Observations on a murder.

Earlier this week Robert Maher Jr., age 14, was murdered by Dominique Antonio Richard Harris, born in 2008, and Jarreth Joseflee Sabastian Plunkett, born in 2009.  The killing seems to have been planned for several days prior to the assault in the Eastridge Mall that lead to Maher's death.  Plunkett did the actual killing, with Harris slamming Maher to the ground beforehand.  

The technical origin of the fight was that Maher had called Plunkett and Harris "freaks" during Spring Break (something that didn't exist when I was in school) and that enraged the two of them.  He called them that has they went into a porta potty at a local park together, which is odd, but insulting them wasn't very smart.  This raises the specter of the Matthew Shepherd killing, which had elements which never really seemed to be accurately reported.  More likely, however, in the exaggerated juvenile maleness of the rootless and (I'll bet) fatherless mid teenage boy, that was an implied insult that had to be addressed.

Maher never seems to have gotten in a single punch in the assault.  The two assailants, who had stolen their weapons along with Red Bulls and candy that day, acted in such a fashion that, whether Harris intended it or not, gave Plunkett the opportunity to viciously knife him.

There's no reason here, we'd note, to use the classic "alleged" assault language. The two teenage boys killed the third. They're going to be tried as adults. They ought o be put away, forever.

But what else does this event tell us?

Casper's a rough town.

One thing that I saw soon after the murder was a comment by somebody on Facebook noting how they have moved from New Mexico, where their son had been knifed in a fight, to Casper under the belief that this was a quite safe town.

In another context, we've already spoken about immigrants into the state being delusional about it, and this is one such instance. Casper has never been a nice town.

Casper was founded in 1887, and it was violent from day one to some degree.  It was, however, originally a rial stop in cattle company, although it always had its eye on oil.  It was the jumping off spot for the invaders in the Johnson County War, which at least gives it a bit of a footnote in that violent event.  Casper's first murder occured on Saturday, September 20, 1890, when bartender John Conway shot and killed unarmed A. J. Tidwell, an FL Cattle Company cowboy in Lou Polk's dance house, following a round of fisticuffs.  The blood has been flowing ever since.

Casper really took a turn towards the wild side of life starting in World War One.  1917, as we've addressed here before, is when the Great War Oil boom really took off, and with it came a lot of men and a lot of vice. One of the things that created was Casper's infamous Sandbar district, in which prostitution was carried out openly and prohibition flaunted.  Repeated efforts to close it down utterly failed, until finally a 1970s vintage urban renewal project (yikes, the government taking a hand!") destroyed it.

With the booze and the prostitutes came murders (and no doubt disease) but it went on and on.  By and large, however, as odd as it may seem, people just acclimated themselves to it.  You got used to a town having a red-light district, and as there were some legitimate businesses in it, you'd go into it for legitimate reasons.  As a boy, we walked into the Sandbar in the early 70s to go to the War Surplus Store, which nobody seemed to think was a big deal. The America and Rialto movie theaters were just yards from the district, and the district's bars lapped up out of it into downtown Casper, with some of them being places were to walk around, rather than past, if at all possible.

Casper had quasi ethnic gangs when I was young, and at least in the schools that I attended, that was a factor of attending them.  You were careful about it.  It was impossible to get through junior high and high school without having been in a fight.  Most fights were hand to hand, but a teacher was knifed when I was in junior high breaking up a knife fight, so not all of them were.  In high school we all carried pocket knives and none of us were supposed to.  They were for protection.  While I was in high school, one of our classmates, who had been held back more than once, was killed outside a bar in a shooting, the result of a fight he provoked, which resulted in an ethnic riot at the school in which shots were fired.  The father of one of our classmates was killed by our classmate after he turned his molesting attention on her sister, having molested her for years.  Neither of these crimes resulted in prosecution.

The point is, for those who are shocked by the arrival of violence in Casper. . .well, it's been here since 1890.

The abandoned males

I keep waiting to hear the circumstances of the murderers' family lives and have not read any yet.  I'm sure it'll come out as the story advances.  While It's dangerous to speculate, there are reasons to suspect a few things, one being the killers likely had no fathers in the picture.   We're going to hear at some point that they were raised by their mothers, or in irregular homes.  I could of course be wrong, but I'll bet not.

Fatherless males are a major societal problem.  Fatherless males that are raised in an environment of sexual license are an even bigger problem.  Indeed, they're often fatherless for that reason in the first place, and they'll go on to spawn further fatherless children, who grow up in poverty and with little societal direction.  A minority will find that structure in the Old Law, the law before the law, which reaches back to tribalism in the extreme.  It's in the DNA.

The Old Law demanded death for transgressors too, something modern society has moved away from in large measure.  I've already heard it suggested that Harris and Plunkett should receive death, but due to their ages, I think that not very likely.  It'd be ill-advised, no matter what.  But tribalism spawns more tribalism.  The real personalities are lost of both the assailants and the victims.

Carrie Gress and feminism.

Lex Anteinternet: Lex Anteinternet: St. Patrick's Day: Lex Anteinternet: St. Patrick's Day : A Celtic cross in a local cemetery, marking the grave of a very Irish, and Irish Catholic, figure....

In the afternoon, I went out fishing and took the dog.  On the way, I was listening to a podcast, like I'll tend to do.  It was a Catholic Answers Focus interview of Carrie Gress and it was profound.  I'll post on that elsewhere.  

Here is elsewhere.

The title of the episode, and it should be easy to find, is Can Catholic's Fix Feminism?  Gress' answer seems to be no, but what was so interesting about it is that she, as a woman who holds a PhD has had a career as a professor was frank on some things that we've addressed here repeatedly, but from a more academic standpoint, and she was able to thread them together. Without really expressing it the same way we have here, she's spoke on metaphysics, theology and evolutionary biology, as well as political science.

We've typed out all of that here, but without really including the Marxism portion.

Gress basic thesis is that feminism really came out of the same radicalism as Marxism, and adopted a Marxist view that women should be compelled to live to the male standard.  It didn't really free women at all, it forced them into the male world where they're now judged on how well the live up. . . and down, to it.  She dared to say something that's an anathema to modern Americans, that your career will not make you happy, and it very well may make you miserable.

Tying it in to Marxism is also a bit of an anathema of a topic too, to most, but if you look at it, it's hard not to go there, at least in a fellow traveler's sort of way early on.  To at least a degree, even if you want to just lighten it up, early feminism fits into the family or radical movements of the early 20th Century, all of which were pretty heavily dominated by far left thought.  Communism itself was very hostile to motherhood and marriage, and wanted to destroy the latter.  The early radical Communists were opposed to both, and Whitaker Chambers discusses in Witness.  The association, at least tangentially, is there.  And of course, as the far left saw human value only in terms of people being "workers", this makes sense.  The American far left still speaks this way today, with Bernie Sanders, for example, being in favor of warehousing children so that their mothers can work, adopting the traditional leftist view that a human's value is found only there.

We've dealt with all of this before, of course, and frankly we've taken it one step further.

Feminism, its battle, grasped the economic nature, and the prejudicial nature, of men having every career open to them and women not having it. But they never looked for a second at the history of how that came about.  The assumption always was that men had grabbed these occupations for themselves and retained them by brute force.  In reality, however, the vast majority of male occupations had been forced upon them.  Where this was not true, in and in the original professions (law, the clergy, and medicine), the circumstances of Medieval life and biology, where in fact women had far more power in a generally more equal society than that of the early industrial revolution, caused this to come about.  

Failing to understand this, feminists created the Career Myth, which is that not only did men make a lot more money than most women, which was true, but that a career was the gateway to secular bliss.  Find a career, women were told, and you'd be perpetually happy.  Promotion of the myth was so skillfully done that it became a culturally accepted myth by the 1980s.  Even well into the 1980s, young men were told that they should work to find a "good job" so they could "support a family".  The idea almost universally was that the point of your career was to support a future family.  Almost nobody was expected to get rich, and frankly most professionals did not expect to.  Already by the 1960s the next concept was coming in, however, and by the 1990s the concept of Career Bliss had really set in.

The problem with it is that it's a lie.  Careers can make people miserable, but they rarely make most people happy.  Perhaps the exceptions are where a person's very strong natural inclinations are heavily aligned with a career, and certainly many female doctors who would have been nurses, for example, have benefited from the change, as just one example.

We are so in the thick of this that we hardly appreciate where we at on these matters now.  But this explains much of the misery of the modern world.  We don't live in accordance with our natures, or at least very few of us do, and we're really not allowed to.  An aspect of that is this topic. Women have careers open to them, and should, but they are now compelled to act like men within them, in every fashion.

I've recently had the displeasure of witnessing this in a peculiar fashion.  It hasn't been a pleasant thing to observe.  The interesting thing is that in observing it, when people feel free to make comments, they grasp their way back to the old standards, as with so much else, even while not living them.

Related Thread:

Women at work. "Whoever fought, for women to get jobs. . . . why?. . . . why did you do that?" Looking at women (and men) in the workplace, and modern work itself, with a long lens.

Labels: Agrarianism, Capitalism, Career Myth, Distributism, Playboy Philosophy, Sexual Revolution, The relationship between men and women, Traditionalism, trends, Women, Work

Cliffnotes of the Zeitgist Part 14. The Industrial Revolution and Child Care and other musings.

children, Ethnicities, Marilyn Monroe, religion, The 2021 Insurrection, The Law of Unintended Consequences, The relationship between men and women, You heard it here first, Zeitgeist

Blog Mirror: Getting "On With It"

From the excellent blog City Father.

Getting "On With It"

We've had a variety of posts sort of ballpark on this topic, more or less, recently.  Most of them have come up in the context of comparing "then and now", one of the purposes of this blog

This entry is so well done, I really can't riff off of it much.  What Fr. Franco states is so well stated, that I should just leave it alone, so I'll mostly do so.

To the extent I won't, it should be noted I guess that things in the Western World are so existentially screwed up right now, it's frightening, and it's expressing itself in corrupted ways in our culture and our politics, which are an expression of our culture, so much that it threatens to destroy it, and perhaps even us.  A certain getting back to the basics, or roots, seems to me to very much what is needed to be done, which one party in this contest seeks to do, but doesn't understand how to do it, or what the existential truths are, and the other seeks to eliminate it and create a bold new world which it won't succeed in doing.

I was unaware of the Rituale Romanum's "Exhortation before Marriage discussed in this text.  I wish that hadn't been removed, and I wish it would return.

Some recent bios and what they tell us about the realatively recent past.

In the last week or so, we've posted a series of threads that dealt with various personalities.  In setting them out, it occured to me how some of them actually reach back to the supposed purpose of this blog, which is:

Lex Anteinternet?

The Consolidated Royalty Building, where I work, back when it was new.

What the heck is this blog about?

The intent of this blog is to try to explore and learn a few things about the practice of law prior to the current era. That is, prior to the internet, prior to easy roads, and the like. How did it work, how regional was it, how did lawyers perceive their roles, and how were they perceived?

Part of the reason for this, quite frankly, has something to do with minor research for a very slow moving book I've been pondering. And part of it is just because I'm curious. Hopefully it'll generate enough minor interest so that anyone who stops by might find something of interest, once it begins to develop a bit.

Well, in reality, that broadened out pretty rapidly to taking into account looking at everything in this era in trying to get a grasp on it.  Since then, it's certainly broadened out enormously, probably much too much.

Anyhow, some recent items help illuminate some of the things of this era, and the one immediately after it.  Indeed, as we'll discuss, one of them helps actually define, maybe, how to property define certain eras.

The items we looked at which brings this to mind are the story of Maj. Gale "Buck" Cleven, that of Dick Proenekke, and also Lee Marvin, and the work of the Southern Agrarians, and that of Filippo Tommaso Marinetti.

Quite a varied set, I'll admit.

Let's start with Dr. Gale Cleven, which is how most people who knew him, knew him as, the latter part of his life.

I'd never heard of Dr. Cleven until I started Watching Masters of the Air.  The show references him as being from Casper Wyoming, and that caused me to research him further.  As noted on the entry on him, he was born in Lemmon, South Dakota, but came with his family to the oil town of Lusk when he was just a very small boy.  From there he moved to Casper, at some point.

What I could find on him notes that he worked as a roughneck as a young man, while going to college to study geology.  I did both of those things also, and also simultaneously, giving me an odd occupational connection with him, although one that's not all that uncommon around here.  I did find that a little startling, however.

What all that does, however, is to show the very long-lasting economic feature of Wyoming as being an oil and gas province, something that is still the case, but waning.  It remains a strong aspect of the state's economy, however.  This has been the case since, as we explored earlier, at least 1917, although things were headed that way earlier.  It's interesting, looking back, to realize how many of us in The Cowboy State, have worked in oil and gas in some fashion.  Given the economic reach of the industry, darned near everyone at one time.

Something else that really had the reach was the newspaper, in the form of The Society Page.  I was able to track Gale Cleven, as he would then have been known, joining a fraternity and going to UW dances.  I could even track who he was casually dating.

That's odd.

Society columns in newspapers were common at least into the 1950s, and even beyond that. They reported all sorts of snoopy stuff.  I've found, for example, my grandfather mentioned in The Denver Post because his sister was visiting, this in the 1930s.  Another sister of his visited somebody in Denver in the 1920s.  Whose business was that?

They also reported on when people went on vacations, even extended vacations, which is a horrible thought.

I guess it shows, to an extent, the concept of privacy, which the Internet has eroded, is a modern thing.  In the newspapers of the 20s divorces made front page news, births were mentioned, as they are now, scandals were reported, and where you were going, with whom, was as well.

People were keeping track of things and didn't need an iPhone to do it.  No wonder people all subscribed to the paper.

This item also pointed out what a small world Wyoming was and is.  Cleven, whom I had not heard of previously, took a relative by marriage to a dance.  She was from a ranch family that owned a ranch that I later owned a piece of.  She married a rancher who left his name on a prominent local feature.  One of her brothers-in-law was the best friend of one of my old, now long gone, partners.  That fellow was killed in World War Two.  My partner was a crewman on a B-24.

In the small world item also is the thought that I, my father, my wife, and my children all walked the same high school halls, and have driven on the same streets as this fellow.  

And that fame, to the extent fame is involved here, if fleeting.  I'd never heard of him in spite of his remarkable wartime service.  Nothing is named for him here.

Another thing, and one that cuts a bit against something I've noted here in the past.

As I've noted, for at least some Americans, going to university was really a post World War Two thing. That's widely known.  Less well known is that Catholics didn't go to university for the most part until after the war (and I don't know what religion Cleven was).  

Cleven's story shows that this was already changing before the war, however.  Cleven didn't come from a wealthy family, and his parents clearly weren't college educated.  But there he was, at UW, before the war.  

University education was reaching down to the Middle Class, even though we were still in an era when less than 50% of American males graduated from high school

Indeed, while its jumping ahead, the story of Richard Proenneke demonstrated that.  He dropped out of high school as it didn't interest him but went on to, at first, as successful blue collar career.  He seems to have actually retired in his 50s.

Back to Cleven, he had what looks to be the start of a pretty conventional, Wyoming, advanced education before the war, and then went on to an extraordinary one due to the war in no small part.  That demonstrates the manner in which World War Two altered all of society massively.

We'll get back to that.

Finally, in regard to Cleven, his story also demonstrates the ongoing impact of disease in that era.  His young wife was killed by polio.

The polio vaccine didn't come out until 1955, two years after her death.  Somewhat associated with children now, polio in fact struck adults as well.  It was highly contagious and it often killed rapidly.  People went form well in the morning to dead by the end of the day.   And the deaths weren't pleasant. That appears to be basically what happened to her.

Polio, like Small Pox, and Measles are all preventable by vaccines.  So is Covid.  Not until recently, in the post Reagan post Scientific era, have Americans lost their faith in these lifesavers.  

And that is, quite frankly, stupid.

Let's look at Proenekke.

I really think Proennekke's story has been misconstrued, now that I've looked at it.  He tends to be viewed as somebody who turned his back on the modern world and moved to the Alaskan outback.  In reality, however, he's a guy who lived his whole life as a single man and retired young, then moved, in retirement, to the outback.

It's a bit different.

Proennekke's life brings to mind two items of social change, both of which are increasing rare and difficult for "moderns", or "post moderns", if you prefer to understand.  One is the existence of lifelong bachelors with nothing else being assumed about that status, and the other is the true jack of all trades.

We'll take the bachelorhood story, which we've dealt with before in another context, first.

Supposedly today 30.4% of men never marry, more or less (that's a 2010 figure) and 23% of women.  In 1900 that figure was 38.8% and 29.7% respectively, but that doesn't mean the same thing at all.  We've already seen that prior to the mid 20th Century, in many places "living together" was a crime, and in others that would have resulted in a common law marriage.  So those figures really reflect people who lived lives alone

The percentages dropped for every decade of the 20th Century, until the 80s, when they started hovering right around 30% consistently, never going back up to the 1900 38.8% for men.  For what it is worth, for women they dropped to an all-time low for the 1960s, of 17.3%, and the went up to about 23% where they've remained.  Realistically, however, the current 30% and 23% are probably significantly lower, if we take into account situations where couples exist but without the formal benefit of marriage.

And that's significant in multiple ways.

Currently, nearly any male in the "never married" category without some sort of female "significant other" will flat out be assumed to be homosexual once they get much past 30 years of age.  Many people will even assume that Catholic clerics must be homosexual, as they are required to be celibates.  The pressure is so high on unmarried males to declare, in some fashion or another, at the present time, that its actually proven to be a problem for recruiting Catholic Priests as some who have expressed a latent desire to do so have already married due to pressure, or have gone down the secularly pressured road of girlfriend and actions that used to wait until marriage to the extent that they really cannot get back from it.  For that matter, single men past a certain age are not only assumed to be homosexual, but are often societally pressured, in some areas, to be one in order to explain their status.  The thought that somebody could function, more or less alone, but with normal inclinations, just doesn't exist anymore.  The thought that anyone, and indeed anyone who isn't a cleric, could function in a single celibate way is almost regarded as making that person a raving deviant.

It was quite common, however, at one time.  Indeed, there are at least four movies that touch on the topic, all of which might be a little hard for people to grasp now, but which showed that this was a normal frame of reference for viewing audiences at one time, with those files being Marty (1955), The Apartment (1960) Only The Lonely (1991) and Brooklyn (2015).  The evolution of the films shows how this evolved, with the protagonist in Marty being a single male who is assumed by everyone, including his family, will remain one.  Indeed, they wish him to.  In The Apartment it is not assumed that the young executive will marry, even as he develops a deep affection for the female protagonist.  In Only The Lonely the situation is much the same as Marty, but with the mandatory introduction, by that time, of sex into the film.  In Brooklyn the assumption of marriage is much stronger, and indeed becomes a problem during the film.

Truth be known, however, up until at least the 1980s this was a relatively common thing to encounter, and there was no assumption that a single male was attracted to other men by any means.  Usually the single status was regarded as sort of a tragedy, but not one that was a deviation from the norm to much of a degree.  Indeed, I can easily recall several examples of this in adults when I was growing up.

One such individual was a plumber who was well liked and who lived next to my grandmother.  He was a veteran of World War Two and had served almost the entire war in a Japanese POW camp. For that reason, he never turned the lights off in his small house, as they had not done that in the camp.  HE never married.

Also, a tradesman, another person in my father's circle of friends was a fellow who was a plumber and who didn't marry until the 1980s, at which time that was regarded as nearly foolish as he would have been in his very late 50s or perhaps 60s at the time.  His long bachelorhood was not regarded as strange in any fashion, and for much of that time he lived with his mother, inheriting her house after she passed away.

Another example was a friend of my father's who was a mail carrier.  He'd started off before World War Two to become a Protestant minister in his home state of Nebraska, but like so many others, the war interrupted his planned career, and he was an artillery spotter during the war.  When he came back, he did not resume his studies, although he remained devoutly religious.  He dated after the war, at least until the late 1950s, but never found anyone and never married, passing way after my father and after having lived a very long life.  He was one of two postmen who shared a lifelong bachelorhood status, the other one living in a tiny house in North Casper, who when he passed away was a millionaire.

About the only example of this that ever struck me as odd, when I was a boy, were a brother and sister who lived down the block from us. They were both school teachers and never married, and lived into their old ages in a house they jointly owned.  I recall they called my father by a diminutive, the only people who ever did that, which he hated.

They had a Golden Labrador.

Finally, the owner of a men's clothing store here in town was single his whole life.  He was a fanatic UW football fan.

Could any of these people have been closeted homosexuals? Sure, but it certainly wasn't assumed so.  Indeed, it was just regarded as the fate they'd fallen into and a bit sad.  Most of them had something that was a bit quirky about their characters, and the majority of them were tradesmen or blue collar workers, although not all were. That might tell us something there.

Prior to the Second World War, there were entire occupations that tended to be dominated by single men.  Most of those occupations involved hard labor in some fashion.  By the 1920s ranch hands, for example, were single men, and they often spent their entire careers in relatively low paying jobs that precluded them from ever marrying.  The few places that actually have hired cowhands today, if you find a career one, replicate this.  Enlisted men in the Army had always been single in US history unless they advanced to more senior Non Commissioned Officer status.  Well after World War Two, enlisted men frequently required permission to marry from their commanding officers, and before World War Two they routinely did. Wartime was the exception, as married men were brought into the service during war.  Even junior officers were not usually married.

This somewhat reflects, therefore, the harder working conditions and lower incomes in society overall.  Being married took enough of a male's income to make it work, as women often were not employed and typically were not employed once they started having children.  Hired hand status on farms and ranches, and enlisted status in the service, precluded marriage as a result.  The long working hours in some instances, and griminess of manual labor, also worked against marriage for a certain percentage of men as hypergyny didn't favor it, if other options were available.

Indeed, this also helps explain the occupations that the actually closeted went into, as has been discussed before.  Generally occupations that paid better, or steadily, and perhaps which weren't grimy in comparison to others, also favored marriage.  Occupations that were essentially white collar in a way, that didn't favor marriage were very few and far between.

The other thing Proennekke's story brings up is the successful jack of all trades.  His father was one, and he seems to have been as well.  Men with really good mechanical skills who could go from one setting to another were pretty common, and indeed they were at least up until the 1990s.  "He's good with his hands" was a compliment that was often paid to somebody who could act as a universal skilled laborer.  

I'm sure that these guys still exist, but not nearly in the numbers they once did.  I really can't recall meeting one recently, except for older ranchers who are that way by default.  Indeed, everyone I knew of a certain age who had grown up on a farm or ranch was like this.  I was actually surprised as an adult to meet younger ranchers who didn't have those skills, although plenty of them still do.

Finally, there's the modern aspect of strongly pigeonholing, indeed even limiting, people by their perceived disabilities, many of them mild.

The item on Lee Marvin notes that he was afflicted with ADHD, which may in part account for his somewhat wild nature, his early failings at school, and his strong affinity for alcohol.  Or maybe not.  At any rate, he was enormously successful at his trade, acting, and he would never have known he was ADHD, if he was.

This is true of all sorts of things like this. Dyslexia, which I have in a mild form, also afflicted such people as George S. Patton.  Not knowing what it was, you didn't really worry about it, and carried on.  

It's not that these things should be ignored, but I worry that our appreciation of them may not be really well-founded in biology, and certainly evolutionary biology.  Dyslexia, some now claim, is not a neurological disorder or an impairment, but a concession for cognitive strengths in exploration, big-picture thinking, creativity, and problem-solving, so its a byproduct of generally positive aspects.  ADHD, which occurs strongly in some human populations, is now suspected to be an evolutionary trait favored evolutionary people, which makes lots of sense, and which frankly is something that we earlier realized when we called people polymaths and autodidacts.  In contrast, the large occurrence of anxiety in our modern populations reflects an evolutionary need to be careful and alert, made problematic as our modern cubicle lifestyle sucks.

The 2024 Wyoming Legislative Session. Pulling into the station (Part 2)

The legislature convene on February 12, and the committees are presently busy for this year's budget session.

As political junkies know, every other session of the legislature if a budget session, which theoretically means that the salon only deals with the budget.  The assembly can consider regular bills, but it requires more support to put the bills out on the floor, so its more difficult.

Some bills have been kicked around in the news, but that doesn't really mean that they're going to be out on the floor, so it can be a bit confusing.  One such bill is this one, which was reported on in one of the online journals today.

A complete list of bills, at the time of this post, are below:

HB0002 Nonresident fishing license fee increase. Travel Bill Number Assigned 11/30/2023

HB0003 Property tax exemption for long-term homeowners. Revenue Bill Number Assigned 11/30/2023

HB0004 Property tax refund program. Revenue Bill Number Assigned 11/30/2023

HB0005 Behavioral health redesign amendments. Labor Bill Number Assigned 11/30/2023

HB0006 Light and high profile vehicle closures. Transportation Bill Number Assigned 12/05/2023

HB0007 Alternative fuel tax-electricity amendments. Transportation Bill Number Assigned 12/05/2023

HB0008 Commercial driver license-hazardous materials endorsement. Transportation Bill Number Assigned 12/05/2023

HB0009 Fuel tax-licensee information deadline. Transportation Bill Number Assigned 12/05/2023

HB0010 Grace period-state land lease renewals. Agriculture Bill Number Assigned 12/05/2023

HB0011 State land lease amendments. Agriculture Bill Number Assigned 12/05/2023

HB0012 Wyoming dairy marketing act-repeal. Agriculture Bill Number Assigned 12/05/2023

HB0013 Flow-through pools-exemption. Agriculture Bill Number Assigned 12/05/2023

HB0014 Prior authorization regulations. Labor Bill Number Assigned 12/07/2023

HB0015 Health insurance-reimbursement of overpayments. Labor Bill Number Assigned 12/07/2023

HB0016 Sutton state archaeological site-legal description. Travel Bill Number Assigned 12/11/2023

HB0017 Fishing outfitters and guides-registration of fishing boats. Travel Bill Number Assigned 12/11/2023

HB0018 Property tax-inflation cap. Revenue Bill Number Assigned 12/11/2023

HB0019 Education savings accounts. Education Bill Number Assigned 12/12/2023

HB0020 School finance-regional cost adjustment study. Education Bill Number Assigned 12/12/2023

HB0021 Charter school leasing. Sel Sch Fac Bill Number Assigned 12/14/2023

HB0022 Sales tax revisions. Revenue Bill Number Assigned 12/15/2023

HB0023 Vehicle registration e-certificate and grace period. Larson, JT Bill Number Assigned 12/21/2023

HB0024 Certificate of need repeal. Labor Bill Number Assigned 12/21/2023

HB0025 Medicaid-third party payor conditions. Labor Bill Number Assigned 12/21/2023

HB0026 Emergency protective services-effective period. Judiciary Bill Number Assigned 12/21/2023

HB0027 DFS and law enforcement-cross reporting. Judiciary Bill Number Assigned 12/21/2023

HB0028 Interference with parent-child contact. Judiciary Bill Number Assigned 12/21/2023

HB0029 Cold case database and investigations. Judiciary Bill Number Assigned 12/21/2023

HB0030 Controlled Substances Act-possession amendments. Judiciary Bill Number Assigned 12/21/2023

HB0031 Peace officers-records and reporting. Judiciary Bill Number Assigned 12/21/2023

HB0032 Geologic sequestration-unitization amendments. Minerals Bill Number Assigned 01/03/2024

HB0033 Mining operations-blasting requirements. Minerals Bill Number Assigned 01/03/2024

HB0034 Solid waste municipal cease and transfer funding. Minerals Bill Number Assigned 01/03/2024

HB0035 Limitation on environmental rulemaking. Minerals Bill Number Assigned 01/03/2024

HB0036 Natural Resource Protection Act. Fed Nat Res Bill Number Assigned 01/03/2024

HB0037 Election offenses-intimidation. Corporations Bill Number Assigned 01/03/2024

HB0038 Voter qualifications-durational residency requirement. Corporations Bill Number Assigned 01/03/2024

HB0039 Campaign reporting. Corporations Bill Number Assigned 01/03/2024

HB0040 School district trustee oath of office. Corporations Bill Number Assigned 01/03/2024

HB0041 Candidates for state legislature-residency requirement. Corporations Bill Number Assigned 01/03/2024

HB0042 Prohibition on private funds for conducting elections. Corporations Bill Number Assigned 01/03/2024

HB0043 State forestry good neighbor-positions. Fed Nat Res Bill Number Assigned 01/03/2024

HB0044 Parental rights in minor child’s health care. Labor Bill Number Assigned 01/04/2024

HB0045 Property tax exemption-residential structures. Crago Bill Number Assigned 01/05/2024

HB0046 Chancery court-timeline for resolution of disputes. Walters Bill Number Assigned 01/08/2024

HB0047 Solid waste-illegal dumping remediation grants. Penn Bill Number Assigned 01/08/2024

HB0048 Renaming the deaf, dumb and blind account. Conrad Bill Number Assigned 01/09/2024

HB0049 By the people act. Penn Bill Number Assigned 01/09/2024

HB0050 What is a Woman Act. Ward Bill Number Assigned 01/09/2024

HB0051 Public indecency-intimidation. Neiman Bill Number Assigned 01/09/2024

HB0052 Property tax-homestead exemption. Sommers Bill Number Assigned 01/10/2024

HB0053 Public health emergency-definition amendments. Ward Bill Number Assigned 01/10/2024

HB0054 Wyoming Reads Day. Washut Bill Number Assigned 01/10/2024

HB0055 State budgeting and reserves-account repeal. Cap Fin & Inv Bill Number Assigned 01/10/2024

HB0056 State budgeting and reserves-general funds. Cap Fin & Inv Bill Number Assigned 01/10/2024

HJ0001 Property tax-classes of property and residential value. Revenue Bill Number Assigned 12/11/2023

HJ0002 Political expenditures. Corporations Bill Number Assigned 01/03/2024

SF0003 State employee leave for volunteer fire or volunteer EMS. Labor Bill Number Assigned 11/30/2023

SF0004 Rehiring retired firefighters-continued retirement benefits. Labor Bill Number Assigned 11/30/2023

SF0005 Organ transplant recipient protection. Labor Bill Number Assigned 11/30/2023

SF0006 Nursing home administrators-temporary licenses. Labor Bill Number Assigned 11/30/2023

SF0007 Behavioral health redesign-vulnerable adults. Labor Bill Number Assigned 11/30/2023

SF0008 Health insurance for volunteer emergency responders. Labor Bill Number Assigned 11/30/2023

SF0009 Parental rights in education-1. Education Bill Number Assigned 12/04/2023

SF0010 Eminent domain-energy collector systems. Agriculture Bill Number Assigned 12/04/2023

SF0011 Eminent domain energy collector systems amendments. Agriculture Bill Number Assigned 12/04/2023

SF0012 Meat processing plants-hides and carcasses. Agriculture Bill Number Assigned 12/04/2023

SF0013 Federal land use plans-legal actions authorized. Agriculture Bill Number Assigned 12/04/2023

SF0014 State fair board-powers and responsibilities. Agriculture Bill Number Assigned 12/04/2023

SF0015 Acceptance of retrocession-federal military installations. Transportation Bill Number Assigned 12/07/2023

SF0016 Military department emergency fire suppression account. Transportation Bill Number Assigned 12/07/2023

SF0017 Plane coordinates system-amendments. Transportation Bill Number Assigned 12/07/2023

SF0018 Indian child welfare act-safe haven amendments. Tribal Relations Bill Number Assigned 12/14/2023

SF0019 Developmental preschool funding. Education Bill Number Assigned 12/14/2023

SF0020 Electricity rates for costs that do not benefit Wyoming. Corporations Bill Number Assigned 12/18/2023

SF0021 Public utilities-net power cost sharing ratio. Corporations Bill Number Assigned 12/18/2023

SF0022 Public service commission-electricity reliability. Corporations Bill Number Assigned 12/18/2023

SF0023 Public utilities-energy resource procurement. Corporations Bill Number Assigned 12/18/2023

SF0024 Public service commission-integrated resource plans. Corporations Bill Number Assigned 12/18/2023

SF0025 Reclamation and decommissioning costs. Corporations Bill Number Assigned 12/18/2023

SF0026 Special district vacancies. Corporations Bill Number Assigned 12/18/2023

SF0027 Special districts bond elections exception. Corporations Bill Number Assigned 12/18/2023

SF0028 Federal natural resource management coordinator. Fed Nat Res Bill Number Assigned 12/18/2023

SF0029 Major political parties-state central party voting members. Case Bill Number Assigned 12/18/2023

SF0030 Influencing jurors and witnesses-judges amendment. Judiciary Bill Number Assigned 12/19/2023

SF0031 Sex offender registration-promoting obscenity. Judiciary Bill Number Assigned 12/19/2023

SF0032 Hemp-limitations on psychoactive substances. Judiciary Bill Number Assigned 12/19/2023

SF0033 Wyoming rural attorney recruitment program. Judiciary Bill Number Assigned 12/19/2023

SF0034 Sex offender registration-registerable offenses. Judiciary Bill Number Assigned 12/19/2023

SF0035 Public records-DOC investigations. Judiciary Bill Number Assigned 12/19/2023

SF0036 Uniform Child Abduction Prevention Act. Judiciary Bill Number Assigned 12/19/2023

SF0037 Indian child welfare act-delinquency amendments. Tribal Relations Bill Number Assigned 12/26/2023

SF0038 Financial reporting amendments-2. Mgt Audit Bill Number Assigned 01/04/2024

SF0039 Firefighters recruitment film. Labor Bill Number Assigned 01/05/2024

SF0040 Outdoor Recreation and Tourism Trust Fund Administration. Travel Bill Number Assigned 01/08/2024

SF0041 Banking division-classification and salary exemptions. Minerals Bill Number Assigned 01/09/2024

SF0042 Low-carbon reliable energy standards-amendments. Minerals Bill Number Assigned 01/09/2024

SF0043 Pore space-severances and separate conveyances prohibited. Minerals Bill Number Assigned 01/09/2024

SF0044 Limited mining operations-amendments. Minerals Bill Number Assigned 01/09/2024

Some interesting ones:

2024

STATE OF WYOMING

24LSO-0344

HOUSE BILL NO. HB0036

Natural Resource Protection Act.

Sponsored by: Select Federal Natural Resource Management Committee

A BILL

for

AN ACT relating to protection of constitutional rights; providing a declaration of authority and policy; prohibiting the enforcement of federal rules or regulations regarding federal land management as specified; providing an exception; and providing for an effective date.

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

Section 1.  W.S. 9‑14‑301 through 9‑14‑303 are created to read:

ARTICLE 3

NATURAL RESOURCE PROTECTION ACT

9‑14‑301.  Short title.

This article shall be known and may be cited as the "Natural Resource Protection Act."

9‑14‑302.  Declaration of authority and policy.

(a)  The Natural Resource Protection Act is enacted under the authority of the tenth amendment to the United States constitution and Wyoming's agreement with the United States that the state adopted when it joined the union under the United States constitution's system of dual sovereignty.

(b)  The legislature finds and declares:

(i)  The federal government shall comply with federal law when administering federal lands;

(ii)  The federal government arbitrarily restricting significant amounts of federal lands from public use is contrary to managing federal land under principles of multiple use and sustained yield;

(iii)  Any failure by the federal government to abide by the law undermines the rule of law that is vital to our system of government. 

9‑14‑303.  Prohibiting the enforcement of federal regulation regarding federal land management; penalty.

(a)  Upon a determination by the governor, with advice from the attorney general, that an executive order, final rule or regulation of the federal government does not comply with federal laws regarding federal land management and upon providing notice, this state and all political subdivisions of this state shall not use any personnel, funds appropriated by the legislature or any other source of funds that originate within the state of Wyoming to enforce or administer that federal executive order, final rule or regulation. The governor shall not revoke a valid primacy agreement with a federal agency over the regulation and enforcement of a federal law or program until a court of competent jurisdiction determines the federal executive order, final rule or regulation is unlawful.

(b)  Nothing in this act shall limit or restrict a public officer, as defined by W.S. 6‑5‑101(a)(v), from providing assistance to federal authorities for purposes not specifically identified in subsection (a) of this section. Nothing in this act shall be construed to prohibit any governmental entity from accepting federal funds for law enforcement purposes.

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

This is probably an illegal proposal, given as it intrudes on Federal supremacy.

One addressing residence requirements for running for office has been introduced.

2024

STATE OF WYOMING

4LSO-0094

HOUSE BILL NO. HB0041

Candidates for state legislature-residency requirement.

Sponsored by: Joint Corporations, Elections & Political Subdivisions Interim Committee

A BILL

for

AN ACT relating to elections; clarifying the residency requirement for candidates for the state legislature; and providing for an effective date.

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

Section 1.  W.S. 22‑5‑102(a)(intro) and (ii) is amended to read:

22‑5‑102.  Eligibility to be a candidate for state legislature; residency.

(a)  For the purpose of meeting residency requirements of the Wyoming constitution, a person shall not be a candidate for the state legislature from a legislative district unless he has been a resident of that legislative district for at least one (1) year next preceding his before the date of the applicable general election. In any general election year in which a plan of legislative districts is required but has not been enacted into law at least one (1) year prior to the applicable filing periods, a person may be a candidate for the state legislature from a legislative district if he:

(ii)  Has been a resident of a county for at least one (1) year next preceding his before the date of the applicable general election in which any portion of that legislative district is located.

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

One that has already been reported on:

HOUSE BILL NO. HB0050

What is a Woman Act.

Sponsored by: Representative(s) Ward, Allemand, Angelos, Bear, Haroldson, Hornok, Jennings, Locke, Neiman, Ottman, Pendergraft, Penn, Rodriguez-Williams, Slagle, Smith and Strock

A BILL

fod

AN ACT relating to common law, statutes and rules of construction; specifying definitions and standards for the application of a person's biological sex in law, rules or regulations; providing for the law to distinguish between accommodations for males and females; requiring the collection of vital statistics and other data to identify persons as male or female at birth; and providing for an effective date.

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

Section 1.  W.S. 8‑1‑110 is created to read:

8‑1‑110.  References to males and females; separate accommodations for males and females; data reporting requirements.

(a)  Notwithstanding any other provision of law, with respect to the application of a person's biological sex under any law or rule and regulation in this state, the following definitions and standards shall apply:

(i)  A person's "sex" means the person's biological sex, either male or female, at birth;

(ii)  "Female" means a person whose biological reproductive system is developed to produce ova and/or who exhibits XX chromosomes and does not exhibit a Y chromosome;

(iii)  "Male" means a person whose biological reproductive system is developed to fertilize the ova of a female and/or who exhibits XY chromosomes or exhibits a Y chromosome;

(iv)  The terms "woman" and "girl" refer to human females, and the terms "man" and "boy" refer to human males;

(v)  "Mother" means a parent of the female sex;

(vi)  "Father" means a parent of the male sex;

(vii)  With respect to biological sex, the term "equal" does not mean "same" or "identical";

(viii)  With respect to biological sex, separate accommodations are not inherently unequal; and

(ix)  A person born with a medically recognized condition of a "disorder or difference in sex development" shall be provided legal protections and accommodations afforded under the Americans with Disabilities Act, as amended, and any other applicable Wyoming law.

(b)  The legislature finds that laws, rules and regulations that distinguish between the sexes are subject to intermediate constitutional scrutiny. Intermediate constitutional scrutiny forbids unfair discrimination against similarly situated male and female persons but allows the law to distinguish between the sexes where such distinctions are substantially related to important governmental objectives.

(c)  Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, laws, rules and regulations that recognize or enforce distinctions between the sexes with respect to athletics, prisons or other detention facilities, domestic violence shelters, rape crisis centers, locker rooms, restrooms and other areas where safety or privacy are implicated and that result in separate accommodations between the sexes are substantially related to the important governmental objectives of protecting the health, safety and privacy of persons in such circumstances.

(d)  Any school district, or public school thereof, and any state agency, department, office or other political subdivision that collects vital statistics for the purpose of complying with anti‑discrimination laws or for the purpose of gathering accurate public health, crime, economic or other data shall identify each person who is part of the collected data set as either male or female consistent with the persons sex at birth.

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

The bill is presently with the LSO.

An attorney recruitment bill has been proposed.

2024

STATE OF WYOMING

24LSO-0061

SENATE FILE NO. SF0033

Wyoming rural attorney recruitment program.

Sponsored by: Joint Judiciary Interim Committee

A BILL

for

AN ACT relating to attorneys-at-law; establishing the rural attorney recruitment pilot program; specifying eligibility requirements for counties and attorneys to participate in the program; specifying administration, oversight and payment obligations for the program; requiring reports; providing a sunset date for the program; authorizing the adoption of rules, policies and procedures; providing an appropriation; and providing for an effective date.

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

Section 1.  W.S. 33‑5‑201 through 33‑5‑203 are created to read:

ARTICLE 2

RURAL ATTORNEY RECRUITMENT PROGRAM

33‑5‑201.  Rural attorney recruitment program established; findings; program requirements; county qualifications; annual reports.

(a)  In light of the shortage of attorneys practicing law in rural Wyoming counties, the legislature finds that the establishment of a rural attorney recruitment program constitutes a valid public purpose, of primary benefit to the citizens of the state of Wyoming.

(b)  The Wyoming state bar may establish a rural attorney recruitment program to assist rural Wyoming counties in recruiting attorneys to practice law in those counties.

(c)  Each county eligible under this subsection may apply to the Wyoming state bar to participate in the program. A county is eligible to participate in the program if the county:

(i)  Has a population of not greater than twenty‑five thousand (25,000);

(ii)  Has an average of not greater than one and one‑half (1.5) qualified attorneys in the county for every one thousand (1,000) residents. As used in this paragraph, "qualified attorney" means an attorney who provides legal services to private citizens on a fee basis for an average of not less than twenty (20) hours per week. "Qualified attorney" shall not include an attorney who is a full‑time judge, prosecutor, public defender, judicial clerk, in‑house counsel, trust officer and any licensed attorney who is in retired status or who is not engaged in the practice of law;

(iii)  Agrees to provide the county share of the incentive payment required under this article;

(iv)  Is determined to be eligible to participate in the program by the Wyoming state bar.

(d)  Before determining a county's eligibility, the Wyoming state bar shall conduct an assessment to evaluate the county's need for an attorney and the county's ability to sustain and support an attorney. The Wyoming state bar shall maintain a list of counties that have been assessed and are eligible to participate in the program under this article. The Wyoming state bar may revise any county assessment or conduct a new assessment as the Wyoming State bar deems necessary to reflect any change in a county's eligibility.

(e)  In selecting eligible counties to participate in the program, the Wyoming state bar shall consider:

(i)  The county's demographics;

(ii)  The number of attorneys in the county and the number of attorneys projected to be practicing in the county over the next five (5) years;

(iii)  Any recommendations from the district judges and circuit judges of the county;

(iv)  The county's economic development programs;

(v)  The county's geographical location relative to other counties participating in the program;

(vi)  An evaluation of any attorney or applicant for admission to the state bar seeking to practice in the county as a program participant, including the attorney's or applicant's previous or existing ties to the county;

(vii)  Any prior participation of the county in the program;

(viii)  Any other factor that the Wyoming state bar deems necessary.

(f)  A participating eligible county may enter into agreements to assist the county in meeting the county's obligations for participating in the program.

(g)  Not later than October 1, 2024 and each October 1 thereafter that the program is in effect, the Wyoming state bar shall submit an annual report to the joint judiciary interim committee on the activities of the program. Each report shall include information on the number of attorneys and counties participating in the program, the amount of incentive payments made to attorneys under the program, the general status of the program and any recommendations for continuing, modifying or ending the program.

33‑5‑202.  Rural attorney recruitment program; attorney requirements; incentive payments; termination of program.

(a)  Except as otherwise provided in this subsection, any attorney licensed to practice law in Wyoming or an applicant for admission to the Wyoming state bar may apply to the Wyoming state bar to participate in the rural attorney recruitment program established under this article. No attorney or applicant shall participate in the program if the attorney or applicant has previously participated in the program or has previously participated in any other state or federal scholarship, loan repayment or tuition reimbursement program that obligated the attorney to provide legal services in an underserved area.

(b)  Not more than five (5) attorneys shall participate in the program established under this article at any one (1) time.

(c)  Subject to available funding and as consideration for providing legal services in an eligible county, each attorney approved by the Wyoming state bar to participate in the program shall be entitled to receive an incentive payment in five (5) equal annual installments. Each annual incentive payment shall be paid on or after July 1 of each year. Each annual incentive payment shall be in an amount equal to ninety percent (90%) of the University of Wyoming college of law resident tuition for thirty (30) credit hours and annual fees as of July 1, 2024.

(d)  Subject to available funding, the supreme court shall make each incentive payment to the participating attorney. The Wyoming state bar and each participating county shall remit its share of the incentive payment to the supreme court in a manner and by a date specified by the supreme court. The Wyoming state bar shall certify to the supreme court that a participating attorney has completed all annual program requirements and that the participating attorney is entitled to the incentive payment for the applicable year. The responsibility for incentive payments under this section shall be as follows:

(i)  Fifty percent (50%) of the incentive payments shall be from funds appropriated to the supreme court;

(ii)  Thirty‑five percent (35%) of the incentive payments shall be provided by each county paying for attorneys participating in the program in the county;

(iii)  Fifteen percent (15%) of the incentive payments shall be provided by the Wyoming state bar from nonstate funds.

(e)  Subject to available funding for the program, each attorney participating in the program shall enter into an agreement with the supreme court, the participating county and the Wyoming state bar that obligates the attorney to practice law full‑time in the participating county for not less than five (5) years. As part of the agreement required under this subsection, each participating attorney shall agree to reside in the participating county for the period in which the attorney practices law in the participating county under the program. No agreement shall be effective until it is filed with and approved by the Wyoming state bar.

(f)  Any attorney who receives an incentive payment under this article and subsequently breaches the agreement entered into under subsection (e) of this section shall repay all funds received under this article pursuant to terms and conditions established by the supreme court. Failure to repay funds as required by this subsection shall subject the attorney to license suspension.

(g)  The Wyoming state bar may promulgate any policies or procedures necessary to implement this article.  The supreme court may promulgate any rules necessary to implement this article.

(h)  The program established under this article shall cease on June 30, 2029, provided that attorneys participating in the program as of June 30, 2029 shall complete their obligation and receive payments as authorized by this article.

33‑5‑203.  Sunset.

(a)  W.S. 33‑5‑201 and 33‑5‑202 are repealed effective July 1, 2029.

(b)  Notwithstanding subsection (a) of this section, attorneys participating in the rural attorney pilot program authorized in W.S. 33‑5‑201 and 33‑5‑202 shall complete the requirements of the program and shall be entitled to the authorized payments in accordance with W.S. 33‑5‑201 and 33‑5‑202 as provided on June 30, 2029.

Section 2.  There is appropriated one hundred ninety‑seven thousand three hundred seventy‑five dollars ($197,375.00) from the general fund to the supreme court for the period beginning with the effective date of this act and ending June 30, 2029 to be expended only for purposes of providing incentive payments for the rural attorney recruitment program established under this act. This appropriation shall not be transferred or expended for any other purpose. Notwithstanding W.S. 9‑2‑1008, 9‑2‑1012(e) and 9‑4‑207, this appropriation shall not revert until June 30, 2029.

Section 3.  This act is effective July 1, 2024.

What will really be required to address this need is to do away with the UBE or bar exams of that type, as we've written about before.

January 23, 2024.

The legislature will consider Chloe's law again this session:

2024

STATE OF WYOMING

24LSO-0003

HOUSE BILL NO. HB0063

Sex and gender changes for children-prohibited.

Sponsored by: Representative(s) Larsen, L and Stith and Senator(s) Baldwin, Dockstader and Schuler

A BILL

for

AN ACT relating to public health and safety; prohibiting physicians from performing procedures for children related to gender transitioning and gender reassignment; providing exceptions; providing definitions; specifying applicability; authorizing rulemaking; and providing for effective dates.

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

Section 1.  W.S. 35‑4‑1001 is created to read:

ARTICLE 10

GENDER‑RELATED PROCEDURES

35‑4‑1001.  Gender reassignment procedures for children prohibited.

(a)  As used in this section:

(i)  "Child" means a person who is younger than eighteen (18) years of age;

(ii)  "Physician" means any person licensed to practice medicine in this state by the state board of medicine under the Medical Practice Act.

(b)  No physician shall, for purposes of transitioning a child's biological sex to a sex different than the sex assigned at birth as determined by the sex organs, chromosomes and endogenous profiles of the child, or for purposes of affirming the child's perception of the child's sex if that perception is inconsistent with the child's biological sex:

(i)  Perform a surgery that sterilizes the child, including castration, vasectomy, hysterectomy, oophorectomy, metoidioplasty, orchiectomy, penectomy, phalloplasty and vaginoplasty;

(ii)  Perform a mastectomy.

(c)  This section shall not apply to:

(i)  Procedures or treatments that are performed with the consent of the child's parent or guardian and are for a child who is born with a medically verifiable genetic disorder of sex development, including but not limited to 46, XX chromosomes with virilization, 46, XY with undervirilization or both ovarian and testicular tissue;

(ii)  Any procedure or treatment that is performed with the consent of the child's parent or guardian and is for a child with medically verifiable central precocious puberty.

Section 2.  W.S. 35‑4‑1001, as created by section 1 of this act, shall apply only to conduct or procedures occurring on and after the effective date of this act.

Section 3.  The state board of medicine may promulgate any rules necessary to implement this act.

Section 4.  

(a)  Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section, this act is effective July 1, 2024.

(b)  Sections 3 and 4 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.

Seeking to keep themselves an irrelevant minority in the legislature, Democrats have introduced an ifanticide protection bill.

2024

STATE OF WYOMING

24LSO-0264

HOUSE BILL NO. HB0076

Reproductive Freedom Act.

Sponsored by: Representative(s) Yin, Chestek, Provenza, Sherwood and Storer and Senator(s) Gierau and Rothfuss

A BILL

for

AN ACT relating to abortion; creating the Reproductive Freedom Act; specifying the public policy of the state concerning reproductive rights; prohibiting the state from denying or interfering with a person's right to have an abortion prior to viability of the fetus or to protect the person's life or health; prohibiting unauthorized abortions; specifying a penalty; providing definitions; repealing conflicting provisions; and providing for an effective date.

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

Section 1.  W.S. 35‑6‑140 through 35‑6‑149 are created to read:

35‑6‑140.  Short title.

This act shall be known and may be cited as the "Reproductive Freedom Act."

35‑6‑141.  Public policy.

(a)  It is the public policy of the state of Wyoming that:

(i)  Every person has the right to freedom from governmental interference with respect to personal reproductive decisions;

(ii)  Every person has the right to choose or refuse birth control;

(iii)  Every person has the right to choose or refuse to have an abortion, except as specifically limited by this act;

(iv)  The state shall not deny or interfere with a person's right to choose or refuse to have an abortion, except as specifically permitted by this act;

(v)  The state shall not discriminate against the exercise of these rights in the regulation or provision of benefits, facilities, services or information.

35‑6‑142.  Definitions.

(a)  As used in this act:

(i)  "Abortion" means any medical treatment, medication or procedure intended to induce the termination of a pregnancy except for the purpose of producing a live birth;

(ii)  "Advanced practice registered nurse" means as defined by W.S. 33‑21‑120(a)(i);

(iii)  "Health care provider" means a person who is licensed, certified or otherwise authorized or permitted by the laws of this state to administer health care in the ordinary course of business or practice of a profession;

(iv)  "Physician" means a person licensed to practice medicine as a physician under the Medical Practice Act, W.S. 33‑26‑101 et seq.;

(v)  "Physician assistant" means a person licensed to practice medicine as a physician assistant under the Medical Practice Act, W.S. 33‑26‑101 et seq.;

(vi)  "Pregnancy" means the reproductive process beginning with the implantation of an embryo;

(vii)  "Private medical facility" means any medical facility that is not owned or operated by the state;

(viii)  "State" means the state of Wyoming and any authority, board, commission, department, division or separate operating agency of the executive, legislative or judicial branch of the state of Wyoming, including its political subdivisions;

(ix)  "Viability" means the point in the pregnancy when, in the judgment of the physician, physician assistant, advanced practice registered nurse or other health care provider acting within the provider's scope of practice on the particular facts of the case before the physician, physician assistant, advanced practice registered nurse or other health care provider acting within the health care provider's scope of practice, there is a significant likelihood of the fetus's sustained survival outside the uterus without the application of extraordinary medical measures;

(x)  "This act" means W.S. 35‑6‑140 through 35‑6‑149.

35‑6‑143.  Right to have and provide an abortion.

(a)  The state shall not deny or interfere with a person's right to have an abortion:

(i)  Prior to viability of the fetus; or

(ii)  To protect the person's life or health.

(b)  A physician, physician assistant, advanced practice registered nurse or other health care provider acting within the provider's scope of practice may terminate a pregnancy as permitted by this act.

(c)  A health care provider may assist a physician, physician assistant, advanced practice registered nurse or other health care provider acting within the health care provider's scope of practice in terminating a pregnancy as permitted by this act.

35‑6‑144.  Unauthorized abortions; penalty.

(a)  Unless otherwise authorized by this act, any person who provides medical treatment, provides medication or performs a procedure intended to induce the termination of a pregnancy shall be guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for not more than one (1) year, a fine not to exceed five thousand dollars ($5,000.00), or both.

(b)  Except as provided in subsection (a) of this section, the state shall not penalize, prosecute or otherwise take adverse action against a person for aiding or assisting a person seeking an abortion in exercising the person's right to have an abortion under this act.

(c)  Nothing in this act shall be construed to subject a person upon whom any abortion is performed or attempted to any criminal penalty under this act.

35‑6‑145.  Defense to prosecution.

The good faith judgment of a physician, physician assistant, advanced practice registered nurse or other health care provider acting within the provider's scope of practice as to viability of the fetus or as to the risk to life or health of a person seeking an abortion shall be a complete defense in any proceeding for a violation of this act.

35‑6‑146.  State regulation.

(a)  Any regulation promulgated by the state relating to abortion shall be valid only if:

(i)  The regulation is medically necessary to protect the life or health of the person seeking an abortion;

(ii)  The regulation is consistent with established medical practice; and

(iii)  Of the available alternatives, the regulation imposes the least restrictions on the person's right to have an abortion under this act.

35‑6‑147.  Refusing to participate in an abortion.

(a)  No person or private medical facility shall be required by law or contract to participate in the performance of an abortion if the person or private medical facility objects to participating in the performance of an abortion.

(b)  No person shall be discriminated against in employment or professional privileges because of the person's participation or refusal to participate in the performance of an abortion.

35‑6‑148.  State provided benefits.

If the state provides, directly or by contract, maternity care benefits, services or information through any program administered or funded in whole or in part by the state, the state shall also provide persons otherwise eligible for the program with substantially equivalent benefits, services or information to permit them to voluntarily terminate their pregnancies.

35‑6‑149.  Construction.

This act shall not be construed to define the state's interest in the fetus for any purpose other than the specific provisions of this act.

Section 2.  W.S. 21‑16‑1801 and 35‑6‑120 through 35‑6‑139 are repealed.

Section 3.  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.

February 10, 2024

This one is a surprise:

HOUSE BILL NO. HB0115

Donated blood-mRNA disclosure.

Sponsored by: Representative(s) Penn, Angelos, Bear, Davis, Heiner, Hornok, Knapp, Locke, Neiman, Ottman, Pendergraft, Singh, Slagle, Smith, Strock, Styvar, Ward and Winter and Senator(s) Biteman, French, Hutchings and Ide

A BILL

for

AN ACT relating to public health and safety; requiring blood donors to disclose vaccination status as specified; requiring blood packaging to be marked as specified; allowing a person who receives a blood transfusion to request the use of certain blood; and providing for an effective date.

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

Section 1.  W.S. 35‑34‑101 is created to read:

CHAPTER 34

BLOOD DONATIONS AND VACCINATIONS

35‑34‑101.  Disclosure of mRNA vaccinations for blood donations; labeling; right to request certain blood.

(a)  Any person who collects human blood donations for the purpose of providing blood for human blood transfusion shall require blood donors to disclose whether the blood donor has received a COVID‑19 vaccine or a messenger ribonucleic acid vaccine during the donor's lifetime.

(b)  Blood originating from a donor who has received a COVID‑19 vaccine or a messenger ribonucleic acid vaccine shall be conspicuously marked.

(c)  In a nonemergency situation, as determined by the person providing medical services, a person receiving a blood transfusion shall have the right to request blood based on whether or not the blood originated from a person who has received a COVID‑19 vaccine or a messenger ribonucleic acid vaccine, as long as the requested blood is available.

Section 2.  The department of health shall promulgate all rules necessary to implement this act.

Section 3.  This act is effective July 1, 2024.

I had thought we were largely past the  COVID 19 vaccine matter, but this would suggest not.  I don't expect this bill to go very far. 

Last edition:

The 2024 Wyoming Legislative Session. The Super Early Riser Edition (Part 1)