Friday, January 10, 2025

The 2025 Wyoming Legislative Session, Part 3. Still time to find a place to hide edition.


The last edition was simply too unwieldy.

December 24, 2024

A bill has been filed to allow for enhanced concealed carry permits, requiring training to obtain, that would allow for concealed carry on school grounds and the grounds of the University of Wyoming.\

New Natrona County legislator  Jayme Lien is trying to get Jeanette Ward's "What is a Woman" act through this session.

December 26, 2024

Rep Harshman is introducing a bill to require a special election for vacancies in any significant elective offices, including Governor and Senator.

January 2, 2025
Example of old fashioned Five and Dime store.

The Wyoming Freedom Caucus puts its cards on the table in the form of its "five and dime" plan for the 2025 legislature.  The incoming Speaker of the House, a member, even went on Trump propaganda forum Newsmax, to tout it.

It's agenda for the 2025 legislature is below:

ELECTION INTEGRITY: Require Proof of WY Residency & US Citizenship When Registering to Vote

- WHAT: Create clear statutory authority for the Wyoming Secretary of State to promulgate rules requiring voters to prove WY residency and to ensure that non-citizens cannot register to vote in WY.

- WHY: No requirement exists for voters to prove their WY residency or US citizenship status. This simple fix will better secure our elections and bolster confidence in our election system.

Not too surprisingly, this is sort of horseshit.  You have to verify your address, already, every time you vote. We've been doing it for years.  Now we have to present a photo ID as well.

Oh, I'll do it.  I'll present piles of stuff showing that I'm an actual Wyomingite and didn't move in from somewhere.  Quite a few of the Freedom Caucus, if asked to do that, would be shown to be people who moved in here.

IMMIGRATION ACCOUNTABILITY: Invalidate Driver Licenses Issued to Illegals by Other Jurisdictions

- WHAT: Invalidate driver licenses issued to illegal aliens present in WY.

- WHY: An estimated 9 million + illegal aliens have entered the US since 2021. Nineteen states and D.C. issue licenses to illegal immigrants– Wyoming does not. This simple bill will help WY crack down on illegal immigration and to ensure consistency in our statutes and rules.

Bill previously written (SF0120, 2024)

Wyoming has no legal authority to invalidate another state's driver's licenses, and the full faith and credit clause of the U.S. Constitution makes that illegal. 

People who have taken an oath to the Constitution, by the way, like legislators, can't back this without violating their oath.

STOPPING THE WOKE AGENDA AT UW: Prohibiting D.E.I. in Higher Education

- WHAT: Prohibit the University of WY and Wyoming’s Community Colleges from engaging in discriminatory hiring or continuing education requirements that place moral, historical, or other blame on a person or group of people on the basis of immutable characteristics.

- WHY: It is illegal to discriminate on the basis of any immutable characteristic. As the Equality State, WY should be proud to codify additional protections against discrimination. With continually declining enrollment rates at UW, dumping “woke” DEI programming will attract the free thinking cowboys and cowgirls we want attending our university.

There isn't a "woke" agenda at UW.

PROTECTING OUR CORE INDUSTRIES: Ban woke investment strategies for the State of Wyoming’s trust fund.

- WHAT:: Prohibit the State of Wyoming from investing in funds that prioritize “environmental, social, or governance” standards over funds promising the highest financial rate of return.

- WHY: Wyoming should not invest tax dollars with entities who do not seek the highest rate of return and who are out to destroy and eliminate our core industries.

Bill previously written (SF0172, 2023)

Investing in the "highest rate of return" means you will invest in things that aren't necessary in line with our core industries, some of which are a bad economic bet right now.

CUTTING TAXES: Real Property Tax Relief

- WHAT: Provide a 25% property tax cut to residential property owners with a backfill to local governments.

- WHY: The people of WY have been crushed by years of skyrocketing property taxes.

Bill previously written (SF0054, 2024)

Populism in Wyoming is heavily populated by out of staters who moved in here, causing property taxes to rise.  Now they're going to cut what they caused, with no way to pay for anything. 

A better strategy would be to impose a tax on the value of the last house you sold, no matter where you sold it, and leave the current property taxes alone.

January 9, 2025

It wasn't clear to me but the dime portion of the "5 and 10" plan is to pass the five bills in the first ten days of the legislature.

January 10, 2025

This will be interesting.

2025

STATE OF WYOMING

25LSO-0513

 

 

 

HOUSE BILL NO. HB0099

 

 

Access to public lands-corner crossing.

 

Sponsored by: Representative(s) Provenza, Andrew, Campbell, E, Larson, JT and Wharff and Senator(s) Jones, Rothfuss and Schuler

 

 

A BILL

 

for

 

AN ACT relating to crimes and offenses; providing an exception to the offenses of criminal trespass and game-and-fish trespass regarding incidental contact associated with crossing two (2) adjacent parcels as specified; and providing for an effective date.

 

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

 

Section 1.  W.S. 63303 by creating a new subsection (d) and 233305(b) are amended to read:

 

63303.  Criminal trespass; penalties; exception.

 

(d)  For purposes of this section, a person does not commit criminal trespass if the person incidentally passes through the airspace or touches the land or premises of another person while the person is traveling from one (1) parcel of land that the person is authorized to access to another parcel of land that shares a common corner with or is immediately connected to the first parcel and that the person is authorized to access.

 

233305.  Hunting from highway; entering enclosed property without permission; penalty; hunting at night without permission prohibited; exception.

 

(b)  No person shall enter upon, travel through or return across the private property of any person to take wildlife, hunt, fish, collect antlers or horns, or trap without the permission of the owner or person in charge of the property. Violation of this subsection constitutes a low misdemeanor punishable as provided in W.S. 236202(a)(v). For purposes of this subsection, "travel through or return across" requires physically touching or driving on the surface of the private property. For purposes of this subsection, a person does not commit trespass under this subsection if the person incidentally passes through the airspace or touches the land or premises of another person while the person is traveling from one (1) parcel of land that the person is authorized to access to another parcel of land that shares a common corner with or is immediately connected to the first parcel and that the person is authorized to access.

 

Section 2.  This act is effective July 1, 2025.

This is a Democratic bill. The Democrats have traditionally been the party that comes to the rescue in Wyoming when the GOP begins to descend into feudalism regarding land.  

If the populist really care what Wyomingites think, this should past.

My guess is that it won't.

Last edition:

The 2025 Wyoming Legislative Session, Part 2. Early bills

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