Not a profile in courage.

From Twitter.

First:

Larry Wolfe@WYWolfe

So Barrasso and Lummis have joined the Pro Putin camp. Lummis makes the same tired argument that we can’t afford it. What is Barrasso’s excuse for abandoning his boss McConnell and instead lining up with the far right fringe of Senate crackpots?

8:51 PM · Apr 24, 2024

It is an excellent question, although probably rhetorical, as we all know why Sen. Barrasso did this, he's running to the right of himself to keep his job.  The Wyoming GOP has fallen to the populists, who are not conservatives, and who are definitely isolationist without a grasp on foreign policy.  We all know that.  And a lot of us know that Barrasso doesn't believe a lot of the things he claims to, which makes this situation, frankly, sad, but for the fact that when Russia quits bleeding Ukraine, if Ukraine doesn't win, American and European blood will flow next.

Barrasso knows that, too.

I used to see Barrasso frequently as a passenger in airplanes.  When I did, I always left him alone, even though I slightly know him, and knew his late wife a bit better.  I've wanted to speak to him, however, as I frankly can't believe that he believes a lot of the things he states, and I've wanted to tell him that.

Somebody did just that, however.   

Cleaned up to take out the awkward nature of Twitter:

Replying to @WYWolfe

drew@drew53430308

Was lucky enough to fly DEN-CPR with JB back in February, the VERY day they failed to move the bill. We were seated close to each other, and had to wait on the jetway in Casper for our carry-ons. So I introduce myself as “Lt Col so-and-so” and offer condolences about his wife’s passing, but then I mentioned the day’s failure, and how the rest of the week was a work session, hard to do from home…

I told him that the innocent civilians in Ukraine needed help, they needed our help to end the rapes and murders. I explained that America doesn’t abandon her allies on the battlefield. I explained that then, that very night, with a few phone calls he could fix it…

I looked him in the eye and told him he was one of the most powerful men on Earth, and that he alone could save lives, starting right then. I told him millions of innocents were counting on him, that this was his moment…

JB thanked me for my service, explained this was all JD Vance’s fault, and there was nothing he could do. Told me I didn’t understand how things work. I replied that I’d flown back enough dead and maimed kids to learn a lifetime’s worth of foreign policy.

Well, good for Lt. Col. Drew. 

Postscript:

There's good reason to believe that Barrasso is fighting for his political career this election against a surprisingly strong Reid Rasner.  Barrasso has had those in the electorate who were vaguely discontent with him for some time.  In retrospect, a lot of that opposition came from people who believe the "Uni Party" brand of nonsense in which anything the government spends is evidence that you are a RINO, unless of course the money is spent subsidizing highways, which is good.  The same people, of course, are hugely opposed to balancing the budget, although they don't realize it, as they'd have to be taxed at a fair rate, which they aren't in favor of.

Anyhow, with the strong rise of populism in the state Barrasso is in surprising trouble as he has a track records that isn't populist, but conservative.  Those who didn't like him in the first place trend that way, and the overall state GOP is now on a populist warpath, the fall of Liz Cheney being evidence of that.  So Barrasso is now campaigning as a populist.

The thing he might be missing is that for a long time there have been Republican moderates and true conservatives, the people that populists, who aren't real Republicans but rather are Dixiecrats, who weren't hugely fond of Barrasso either.  Dr. Barrasso also knew that, which was why he was pretty careful, usually, but not always, to take carefully thought out conservative positions.  Many in this same class weren't hugely satisfied with Barrasso, if not outright dissatisfied with him, and were held back from voting for a Democratic candidate only due to certain issues, such as right to life issues.  Irrespective of that, in 2018, the last time he ran, Barrasso take at the pools declined from a 2012 76% to 67%, which is the same percentage that Donald Trump took in 2016.  Democrat Gary Trauner took 30%.

Trauner ran for elective office several times and failed to win, but he was respected and stuck around in the public eye for a while after the 2018 election.  He's not involved in politics anymore, but his race is illustrative.  Barrasso had no real opposition in the primary, although some gadfly entrants did run.  This time he has real opposition.  Most of the old moderate Democrats became Republicans in the state long ago and by this time may be too disgusted by these recent developments to even vote in the primary, and those who do may abstain from voting in this race.  That might push things over the top for Rasner, as at the end of the day, Barrasso is at least partially counting on conservatives and moderate Republicans who aren't thrilled with him right now to vote for him.

And while the winner of that race will win, whomever it is may not have the level of support that they have in the past.  30% of the electorate was voting against him already, which was worse than Cheney did in 2020 and worse than Hageman did in 2022.

Related thread:

The 2024 Election, Part XVII. Standing on their feet or crawling on their knees.

Takeaways, so far, from the 2022 General Election.

Early takeaways.

1.  Poll models are existentially wrong.

There is no longer any reason to pretend otherwise.

For weeks prior to elections, we read of poll results. They were wrong in 2022, wrong in 2020, and wrong in 2016.

They're wrong.

Something is amiss in them, one thing simply being that younger generations don't really care to talk to pollsters.

This might be, overall, a good thing.

2.  Conservatism retains a strong appeal, but Trump doesn't.

Edmund Burke.

Trump caused the Republicans to lose the House and Senate in 2018.  He lost the Presidency in 2020, and never secured the popular vote in the first place ever.

The midterm election always sees a return of the party of power, something that may be a good thing, democratically, or not, but it's a fact.  This year there's real doubt that will happen, and Trump is the number one reason why.

Trump, whose appeal to anyone completely escapes me, loves Trump only the way that Trump and his acolytes can, and he's going to announce next week that he's running for the Oval Office.  In normal times, the GOP would send a delegation to Mar-a-Lago, invite Trump to go fishing and require Lindsey Graham to go along to listen to Trump's weird, weird diction in the same way that Uncle Colm is used by the girls to talk to the police in Derry Girls.  But these aren't normal times, so he's going to go ahead and run and the Republicans, including Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy, will fall right in line.

An opportunity exists here for other Republicans to take advantage of this and push for the Presidency.  The problem with that, however, is Trump.

The ultimate irony here is that the elections from 2016 forward have demonstrated that there is a strong base for a conservative political party, including a conservative political party that includes populism.  People are, in many areas, voting culturally, and voting culturally for a return to Western values. There's nothing wrong with that, and the concept that these have been under attack by the left is correct.

But linking that movement, to Trump, will kill it.

3.  Wyoming has become the Post Reconstruction South.

Eh?

Bear with me.

In 1860, as we all know, the Southern states attempted to leave the United States and form their own country over the issue of slavery.

Most Southern whites, throughout the South, were yeomen.  Small independent farmers.  

The Civil War was about one issue and one issue only, race based slavery.  But slavery impacted everything in the South, most particularly its economy.

It's sometimes claimed, and indeed has been recently, that only a small percentage of Southerners owned slaves prior to the Civil War.  I recall hearing that myself when in school, and even recently apparently somebody in the Internet claimed that only 1% of Southerners owned slaves in 1860.  A pretty detailed analysis of that shows that's actually incorrect, and a whopping 30.8% of free Southern families did, a pretty high number.  You can knock the percentage down by addressing only individuals, rather than families, but frankly that's unfair and inaccurate in an era prior to female suffrage.  And it's also been knocked down by including the entire Southern population, but you can't really count the enslaved in this analysis and have it make any sense.

At any rate, the reason that we note this is that about 69% of Southern families didn't own slaves, but that 30.8% that did dominated the culture and the region's economics.  Owning slaves was thought to be a necessity by planters, the large industrial farming class, just as serfs were in fact necessary to the feudal system.  The planter class absolutely dominated the economics and the politics of the South, even though the majority of Southerners were not in the class and in fact, as noted, were yeoman.

Not all yeoman were poor, as is sometimes claimed, and some of them owned slaves as well.  But the planters, who were the wealthy class in the South, completely dominated its economy and politics.  It would not be proper to take a Marxist view of this and assume that they dominated it simply because they were wealthy, but their wealth had the practical impact of making them the only really educated class and the only class that had time for leisure in the sense that Josef Pieper has written about.  This meant that their own self-interest became the interest of the entire region and were regarded as such.  When barefoot Southern farmers hit the road to fight against the North in the Civil War, they were pretty convinced that their interest and the planters were the same.

They were not.

That became pretty evident during Reconstruction, but the domination of the planter class actually never waned.  White Southern yeomanry had more in common, economically, with the recently freed slaves than they did with white planters. For a time it briefly looked like they'd act accordingly.  And during Reconstruction, they found themselves nearly violently at odds with the planter class.  Yeoman who had always made use, for example, of the woods as commons for the grazing of cattle and for hunting found themselves suddenly fenced and locked out, and nearly resorted to arms over it.

To a degree, what prevented that from really developing is that while the yeomanry did not feel itself aligned with the planters at first, planter propaganda, the nature of being occupied by the North, and the shared experience of the Civil War won them over against their own interests.  The monied and powerful classes of the South backed the concept of "The Lost Cause", a noble struggle for "Southern Rights", which wasn't about slavery at all, but about something else, never mind that it couldn't be rationally defined as it didn't exist.  All Southern officers were noble, all the enlisted men stalwart loyalists, sacrificing themselves to the cause.  The myth lasted so long that the dedication of Stone Mountain in the 1970s could still be regarded in the Oval Office as a noble thing, and not a monument to treason.  Southern yeoman remained in second class status and following Reconstruction were basically heavily marginalized along with Southern blacks.  The entire region declined into second class economic status as it clung to an old economy benefiting mostly the already wealthy.  Education became second rate. 

That all started to change during the Great Depression, but it really took into the 1970s for it to break.  We'll omit that part of the story, as that would be secondary to what we're looking at now.

Wyoming is now the New Post Reconstruction South.

How so?

Consider this.  Plantation economics had originally made the South one of the wealthiest parts of the United States.  Cotton actually was the second crop subject to the plantation system.  Tobacco was first, and tobacco made the south wealthy.  Cotton followed and added to that.  The North wasn't poor, but in the pre industrialized country, agriculture was king and the South had market agriculture, producing tobacco, cotton, and corn based alcohol, all for sale.  Nothing like it existed in the North.  Going into the Civil War, they still believed that this was the case.

It wasn't.

Wealth had moved to industry by 1860 and the North had taken advantage of it.  It was much more economically developed, and as a result, much more of the wealth had gone down hill to its population.  It also had an economy which acknowledged and accepted government assistance, which made for good roads and canals.  It was more affluent, better educated, and much better informed.  The South fooled itself into believing the opposite and entered into a war it couldn't win as a result.  After the wear, the class that had controlled that wealth maneuvered to keep it, and did so successfully, keeping the South in a state of existence that, but for slavery, closely mirrored that which had existed before the war.

So what does this have to do with Wyoming?

Quite a lot.

The original wealth of the South came from simple farmers, true yeoman, the class that Thomas Jefferson hoped thought necessary to democracy and hoped to see flourish in the country even though he was a planter. The conversion to a planter based economy took some time.

That's true of Wyoming, to a degree, as well.

The first European cultured people to enter Wyoming weren't Americans at all, but rather Quebecois.  French culture people were pretty prominent in the state early on, and it was really the fur industry they built that caused the early private fort system to come about.  The government followed in the 1840s following the Mexican War, when the Army first marched into the purchased Ft. Laramie in order to guard the trails to the Pacific Coast that were developing.  The first really Wyoming based economic endeavor to some about after trapping was the livestock industry, which didn't enter the state until the 1870s, for the most part.

But even as early as the 1880s petroleum was seen as the state's future.  By the 1890s, it was common for newspapers to put remote oil prospects on the front page, even as the livestock industry was dominating the actual economy and providing for most of the state's employment.  Coal had an even earlier appearance, being first mined by the Union Pacific railroad to fuel its trains.

It was really World War One, however, that gave Wyoming an oil extraction, and at that time refining, economy.  And much of that was locally centered.  Refineries sprung up all over the state in this time period.  Casper saw not only three refineries develop, but major structures as well. The Oil Exchange Building was completed in 1917.  The Pan American Building sometime after that.   The Ohio Building in the 1940s.  The Sinclair Building, now only a memory, was built during this time period as well. The big club, where all sorts of business deals were made, was The Petroleum Club.

So we based our wealth, after 1917, on the extractive industries.

We did nothing wrong whatsoever by doing that.

But times have really changed, and they're in trouble.  

We can't and won't accept that.

The US of 2022 isn't the US of 1917, or 1922, or even 1962, or 1982.  But we basically are looking back to 1982, or so, economically, culturally and politically to an era when things were better for us.  

And this requires us, apparently, to now believe in The Lost Cause.

At one time if you talked to Southerners, everybody's Civil War ancestor was a colonel of epic heroism, not a deserter from the Confederate armies, even though a huge number of Southern soldiers became just that.  And they didn't fight for slavery, but for their culture.

We haven't been able to adjust to the fact that Trump lost the popular vote, twice, so we now have that as our Lost Cause Myth.  The brilliant super genius "very good genes", as Trump would have it, didn't lose, the election was stolen.

Never mind the clear evidence that Trump was planning to steal the election prior to the election occurring.  Never mind the destruction of the U.S. Post Office as part of that.  Never mind the effort to undermine COVID voting protocols.  Now, listen to people like Chuck Gray and you'll learn that 10,000 mules were employed in a nefarious plot.

I don't know how many Wyomingites really believe that, but probably about the same number, percentage wise, of Southerners at one time that believed that Uncle Euclid was a Colonel in the Confederate Cavalry, and not a barefoot infantryman in who deserted.  There were likely always doubts.  But like Homer Stokes in Oh Brother! Where Art Thou, there are underlying issues that people really have in mind.  "That ain't my culture and heritage".

The ultimate problem is that this is going to, long term, marginalize us economically and politically.  Just like it did the Post Reconstruction South.

4.  Democracy can work for the left.

As we've noted elsewhere, the real starting point in the attack on American democracy was by the left going towards a Court oriented aristocracy.  If Americans wouldn't reform and usher in the new liberal era on their own, the Courts could rule and force them.

The left was pretty comfortable with that.

Now the Courts have stripped that role away from themselves and returned issues that never should have been determined solely by nine ancient people with Ivy League law degrees to the people, effectively telling them they'll just have to figure these things out for themselves.

And low and behold, they actually can.

2022 Wyoming Legislative Session. Part I.

June 8, 2021

Yes. . 2022

2022 will be a budget session, but already there are a fair number of bills that are lining up to be introduced that have nothing to do with the budget.

The first of these to really make the news is one that has now passed committee to the extent that the committee has  agreed to further study it would establish a ranked choice primary, like Maine's.  In that, you vote for your first choice, and a second and maybe a third.  Under that system, if your top choice got knocked out by some percentage, your other choices then kick in.

This is, I'd note, actually an unfair system in that casting your second choice as the one that counts doesn't actually mean that if the vote had been a heads up competition between the whomever it now count against, would have been your choice had that been the actual contest.  By way of an example, in Liz Cheney's first primary, she came first, with less than 50%, against Leland Christensen and Tim Stubson, who came in second and third respectively.  If we'd had a ranked choice system, people who now dislike Cheney, most of whom were her fans before, think that the second or third choice would have won.  Maybe they would have, but maybe not.  In that instance, however, probably Christensen or Stubson would now be our Congressman.  Personally, at the time, I voted for one of those other candidates and likely would have chosen one of the others, and not Cheney, if such a system had been in place.

The Governor's race really inspired this thinking and it provides a potentially much different example.  Gordon faced a host of hardcore right wing, or perhaps more accurately populist, candidates.  Backers of this system believe that one of those candidates would have been the nominee rather than Gordon.

If that had been the system, that's probably also correct, but thing had become so polarized by that point in time that Gordon voters likely would have voted second for Sam Galeotos and second place Friess voters for Harriet Hageman.  That likely would have yielded the same results.  If it didn't, there's a relatively decent chance that Mary Throne, the Democrat, would now be the Governor as Friess and Hageman, contrary to what GOP right wingers think, were not liked at all by a large number of conventional Republican voters.  Throne pulled 28% of the vote in a state where the Democratic Party is practically dead, and against jovial but elderly and out of place Friess, or hard right Hageman, she definitely would have pulled significantly more.  With internal discord at an all time high in the GOP right now, Republicans are actually highly vulnerable to the Democrats in such a scenario.  If, for example, the hard right of the GOP that hates Gordon, and they do, were to replace him in 2022 with a candidate like Hageman, there's a really good chance that the Democrats could walk into the Governor's office.

Which is what basically happened when Democrat Mike Sullivan became our Governor years ago.

The other primary system that the committee passed for consideration is an open primary, which is a great idea.

In that system, the top two vote getters in a non-partisan primary advance.  

Republicans here seem to think that this would mean that the top two vote getters would of course be Republicans, and the last Governor's race would have been between Gordon and Friess, and somehow Friess would have won. In reality, that race may well have still been between Gordon and Throne, as the state's numerous moderate Republicans would no longer have to actually register as that.  Indeed, it'd probably lead to an exodus from the GOP as there's be little point for moderates to remain in it at all.  That wouldn't help the GOP, but the GOP isn't grasping right now that the entire state isn't make up of populists.  

Indeed, California has such a system, and the Republican' Party, which once sent the likes of Ronald Reagan to their Governor's mansion, sure doesn't send any Republicans to it now.

Anyhow, party primaries, in my view, unfairly given established parties a state sponsored lock on elections. That's inherently unfair and it should go into the dust bin.  An open primary is a good idea.

June 10, 2021

A ballot initiative seeking to "legalize" "medical marijuana" and "decriminalize" recreational pot will be commenced for filing with the Wyoming Secretary of State today.

Neither of these initiatives if passed, and I predict they will be, will actually achieve either goal, as marijuana is illegal under the Federal law.  Indeed, because of that much about its properties is not known as it cannot be studied like other substances under Federal law, none of which will prevent the inevitable future flood of lawsuits which will allege that smoking marijuana made the plaintiffs ill or ruined their lives.

What they would do is mean that any state laws prohibiting the dispensing of such materials would go away and it could be sold without a state penalty.

All in all, there are plenty of legal substances that fit the bill for medical treatment or to make people stoned and more aren't needed.  The fact that the entire country is headed down this road is pretty good evidence that we've made a world that we really don't like very much.

While these initiatives should, in the greater sense, fail, they won't, and Wyoming can join the rush in western society to find one more way to distract, dull, and stupefy.

June 11, 2021

A bill that would prohibit businesses from requiring proof of vaccinations for the most part passed committee, with only Cathy Connolly voting against it.

August 30, 2021

A committee passed a bill providing subsidies to the movie industry for filming in Wyoming.   There was only one vote against it.

September 19, 2021

A bill proposes to add three new judges to the district court line up across the state.

Another bill proposes to raise the judicial retirement age from 70 to 75 years of age.

September 25, 2021

A bill has been introduced to eliminate no compete clauses in employment contracts.

October 10, 2021

A group opposing the proposed amendment to the Wyoming Constitution to change the election system to one featuring runoffs took out a full-page ad in today's tribune.

October 11, 2021

A draft bill proposes to make it clear that the Tribes on the Wind River Reservation are eligible for funding from the Wyoming Business Council.

It had always been assumed that they were, but recently there's been some doubt due t a recent Attorney General's opinion.

December 2, 2021

Two bills that proposed to create a runoff system for Wyoming's elections, should no candidate receive 50% of the vote in the primary, failed in committee

December 17, 2021

While it's making headline news, the actual impact would be small. The Joint Revenue Committee is sponsoring a bill to allow an optional tax on the sale of real property which sells for over $1,000,000. The tax would be 1%.

There's also a bill to eliminate the exemptions for professional services from sales tax (legal service, engineering services).

January 20, 2022

HB32 is a proposed bill that requires government entities, health care facilities and providers of essential services to provide accommodations for those who are not vaccinated.

January 29, 2022

The legislature is set to add two new House districts and one new Senate district.

A proposed Natrona County House district would run basically from eastern Natrona County outside of downtown Casper to the Converse County line, and is supposed to be more of an "energy district".  A Senate district is proposed to include the "central eastern" parts of the state and would include parts of Natrona County and Converse County, again separating out parts of the same region.

The legislatures redistricting map can be found here.

February 3, 2022

It should be noted that because this is a budget session, bills have to have something like a super majority in order to be considered.

This means that most bills discussed here will go nowhere.

Senate File 51 would ban would require any participant in high school sports to register on teams comporting to their genetic gender and provides a cause of action for students who lose a spot on a team where a violation of the bill occurs.  The bill states:

SENATE FILE NO. SF0051

 

 

Fairness in women's sports act.

 

Sponsored by: Senator(s) Schuler, French, Salazar and Steinmetz and Representative(s) Gray, Haroldson and Jennings

 

 

A BILL

 

for

 

AN ACT relating to school sports; prohibiting biological males from athletic teams and sports designated for females in public schools; establishing related causes of action and protections for individuals and educational institutions; requiring rulemaking; and providing for effective dates.

 

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

 

Section 1.  W.S. 21‑25‑101 through 21‑25‑103 are created to read:

 

CHAPTER 25

FAIRNESS IN WOMEN'S SPORTS ACT

 

21‑25‑101.  Short title.

 

This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the "Fairness in Women's Sports Act."

 

21‑25‑102.  Designation of athletic teams or sports.

 

(a)  Interscholastic, intercollegiate, intramural or club athletic teams or sports that are sponsored by a public primary or public secondary school, a public institution of higher education or any school or institution whose students or teams compete against a public school or public institution of higher education must be expressly designated as one (1) of the following based on the biological sex at birth of team members:

 

(i)  Males, men or boys;

 

(ii)  Females, women or girls; or

 

(iii)  Coed or mixed, including both males and females.

 

(b)  Athletic teams or sports designated for females, women or girls shall not be open to students of the male sex.

 

(c)  For purposes of this chapter, a statement of a student's biological sex on the student's official birth certificate is considered to have correctly stated the student's biological sex at birth if the statement was filed at or near the time of the student's birth.

 

21‑25‑103.  Cause of action; civil remedies.

 

(a)  Any student who is deprived of an athletic opportunity or suffers any direct or indirect harm as a result of a violation of this chapter shall have a private cause of action for injunctive relief, damages and any other relief available under law against the school, institution of higher education or athletic association or organization that violated this act.

 

(b)  Any student who is subject to retaliation or other adverse action by a school, institution of higher education or athletic association or organization as a result of reporting a violation of this chapter to an employee or representative of the school, institution or athletic association or organization, or to any state or federal agency with oversight of schools or institutions of higher education in this state, shall have a private cause of action for injunctive relief, damages and any other relief available under law against the school, institution or athletic association or organization.

 

(c)  Any school or institution of higher education that suffers any direct or indirect harm as a result of a violation of this chapter shall have a private cause of action for injunctive relief, damages and any other relief available under law against the governmental entity, licensing or accrediting organization or athletic association or organization.

 

(d)  All civil actions brought under this section must be initiated within two (2) years after the alleged harm occurred. Persons or organizations who prevail on a claim brought under this section shall be entitled to monetary damages, including for any psychological, emotional or physical harm suffered, reasonable attorney's fees and costs and any other appropriate relief.

 

Section 2.  Not later than August 15, 2022, the state board of education, the University of Wyoming and the Wyoming community college commission shall promulgate rules to implement the provisions of this act.

 

Section 3.  

 

(a)  Except as otherwise provided in subsection (b) of this section, this act is effective July 1, 2022.

 

(b)  Sections 2 and 3 of this act are 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.

Of the sponsors of the bill, only Chuck Gray commented.

As noted above, whatever a person thinks of the bill and the issue, it's unlikely to get consideration in a budget session, so this does raise the question of why bother with such bills in the off years.

Another bill proposes to greatly tighten restrictions where an elected official is also employed by a governmental entity which receives funding through it.

HOUSE BILL NO. HB0026

 

 

Dual public employment and office holding.

 

Sponsored by: Representative(s) Fortner, Ottman and Rodriguez-Williams and Senator(s) Bouchard, French, James and McKeown

 

 

A BILL

 

for

 

AN ACT relating to elections; imposing restrictions on  public employment and holding elected public office as specified; amending restrictions on holding multiple elected public offices as specified; and providing for an effective date.

 

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

 

Section 1.  W.S. 22‑2‑116 is amended to read:

 

22‑2‑116.  Restrictions on holding more than one elected public office; restrictions on holding public employment and elected public office.

 

(a)  No person may shall hold an elective public office in any governmental entity which either provides any funding for or receives any funding from another any governmental entity in which that person is employed or holds elected public office. If a person also is elected to a public office while holding another public office or hired by a governmental entity such that this section is applicable, the person shall resign from the employment or public office first held prior to assuming the new office or employment. 

 

(b)  As used in this section:

 

(i)  "Governmental entity" means any unit of state government or local government or any branch, subdivision or agency thereof or any school district, special district or other political subdivision of the state;

 

(ii)  "Local government" means any county, city or town.

 

Section 2.  This act is effective January 1, 2024.

Another bill proposes housing assistance to some Judges who reside in districts where housing is expensive. This must be an effort to increase the attractiveness of those positions.

2022

STATE OF WYOMING

22LSO-0266

 

 

 

HOUSE BILL NO. HB0040

 

 

Judges-housing allowance.

 

Sponsored by: Joint Judiciary Interim Committee

 

 

A BILL

 

for

 

AN ACT relating to courts; authorizing the award of housing assistance to judges and justices as specified; and providing for an effective date.

 

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

 

Section 1.  W.S. 5‑1‑112 is created to read:

 

5‑1‑112.  Housing assistance for judges.

 

Subject to constitutional and statutory provisions concerning when salaries can become effective, justices of the supreme court and judges of the district courts, chancery courts and circuit courts may receive housing assistance if the judge or justice resides in a county in Wyoming where the average cost of housing is significantly higher than the statewide population weighted average cost of housing. The supreme court shall promulgate rules for the award of housing assistance under this section.

 

Section 2.  This act is effective July 1, 2022.

This is frankly sad/distressing in some ways.

Yet another effort is being made to convert those courts into geriatocracies:

2022

STATE OF WYOMING

22LSO-0115

 

 

 

HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. HJ0001

 

 

Supreme court justices and district judges-retirement.

 

Sponsored by: Joint Judiciary Interim Committee

 

 

A JOINT RESOLUTION

 

for

 

A JOINT RESOLUTION proposing to amend the Wyoming Constitution by amending the retirement age requirements for Wyoming supreme court justices and district court judges.

 

BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WYOMING, two-thirds of all the members of the two houses, voting separately, concurring therein:

 

Section 1.  The following proposal to amend the Wyoming Constitution, Article 5, Section 5 is proposed for submission to the electors of the State of Wyoming at the next general election for approval or rejection to become valid as a part of the Constitution if ratified by a majority of the electors at the election:

 

Article 5, Section 5.  Voluntary retirement and compensation of justices and judges.

 

Subject to the further provisions of this section, the legislature shall provide for the voluntary retirement and compensation of justices and judges of the supreme court and district courts, and may do so for any other courts, on account of length of service, age and disability, and for their reassignment to active duty where and when needed. The office of every such justice and judge shall become vacant when the incumbent reaches the age of seventy (70) seventy-five (75) years, as the legislature may prescribe.; but, in the case of an incumbent whose term of office includes the effective date of this amendment, this provision shall not prevent him from serving the remainder of said term nor be applicable to him before his period or periods of judicial service shall have reached a total of six (6) years. The legislature may also provide for benefits for dependents of justices and judges.

 

Section 2.  That the Secretary of State shall endorse the following statement on the proposed amendment:

 

Currently, the Wyoming Constitution requires Wyoming Supreme Court justices and district court judges to retire upon reaching the age of seventy (70). This amendment increases the mandatory retirement age of Supreme Court justices and district court judges from age seventy (70) to age seventy-five (75).

 

The Constitution also currently provides an exception to the mandatory requirement to retire upon reaching age seventy (70) for justices and judges who had not yet completed six (6) years of judicial service as of December 12, 1972. The proposed amendment would remove the now-obsolete six (6) year service guarantee.

70 is old enough for these positions.  Here's hoping this bill gets nowhere.

A bill has been introduced on vehicles that are self-driving.

SENATE FILE NO. SF0016

 

 

Vehicles equipped with automated driving systems.

 

Sponsored by: Joint Transportation, Highways & Military Affairs Interim Committee

 

 

A BILL

 

for

 

AN ACT relating to motor vehicles; providing for the regulation of vehicles equipped with an automated driving system; defining terms; authorizing fees; creating an account; creating penalties; requiring rulemaking; requiring reports; and providing for effective dates.

 

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

 

Section 1.  W.S. 31‑21‑101 through 31‑21‑109 are created to read:

 

CHAPTER 21

AUTONOMOUS MOTOR VEHICLES

 

ARTICLE 1

VEHICLES EQUIPPED WITH AN AUTOMATED DRIVING SYSTEM

 

31‑21‑101.  Definitions.

 

(a)  As used in this article:

 

(i)  "Automated driving system" or "ADS" means the hardware and software that are collectively capable of performing the entire dynamic driving task on a sustained basis, regardless of whether the system is limited to a specific operational design domain. An ADS is used specifically to describe a level 3, 4 or 5 driving automation system as the standards of driving automation are defined in the SAE J3016 standard. An ADS equipped vehicle shall not include a motor vehicle that is equipped with systems that enhance safety or provide the human driver assistance, such as collision avoidance systems, which are not capable, collectively or singularly, of driving the motor vehicle without the active control or monitoring of a human driver;

 

(ii)  "Commercial vehicle" means as defined in W.S. 31‑18‑101(a)(iii), unless specified otherwise;

 

(iii)  "Department" means the department of transportation;

 

(iv)  "Dispatching entity" means a human who dispatches an ADS equipped vehicle in driverless operation;

 

(v)  "Dynamic driving task" means all of the real‑time operational and tactical functions required to operate a motor vehicle in on‑road traffic, including any specific functions identified in department rules, and excluding strategic functions such as trip scheduling and selection of destinations and waypoints;

 

(vi)  "Human driver" means a natural person in the vehicle with a valid class of license for the type of motor vehicle being operated who controls all or part of the dynamic driving task;

 

(vii)  "Operate" or "operation" means the activities collectively performed by a human driver with or without support from one (1) or more SAE J3016 driving automation level 1 or 2 system features or by a dispatching entity and an ADS to perform the entire dynamic driving task for a motor vehicle;

 

(viii)  "SAE J3016" means the Taxonomy and Definitions for Terms Related to Driving Automation Systems for On‑Road Motor Vehicles published by Society of Automotive Engineers International in June 2018.

 

31‑21‑102.  Operation of a vehicle equipped with an automated driving system; safety at railroad crossings.

 

(a)  A vehicle equipped with an ADS may be operated on the highways of this state provided:

 

(i)  The ADS equipped vehicle is registered pursuant to this title;

 

(ii)  The dispatching entity, or human driver if applicable, causes the ADS equipped vehicle to comply with all applicable traffic, motor vehicle and equipment laws and rules of this state, unless an exemption has been granted under department rules;

 

(iii)  While in driverless operation, the ADS equipped vehicle is capable of operating in compliance with the applicable traffic and motor vehicle safety laws and rules of this state;

 

(iv)  The ADS equipped vehicle is in compliance with all applicable safety standards, equipment requirements and performance requirements of state and federal law, unless a waiver has been granted by the relevant regulating agency;

 

(v)  The ADS equipped vehicle is in compliance with all applicable federal motor vehicle safety standards for the vehicle's model year or has a United States department of transportation or other relevant federal agency approved exemption from specific compliance.

 

(b)  The department may impose by rule any additional requirements necessary to ensure the safe operation of ADS equipped vehicles. Additional requirements may include rules for safely crossing railroad grade crossings. When promulgating rules that affect ADS equipped vehicle operations at railroad crossings, no exemption from department rules shall be granted for a vehicle model without having performed not less than one (1) onsite diagnostic at a railroad crossing involving the department and all railroad companies that operate at the crossing. Nothing in this subsection shall supersede the requirements in W.S. 31‑5‑511.

 

(c)  The department may by rule require notice from any entity demonstrating or testing new technology or operating conditions of a vehicle equipped with an ADS in the state. The information required as part of the notification process may be established by rule of the department.

 

31‑21‑103.  Valid license; requirements of dispatching entities and human drivers.

 

(a)  A dispatching entity operating a vehicle equipped with an ADS shall have a valid class of license for the type of motor vehicle being operated.

 

(b)  Nothing in this article prohibits or restricts a human driver from operating a vehicle equipped with an ADS that allows the human driver to control all or part of the dynamic driving task provided that the human driver holds the appropriate class of license for the type of motor vehicle being operated.

 

31‑21‑104.  Signage for commercial vehicles, registration and title of vehicles equipped with an automated driving system; insurance; reporting.

 

(a)  A commercial vehicle equipped with an ADS shall be clearly marked on the front, back and each side with appropriate signage notifying the public and law enforcement that it is operating autonomously. The markings shall include conspicuous contact information written in a size and font readable from not less than fifteen (15) feet away, to reach the dispatching entity.

 

(b)  A vehicle equipped with an ADS shall be properly registered in accordance with W.S. 31‑2‑201, 31‑18‑201 if applicable, and department rules.

 

(c)  A vehicle equipped with an ADS shall be properly titled in accordance with W.S. 31‑2‑101 and department rules.

 

(d)  At the time of registration and annual renewal of registration of a vehicle equipped with an ADS the following shall be submitted to the county treasurer in the county where the vehicle is registered:

 

(i)  Any update to the contact information of the dispatching entity;

 

(ii)  Verification the motor vehicle is covered in an aggregate amount of not less than five million dollars ($5,000,000.00) by a motor vehicle liability policy in full force and effect, or a bond on file with the department or self‑insurance pursuant to W.S. 31‑9‑414 in the same amount, either of which satisfies the requirements of W.S. 31‑2‑225(e);

 

(iii)  Verification of the uninsured motorist coverage as required by W.S. 31‑10‑101;

 

(iv)  For a commercial vehicle equipped with an ADS, an annual year‑end report for the previous year, submitted to the department, of the number of miles operated, safety issues encountered, any collisions, the amount of damages caused to any person or property, any injury to any human requiring medical attention and any striking of a big game animal.

 

31‑21‑105.  Requirements for commercial vehicles equipped with an automated driving system; prohibition of double, triple trailers and oversize or overweight loads.

 

(a)  In addition to all other requirements and fees under this article applicable to vehicles equipped with an ADS, a commercial vehicle equipped with an ADS shall:

 

(i)  Obtain a commercial permit specific to commercial vehicles equipped with an ADS and any mandated inspections or certificates specific to commercial vehicles equipped with an ADS according to rules and fees set by the department to recover a proportionate share of the department's infrastructure and administrative expenses incurred attributable specifically to regulation of commercial vehicles equipped with an ADS. Once established, the department may annually adjust the fees authorized under this paragraph not to exceed the percentage increase in the Wyoming cost‑of‑living index, as determined by the division of economic analysis of the department of administration and information, unless authorized by the legislature;

 

(ii)  Obtain an annual public safety communications system authorization and connection (WyoLink or other department approved method of communication), together with the payment of an annual fee of ten thousand dollars ($10,000.00), that will allow any Wyoming peace officer, public safety dispatch or the department to communicate directly with the dispatching entity, or human driver if applicable, and give that dispatching entity, or human driver if applicable, real‑time commands. The connection information may be coded so that only law enforcement, public safety dispatch or the department may contact the dispatching entity.

 

(b)  A dispatching entity shall comply with all licensing, training for hazardous materials, hours of service, drug testing, communication and other requirements that a Wyoming based commercial vehicle driver is required to comply with for operation in this state.

 

(c)  No commercial vehicle equipped with an ADS in any combination of two (2) or more single vehicles or trailers and no oversize or overweight vehicles equipped with an ADS shall operate on the highways of this state.

 

(d)  As used in this section, "commercial vehicle" means as defined in W.S. 31‑18‑201(a)(vii).

 

31‑21‑106.  Duties after crashes involving vehicles equipped with an automated driving system; vehicle operating data.

 

(a)  In the event of a crash involving a motor vehicle equipped with an ADS:

 

(i)  The vehicle equipped with an ADS shall remain on the scene of the crash when required by W.S. 31‑5‑1101 and 31‑5‑1102;

 

(ii)  The dispatching entity, human driver if applicable, or the ADS if the vehicle has the capability, shall promptly alert law enforcement or emergency services to the crash;

 

(iii)  The dispatching entity or human driver if applicable shall provide all requested operating data from before and during the accident to Wyoming law enforcement and any victim or victim's representative. If the dispatching entity or human driver if applicable wishes to protect proprietary data, the dispatching entity or human driver may request that a judge in the district where the collision occurred perform an in camera inspection and rule on the redaction of proprietary data.

 

31‑21‑107.  Rulemaking; fees; autonomous vehicle account.

 

(a)  Consistent with this article and other applicable state and federal laws, the department shall promulgate rules and shall develop and provide any forms necessary to implement this article.

 

(b)  For registration of a vehicle equipped with an ADS, in addition to the fees under W.S. 31‑3‑101, the department may assess an additional fee in an amount necessary to recover a proportionate share of the department's infrastructure and administrative expenses reasonably incurred attributable to regulation of motor vehicles equipped with an ADS. Once established, the department may annually adjust the fee authorized under this subsection not to exceed the percentage increase in the Wyoming cost‑of‑living index, as determined by the division of economic analysis of the department of administration and information, unless authorized by the legislature.

 

(c)  All funds the department receives from the fees authorized in subsection (b) of this section and W.S. 31‑21‑105(a) shall be deposited into the state highway fund.

 

31‑21‑108.  Penalties.

 

Any person who violates any provision of this article or rule of the department pursuant to this article is guilty of a misdemeanor and subject to a fine of not more than seven hundred fifty dollars ($750.00) per day for the first occurrence and not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000.00) per day for a subsequent offense.

 

31‑21‑109.  Annual report.

 

(a)  Not later than October 1 of each year, the department shall submit a report to the joint transportation, highways and military affairs interim committee. The annual report shall contain the following information for all registered vehicles equipped with an ADS to the extent that it is available and shall separately report the information for commercial vehicles equipped with an ADS:

 

(i)  A summary of operations in Wyoming;

 

(ii)  The total number of ADS equipped vehicles registered in Wyoming and ADS equipped commercial vehicles permitted in Wyoming;

 

(iii)  Miles driven for the past year and projected miles driven for the next year;

 

(iv)  Collision statistics;

 

(v)  A brief description of all moving violations and registration, title or permit violations;

 

(vi)  Recommendations for safety related legislation or legislation concerning other aspects of ADS equipped vehicles;

 

(vii)  Other data necessary to summarize fairly and accurately the annual operations of ADS equipped vehicles in Wyoming.

 

Section 2.  Not later than September 1, 2022, the department shall promulgate rules to administer this act.

 

Section 3.  

 

(a)  Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section, 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.

 

(b)  Section 1 of this act is effective September 1, 2022.

 

The state is having a terrible time balancing its books, but nonetheless the legislature is looking at repealing the inheritance tax, which only applies in Wyoming to the extremely wealthy.\

SENATE FILE NO. SF0034

 

 

Inheritance tax fees-repeal.

 

Sponsored by: Joint Revenue Interim Committee

 

 

A BILL

 

for

 

AN ACT relating to taxation and revenue; repealing the collection of fees related to state inheritance taxes; and providing for an effective date.

 

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

 

Section 1.  W.S. 39‑19‑102(a) is repealed.

 

Section 2.  This act is effective July 1, 2022.

Why?

Another bill seeks to catch up with the times in regard to the sale of utilities for electrical vehicles.

SENATE FILE NO. SF0035

 

 

Electric vehicle charging stations-regulation exemption.

 

Sponsored by: Joint Minerals, Business & Economic Development Interim Committee

 

 

A BILL

 

for

 

AN ACT relating to public utilities; specifying that the retail sale of electricity for charging electric vehicles is not subject to public utility provisions as specified; making conforming amendments to regulation exceptions; and providing for an effective date.

 

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

 

Section 1.  W.S. 37‑1‑101(a)(vi)(H)(VII) and by creating a new subdivision (X) is amended to read:

 

37‑1‑101.  Definitions.

 

(a)  As used in chapters 1, 2, 3, 12, 17 and 18 of this title: 

 

(vi)  "Public utility" means and includes every person that owns, operates, leases, controls or has power to operate, lease or control:

 

(H)  None of the provisions of this chapter shall apply to:

 

(VII)  The retail sale of compressed natural gas for use as motor vehicle fuel by a company which person that is not otherwise regulated under this title;

 

(X)  The retail sale of electricity for charging electric vehicles by a person that is not otherwise regulated under this title.

 

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.