county commissioners and others informed by science to provide on-the-ground tailored recommendations to preserve vital migration routes for two species- mule deer and antelope. It is absolutely not a land grab or a way to create hundreds of routes, or even the "spaghetti map" that some are falsely claiming, The order simply establishes a way to designate a handful ----- single digits — of corridors to protect our state's great treasures: our wildlife, our hunting, and our opportunity to enjoy the outdoors. 

Speaking of local solutions. Let me tell you about why I am so proud to have grown up in agriculture. I believe it is the backbone of our state. We will continue to work to expand markets and support this industry across a range of topics. But there is one issue, which really came into focus this year. Early on the morning of July 17th, right as the summer was beginning to heat up, an alarm went off indicating that the Goshen Irrigation Fort Laramie Gering Canal had lost all of its water. Goshen Irrigation Canal Tunnel Number 2 had collapsed, shutting off the flow to 110 thousand acres of critical farmland. The water then backed up and blew out the canal bank. As Senator Steinmetz will tell you it was a big hole the kind you can see from outer space! 

Rob Posten, District Manager is here with us today to represent the board of the Goshen Irrigation District. Now, Rob is a Wyoming guy and he asked me to recognize other GID staff ---- Linda Keeran, Andrea Janes, and Kevin Strecker, who faced that daunting challenge. But I want to ask Rob to rise so we may recognize him and the Goshen Irrigation District for their determination and perseverance. With the help of many others, including state agencies and our friends in Nebraska, these folks got water flowing again before summer's end. 

The GID tunnel failure highlights a larger, systematic vulnerability facing our state's aging irrigation infrastructure. I personally worked with the Select Water Committee on a solution to this problem. Under the leadership of Chairmen Hicks and Laursen, The Committee passed a good bill. It is a first step. Let's keep it targeted to irrigation. 

I want to ensure that we are doing everything we can to grow the second most significant source of income to our state. Tourism and outdoor recreation in Wyoming represents an enormous opportunity to grow our economy. It is a sector which employs more people and returns substantial sales tax revenue. The revenue comes mostly from outside our state.

Whether it is skijoring at the Sundance Winter Carnival this month; skiing in the Tetons or at Hogadon; ice climbing in Cody; snowmobiling in the Bighorns; a ranch vacation in Saratoga; bird watching on the Cokeville Meadows; mountain biking at Curt Gowdy or Johnny Behind the Rocks; enjoying The Daddy of 'Em All right here in Cheyenne, or a rodeo almost anywhere in Wyoming; fishing the Wedding of the Waters or on Glendo; or water skiing on the Gorge or Alcova; Wyoming has a bit of something for everyone.

Think about what we can do with Hot Springs State Park. Now there is a new military museum in Dubois opening in May. I could go on, but you get the idea. Wyoming is a marvelous place where you can still get on a river, climb a mountain, or simply enjoy a quiet evening on the plains. I applaud our tourism industry and I support its proposal for a lodging tax that would help Wyoming compete with our neighboring states. 

Over the last year, we have spoken extensively about education, and I have had the pleasure of engaging with the educational community about a variety of issues. I want to recognize Dane Weaver, a passionate teacher of 7th through 12th grade social studies. He lives in a little town at the base of Tensleep Canyon just over the hill from where I grew up. Please join me in congratulating him as Wyoming's Teacher of the Year, and in expressing our appreciation for all teachers in Wyoming 

I would like to ask Dr. Neil Theobold, acting president of UW, to stand so that we can recognize our university. It is a tremendous and enduring institution. 

Just two weeks ago, I sat down with Neil and the presidents of our community colleges, which are so important to our state. Over lunch, we began a discussion about how to better organize Wyoming's post-secondary educational opportunities to be more economic and better able to deliver education where it is needed. I left the meeting excited about our opportunities.

My adninistration has helped to secure additional financial resources for the year ahead to strategize, evaluate and improve our early-education, K-12 and post-secondary systems. 

We are hearing good things around the state about the strides we are making in workforce development. In particular, the Wyoming Works program and the efforts of the Educational Attainment Executive Council, which has aggressive goals to increase the number of people in Wyoming earning post-secondary certificates and degrees.

Through the collaborative efforts of the K-12 education sector, community colleges, UW and industry, we can equip our students with the necessary skills to ensure their success and improve Wyoming's economic health. This is really good news.

We have a window of opportunity in this recalibration year to critically, and in good faith, discuss what we need to teach, and how we can sustainably fund our education system. I am committed to working with you to find a solution. This is something we simply cannot afford to put off. This train has arrived and the people of Wyoming know it. Let us not miss it. 

My administration is also dedicated to improving access and lowering the cost of healthcare, including prescription drugs. Notably, we need to improve mental health care through innovative approaches, and coordinating agency policies for a more seamless delivery of services. 

One area of focus is on the prevention of suicide. This issue struck close to home when I heard from classmates of my own kids who have struggled with these dark thoughts. Too many of our residents are suffering -- and sadly, far too many are acting on it. 

I have supported funding to launch an in-state suicide hotline. This is just a start. We need to work with providers and leverage all of our state resources to do a better job of attending to those in need.

My administration is also working on ways to support families and individuals who have been exposed to adversity and trauma. Together we can create a healthier Wyoming where our citizens have quality services for generations to come. 

Our state is strong. Wyoming truly was forged out of the West by entrepreneurs; it is our history and it must be our future. I am anxious to see our state once again become the model of where anyone can create wealth from their own enterprise, grit, and work ethic. 

We are supporting our existing industries by revamping the Business Council. It now has a new mission and a new CEO, Josh Dorrell, who just took up the reins. He will be coming to your town soon. His entrepreneurial, private sector experience and deep understanding of Wyoming will be invaluable in helping to support existing businesses, grow new ones, and attract whole new enterprises to our state.

Finally, to end where I began — with this building. A significant percentage of the 65th Legislature has never served in this capitol. So, I want to take just a moment to remember what it was to be here before the construction project began. 

When I arrived as Treasurer in 2012, this place was full of people and energy. Visitors from all over the state and the world wandering the halls, and marveling not so much at the architecture, but at the fact you could walk into this building and be greeted by, and have a conversation with, the Governor, Secretary of State, Treasurer, Auditor, or a member of the Legislature. This does not happen anywhere else. Over and over again that is what I heard was the real charm of this place. It was a working Capitol "The People's House." It is the way government should be; accessible.

When the session started, legislators would often stop by my office to discuss legislation, or what they hoped to accomplish during the session. The coffee pot was always on. Good work came from the camaraderie that was the hallmark of this Capitol. 

This restored building provides the opportunity to continue that culture. There is great history in these walls, but it is not a museum. There is the promise of progress and moments ahead as defining as the passage of our Constitution and the recognition of universal suffrage. Like past generations in this building, we too have a rendezvous with destiny. However, like past generations it can only be done if we work together. 

I encourage you to take some time to welcome and engage visitors. This is the people's house and home to our government. Let's visit one another regularly. My office will always have the coffee on and sometimes-awesome sweet rolls. Let's fill these halls with the energy and optimism that have always defined Wyoming.

God Bles ou God Bless Wyoming And God bless the United States of Aer

January 10, 2020

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The bill proposing to expand Medicaid in Wyoming died on the first day of the session.

January 11, 2020

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On bills in budget sessions its important to keep in mind that they require 2/3s of their respective bodies in order to be introduced. So a bill may have simple majority support, but still lack sufficient support to be introduced.  This is supposed to serve to keep only the most important bills in the legislature during budget years.

With that in mind, we turn to some bills.

Electric Chair.  Wyoming uses lethal injection.

A bill to repeal Wyoming's death penalty failed.  It had majority support in the House, where it was introduced, but it fell just short of 2/3s support.

Coming soon to a swanky gaming parlour near you?

A bill to establish a gaming commission in Wyoming gaming commission was introduced. The commission would regulate gambling in Wyoming.  A similar bill was introduced last session and failed, but at that time the Tribes opposed it, which they no longer do in this revised fashion.  It'll be interesting to see where this goes as some fear that it will lead to widespread legalized gambling in the state, which is also what some people hope it will do.

Studio photo, circa 1910s, portraying young woman answer "yes" to a marriage proposal.  Chances are most proposals involving teenagers aren't quite so romantic.

The bill to outlaw "child marriages" failed, with several early supports changing to opponents of the bill.  This really doesn't seem to amount to an emergency really, so that it failed in a budget year isn't surprising.  An interesting argument that somebody made was that the bill interfered with the role of parents in teenage marital decisions, which might be true but which seems like an odd argument.

Sometimes you don't have three days.

A bill to ban gun free zones failed. At the same time, a bill to introduce a three day waiting period to purchase handguns also failed.

February 13, 2020

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Keeping in mind that early votes are simply on whether or not bills should be introduced for consideration, rather than votes on the bills themselves, it's been a busy week at the legislature, with a lot more bills failing to secure introduction, which is proper in the abstract given that its a budget year, than being introduced.

With that, a few bills.

Former Parco Hotel in Sinclair Wyoming.

A proposed state lodging tax, which has secured support of the hotel industry, has been introduced.  The thought behind the proposal is to make the state's Office of Tourism self sufficient through the tax.

A bill to prevent government buy backs of firearms also secured introduction.

There are no such efforts in Wyoming and never has been. The bills proponents, when asked about this, indicated that they were being proactive and looking forward towards a day when this might occur and seeking to prevent it.

The problem, fwiw, with this sort of logic is that if Wyoming reaches that point, it's also likely that at that point or soon thereafter, there'd be sufficient support in the legislature to repeal this bill.  Bills designed to prevent a actions on social policy tend to forget that they're actually always addressed in their own era, unless they're addressed by the Courts.  For that reason, bills addressing them are not likely to be long term effective.

A bill to restrict what power companies could use to generate electrical sales in Wyoming, which was aimed at renewable generation, failed to secure introduction.

An effort to revive Medicaid expansion failed, with that effort accordingly having failed twice this week.

The bill to restrict Federalization of the National Guard, which was likely unconstitutional, failed to secure introduction.  Sen. Rand Paul, late in the news for reading the name of the "whisstle blower" during the impeachment proceedings, flew out to Cheyenne to support the bill, to no avail.

The bill to tax out of state companies that budget for state income taxes elsewhere and built it into their prices failed for the second time in two years.

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February 18, 2020

The bill to put Wyoming on permanent daylight savings time, which would basically operate to put us on daylight savings time in the summer and Central Time in the winter, has advanced.

The bill would only become operable once, or rather if, four surrounding states also passed identical acts, which isn't going to happen.

I really dislike the time change, but I can't quite figure out why, if this is going to be addressed, the time simply isn't kept at natural time.  I.e., Mountain Standard Time, without daylight savings time, all year long.

In other legislative news, the Governor announced yesterday that the State is in negotiations to purchase 1,000,000 surface acres of the UP checkerboard and 4,000,000 acres of mineral rights now owned by Occidental Petroleum.  The State needs the legislature to authorize this in order to carry forward with it.  That would certainly be a major investment in the state in lands that have been hard to access, but it was noted by the Tribune that a bill also pending to ease land swapping with private owners, which I haven't studied, might be able to address that.

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February 21, 2020

House Bill 209, the voter cross over bill, has been introduced.

HOUSE BILL NO. HB0209

Change in party affiliation.

Sponsored by: Representative(s) Blackburn, Clem, Edwards, Gray, Hallinan, Jennings, Laursen, Lindholm, Miller, Piiparinen, Stith, Styvar and Washut and Senator(s) Biteman, Driskill and Steinmetz

A BILL

for

AN ACT relating to elections; revising provisions relating to political party affiliation changes by electors; and providing for an effective date.

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

Section 1.  W.S. 22‑5‑212 and 22‑5‑214 are amended to read:

22‑5‑212.  When declaration of party affiliation required.

An elector requesting a major party ballot must declare his party affiliation, or sign an application for change of affiliation in accordance with W.S. 22‑5‑214, before he may receive a party ballot. An elector may vote only the nonpartisan ballot and if so, is not required to declare his party affiliation. Requesting a partisan primary election ballot constitutes a declaration of party affiliation. A change in declaration of party affiliation shall conform to W.S. 22‑5‑214 and be entered on the poll list by the election judge.

22‑5‑214.  Change in party affiliation.

(a)  An elector may change his party affiliation, except as otherwise specified in subsection (b) of this section, by completing an application signed before a notarial officer or election official and filing it with the county clerk not less than fourteen (14) days before the primary election or at the polls on the day of the primary or general election, or when requesting an absentee ballot.

(b)  An elector may change his party affiliation from one (1) major political party to another major political party by completing an application signed before a notarial officer or election official, and filing it with the county clerk not less than fourteen (14) days before the primary election or at the polls on the day of the primary or general election., or when requesting an absentee ballot.

Section 2.  This act is effective July 1, 2020.

This bill is substantially modified from the last time it was considered by the Legislature.  Heavily supported by the Republican Party, the prior bill sought to prevent changes in party affiliation far in advance of the primary election, this one only stretches back two weeks.

This bill is the result of a belief in some quarters of the state's GOP that Governor Mark Gordon was the party's nominee rather than Foster Friess as Democrats crossed over in order to vote for somebody less right wing than Friess.  The University of Wyoming has looked at this ad concluded its not true, but the belief persists anyhow.

This in turn reflects a real divide in the GOP itself which has had some extremely bitter infighting the past two years as the old party and new party fight it out at the county level.  The Wyoming GOP has traditionally been fairly middle of the road but at the county level its received an influx of activists who are much more to the right, including some who are now in the legislature.

The amended bill reflects the party's strong desire to pass this legislation and the influence of the less hardcore members of the party.  Two weeks will likely be regarded by most people, except perhaps Wyoming's courts, as a reasonable restriction.  If tested by a court however, that's much less certain.

Having a two party system isn't a written function of our government and the bigger question is why political parties get to use public resources to sort out who will be their candidates at all.  Good arguments exist for prohibiting that, and frankly a legal test of the system in Wyoming mind find that political party primaries don't square with our law at all.  Even if that's not the case, passing a bill restricting the electorate from declaring itself to be one thing or another is a restriction on the election process and it might not stand.  All of this points to the fact that perhaps parties should just choose their candidates in conventions or, if we're going to have a primary election, that it be party free and just winnow the fall choice down to the two top vote getters, whomever they are.

Such an overhaul of the system isn't going to happen and my prediction is that this bill will pass, it'll be tested in the court, and there it will fail.

For which, if it occurs, the GOP probably ought to be grateful.  If large numbers of Democrats, and Wyoming doesn't even have large numbers of Democrats, crossed into the GOP in the last general election or in 2016, they're probably still there.  By and large, most people who switch parties aren't hardcore politicos.  Once they switch, they likely forget about it and just stay there.  And if they're motivated enough to move in the first place, they'll make the two weeks and stay there.

Which goes back to the fact that some commentators have been worried that Wyoming's Republican Party won't easily survive having become as dominant as it is.  It's under a lot of stress at any rate as an insurgent minority on the hard right, some of which has financial backing from outside entities, has been struggling with the traditional middle.  With so few Democrats running for anything (and with old traditional middle of the road Democrats like Eli Bebout now long term Republicans), an influx of what Democrats remain, and for that matter an influx of independents, who practically have nowhere else to go to vote in primaries that are for all intents and purposes the general election, may mean that the GOP becomes less of what its right wing wants due to its own success.

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February 22, 2020

A pair of amendments have been introduced to the budget to study oversight at the University of Wyoming following the Nichols incident.

The most remarkable thing about these bills is that they have enormous support.  One was introduced by a Democrat and has gained support all the way from the far right.  Another one has support from one of the rare fairly left leaning legislators and a bunch of right wing ones.

This means, absent a Gubernatorial veto, this will become part of the budget.

This puts me in a rare position as frankly the governance of the university, of which I'm a two time graduate, doesn't appear to have been going in a poor direction recently.  As noted earlier, I didn't follow the Nichols matter much but I frankly don't feel her being released is emblematic of a crisis.  I am concerned about excessive legislative involvement in the university's governance which would inevitably turn political pretty quickly.

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February 23, 2020

Governor Gordon's request to buy the UP checkerboard from Occidental Petroleum is running into some opposition, some from quarters we'd expect, and some from surprising quarters.

For those not familiar with it, the UP checkerboard is a vast swath of land of about 1,000,000 acres which the Union Pacific was given by the Federal Government as an inducement to build the Transcontinental Railroad.  The original thought was that the UP could help recoup its costs of construction by selling the land to settlers, but it quickly became apparent that the land contained valuable minerals which the UP determined to keep, for which it can't be blamed.  Some of the land was sold, however.

The checkerboard has been a public lands access headache for years as it effectively means that for a long stretch of ground every other landlocked public section that remains is inaccessible, to the degree that is enforced or can be enforced.  Indeed, it's a common belief among Wyomingites that you can simply step over the corner and never be trespassing, which isn't really correct.

Anyhow, the land recently belonged to Anadarko Petroleum which sold it to Occidental Petroleum, which now wants to sell it to Wyoming along with 4,000,000 mineral acres, some of which is located in neighboring states.

This seems like a real opportunity and its hard to understand how very many people would be opposed to it, but some opposition is forming.  One group that was predictable are groups very closely associated with some agricultural interests which basically like the checkerboard system as it is, as it doesn't really impact them.  The fear is that the state would start swapping lands to block up public lands and effectively end the system, although the fear shouldn't be as great as it is. That would occur, but it wouldn't affect access to non Occidental lands as much as some might initially suppose because, after all, they're still non Occidental lands.

Other opposition just seem to be to the fact that this is a big move.  A columnist in the Tribune who is urging the state to slow down compared it to the U.S. purchase of Alaska, which is in fact a really ironic comment in that that purchase had loads of opposition and is now universally viewed as a great thing to have done. Indeed, by and large Seward's critics are now looked upon as foolish, so if this example is cited, it should be cited as one that should urge us to push forward.

Others are just unclear.  Former Congressional candidate Rod Miller, who ran on protecting the public lands, has a column urging the state to slow down just because.

Slowing down in matters like this isn't really an option.  Chances are, in the modern world (we'll see what things are like after November),  that the lands are actually capable of being purchased by private investors, just not ones located in Wyoming.  A Bill Gates or Michael Bloomberg, for example, could easily buy the land up simply as a sort of investment and then turn it to uses that squared with their world outlook, which is unlikely to be the same as ours.  1,000,000 acres is a lot of land, but not so much that its outside the reach of some.
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