Showing posts with label Wind Power. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wind Power. Show all posts
Friday, January 9, 2026
Saturday, October 4, 2025
NIMBY? State Board of Land Commissioners denies Prism Logistics lease renewal on Casper Mountain and other ponderings.
This is an interesting story.
State Board of Land Commissioners denies Prism Logistics lease renewal on Casper Mountain
I'm glad this isn't going forward. It shouldn't, because of where it's located.
But because of where its located is where it drew attention.
In Natrona County, over the past year, residents have risen up in opposition to this gravel mine, a proposed solar farm in the western end of the county, and a proposed nuclear generator manufacturing facility north of Casper. In Gillette there's some sort of controversy going on over some sort of nuclear facility. And there's a big debate on a wind farm in Laramie County.
It's hard to know what to make of all of this.
What is clear is that local politicians respond to the controversies. I'm sure if you asked any one of the Natrona County Commissioners if they supported energy, they would say yes. And they'd all say they support mining. But when the votes come, they're voting like they're members of Greenpeace.
And one local legislature says that his nickname is now "No nuke" for his opposition to the nuclear generator facility.
Nuclear energy is the safest and most efficient form of power generation we have, and until the mysteries of fission are unlocked, if ever, it'll continue to be. In a rational world we'd have a five year plan to replace every coal burning plant in the country with nuclear power.
Indeed, going one step further, we'd mandate the retirement of petroleum fueled everything in that time frame, or perhaps ten years.
The reason we don't is because, for the most part, even though we're the smartest animal on the planet, we're not anywhere near as smart as we like to think we are. If we were, we'd make decisions based on logic. Most people don't. Most people make decisions based on emotion.
It's easy to understand why a person would emotionally resent a gravel pit in their backyard, more or less, or solar panels taking up acres of land. The same with windmills. Nuclear? Well, the opposition to nuclear is due to our having used the bomb to murder thousands of Japanese civilians. It's stuck with us and we fear it, as that was our first use of it. People will tell you they are worried about contamination and the like. Bah. It's Hiroshima and Nagasaki they're worried about, even though that can't happen.
I'm old enough to remember when we had open pit uranium mining in Wyoming. In the early 1980s I knew a few guys who worked out at the Shirley Basin mine site, including one who lived in the little, now abandoned, town of Shirley Basin. I also knew some who lived and worked in Jeffrey City, where they worked in uranium mines. When they closed down, the state was distraught.
Now it seems nobody remembers that, and the thought of anything nuclear drives people into fits of despair.
I think a lot of it is fear of change.
That in fact explains a lot about populism And it explains why the current heavily right wing populist in Natrona County are adamantly against something that the populists in Washington D.C. reading Uglier Home and Paved Garden are for.
Change, we're told, is inevitable. If it is, it's because we will it so, much of it through our absolute laziness. We want our lives to be easier and more convenient just for us, but at the same time we want things to stay the way they are.
Which for a person like me, whose an introverted, introspective, agrarian, is particularly amusing in some ways.
I really hate change, myself, and I also want things to be the way they were. But not five or ten years ago, like so many of the people who protest on these matters. Indeed, many are quite new imports.
Victor Colorado, 1900. One of these houses was my great grandparents'.
I'd like them to be like they were in 1879 when my family first arrived in this region. . . or even earlier if possible. I'd settle for 1963, when I personally arrived.
I won't get those wishes.
I will note, however, a nuclear powered America might look more like American in 1879 than the one of 2025 does. As I look out at all the protests I'm struck by how many people in Wyoming are absolutely wedded to the oil and gas industry. It wasn't always so.
Back in the 1960s (I have a long memory) a lot of locals remained pretty skeptical about the oil and gas industry, in part because the state had recently been shafted for its reliance upon petroleum. People loved it again in the 1970s but when that boom collapsed people swore to never be reliant upon it again.
We apparently got over that.
Now we fear what we know to be true. Petroleum and coal won't last forever. The dirty little secret of the petroleum industry in Wyoming anymore is that drilling is really for gas far more than petroleum oil. Petroleum is on the way out, like it or not, and the United States is an expensive oil and gas province to drill in. Absent actually prohibiting its import, which I wouldn't put past Donald Trump, Saudi petroleum will always be cheaper. For that matter, Russian petroleum will always be as well and thinking you can really prohibit India China from importing it is absolute folly. Coal, which we've dealt with extensively, in a slow but accelerating death spiral.
The sort of imaginary world so many in MAGA wish to return to. Big powerful cars, driven by guys of course, but at the same time don't want to return to, as living without as much as these people did, compared to us, would be uncomfortable.
Donald Trump may say "drill baby drill", and put thousands of acres up for coal leasing, but Trump in many ways is the last dying gasp of of the 1950s.
And the 50s of our imaginations never existed. But we fear that it didn't, as we fear the thought that our oil stained hands will reach the point where we'll have to grab a bar of Lava soap and scrub it off, forever. The jobs will go away.
Funny thing is, from time to time, there's been serious proposals to put in something related to local agriculture, which was here in the beginning of our statehood, and still is. Wyoming hadn't really supported a big ag project since the 1930s, and indeed local municipalities oppose things related to agriculture. It's short sighted.
But then, perhaps I'm romantic about for various reasons that recent migrants to the state don't share.
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Saturday, April 13, 2024
Subsidiarity Economics 2024. The times more or less locally, Part I. And then the day arrived (part two).
Our lifestyle, our wildlife, our land and our water remain critical to our definition of Wyoming and to our economic future.
Dave Freudenthal, former Governor of Wyoming/
January 2, 2024
The Energy Information Administration’s Short Term Energy Outlook Report states that combined generation from wind and solar will overtake generation from coal by more than 90 billion kilowatt-hours this year.
US coal production will drop to its lowest amount since the 1960s, with it taking more miners per ton to produce in the 60s than it does now.
Pennsylvania's Flying Fish Brewing Co. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
January 11, 2024
January 17, 2024
From the Trib:
According to a report put out by the Wyoming State Geological Survey this month, the state’s oil production has not yet surpassed its 2019 high, while nationwide oil production has surpassed pre-pandemic levels.
More than 95 million barrels of oil are expected to be produced in Wyoming in 2023, which is about 3 million more barrels than in 2022. The drilling of new oil wells has helped greatly.
In the first half of 2023, a total of 110 newly drilled oil wells were completed, most of them in the Powder River Basin. This is in line with the first half of 2022, when 118 oil wells were completed.
January 22, 2024
Flying Fish Brewing has declared bankruptcy.
January 23, 2024
U.S. oil production has been holding at or near record highs since October, topping the previous peak from 2020, even though the number of active domestic oil drilling rigs is down by nearly 30% from four years ago.
New technology is the reason why there is higher production with fewer rigs.
And also:
The U.S. set a new annual oil production record on December 15, based on data from the Energy Information Administration. Although the official monthly numbers from the EIA won’t be released for a couple of months, we can calculate that a new record has been set based on the following analysis.
Prices at the pump have been declining.
January 25, 2024
In spite of repeated Republican declarations about how bad the economy is doing, the economy grew 4.9% in the third quarter of 2023, for which the latest figures are out. This grossly exceeds expectations.
This is interesting for a lot of reasons, one of which the "bad economy" is a consistent theme of Republicans in the current election cycle, when in fact this is a classic "good economy". It's frankly bizarre.
Some of that might reflect, however, an ongoing retention of a return to the 1945-1975 economy by Rust Belt voters, and anxiety over an inevitable decline in the fossil fuel economy in the West. The post-war economy is of course never returning, and the change in the direction in the energy economy cannot be arrested, although it too is doing well right now.
January 28, 2024
The Administration plans on providing billions for microchip subsidies for US producers to assure production can be made in the US.
It's worth noting that with war looming with China, there's more than one reason to do this.
The Biden Administration has paused all pending export licenses for liquified national gas (LNG) to consider the climate impacts.
February 8, 2024
Getting Wall Street out of our houses
February 10, 2024
US Credit Card debt is at an all-time high.
World's Foremost Authority On Solar Sheep Advising Wyoming $500 Million Solar Farm
Jobs, Jobs, Jobs
February 11, 2024
It is estimated that over 10% of Canadian craft brewers will close this year.
February 13, 2024
The city of Gillette and BWXT have agreed to work together to look at the possibility of having nuclear facilities and operations in Gillette
February 15, 2024
While this should be no surprise, given what we earlier reported here:
Remington, in its new form, will close its facilities in Ilion, New York, in March.
Colorado has filed suit to stop the Kroger Albertson's merger.
February 21, 2024
Japan's Nikkei stock index soared to an all-time high.
Rivian, the electric truck maker, is laying off 10% of its salaried staff.
This will cause piles of cackling from those who are convinced electric vehicles, which have taken off, will never take off. Rivian was an automotive start-up, something that's really tough to do. Basically, their business model depended on getting into the saturated truck market before other maker went to electric, a real gamble.
Wyoming Gets a Big Win in Court for Coal
CHEYENNE, Wyo. –Wyoming’s coal industry’s earned a
long-awaited legal win today, as three Ninth Circuit judges unanimously sided
with Wyoming’s arguments in support of the continuation of the federal
coal-leasing program. The decision vacated a lower court order that reinstated
Obama-era coal-leasing restrictions and required federal officials to perform
duplicative National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) analysis.
“This ruling is an unequivocal win for our coal industry and a
reminder that the Biden Administration has to follow the law,” Governor Mark
Gordon said. “The Department of Interior now has one less excuse to thwart its
federal coal leasing responsibilities. I appreciate the Attorney General and
her staff for their excellent work on this case.”
The complicated case spanned seven years and involved conflicting
orders issued by former Interior Secretaries, in which Secretary Jewel issued
an order to cease federal coal leasing and conduct a Programmatic Environmental
Statement on the entire coal leasing program. Before that review was complete,
Secretary Zinke rescinded the Jewel Order so coal leasing could resume; lastly
Secretary Haaland rescinded the Zinke order. The district court ruled that the
Department of the Interior needed to conduct additional NEPA analysis before
resuming coal leasing under its existing authorities. Wyoming argued that
the case was moot, because the Zinke order was rescinded by Secretary Haaland.
Litigation costs for Wyoming were covered by the Federal Natural
Resource Policy Account as directed by Governor Gordon.
-END-
March 15, 2024
Nippon Steel proposes to take over U.S. Steel.
March 17, 2024
Tyson, the giant chicken corporation, announced that it's closing a plant in Iowa in June which will result in 1200 people, 15% of the entire town, losing their jobs. Simultaneously, the company is working with an asylum advocate group to hire 2,500 asylum seekers who are cleared to work elsewhere.
Um. . . we've been running a series on our companion blog entitled An Agrarian Manifesto. . . might be worth reading, perhaps particularly these:
A sort of Agrarian Manifesto. What's wrong with the world (and how to fix it). Part 2. Distributism
A sort of Agrarian Manifesto. What's wrong with the world (and how to fix it). Part 5. What would that look like, and why would it fix anything, other than limiting my choices and lightening my wallet? The Distributist Impact
March 21, 2024
Reddit is going public.
March 22, 2024
The Justice Department is suing Apple for Antitrust violations arising from its iPhones.
March 26, 2024
Trader Joe's is raising the price of bananas for the first time in twenty years.
March 27, 2024
Texas based and 7-11 owned USA Gasoline stores have closed in Wyoming.
March 28, 2024
Only the Northern Arapaho Tribe and the city of Cheyenne applied for portions of the $4.6 billion Federal fund to reduce reliance on carbon emissions-heavy energy sources and to become more economically resilient.
Fisker is cutting the prices of its electric Ocean SUV by 39%.
April 1, 2024
Gold hit $2,262.19/oz.
April 8, 2024
The price of oil dropped 1%.
April 11, 2024
The Aerodrome: “It stinks, like bad medicine going down, it’s a h...: So stated a Casper City Councilman about extending an additional $400,000 to SkyWest Delta to anchor the flight to Salt Lake City from Caspe...
April 12, 2024
April 13, 2024
And gold hit a record again.
Last Prior Edition:
Subsidiarity Economics. The times more or less locally, Part XVI. And then the day arrived.
Recent Related Threads:
Wednesday, March 9, 2022
Monday, October 26, 2020
Blog Mirror & Commentary: For Wyo’s untaxed generations, the ‘free ride’ may be over
For Wyo’s untaxed generations, the ‘free ride’ may be over
So declares a headline on WyoFile.
This articles has an interesting item about Wyoming's tax system prior to the severance tax, that being:
I'd never heard that. I do recall that at the time people were upset about the severance tax, or at least a lot of legislators were, as there was fear that it would end coal production in Wyoming. The article notes that:
Wyoming legislators at the time, like future Gov. Ed Herschler and future U.S. Sen. Alan Simpson, initially opposed the governor’s severance tax proposal. But when Hathaway challenged them to figure out an alternative, they admitted they couldn’t, and they passed the tax.
I'll be frank. I don't know what to do regarding Wyoming's state budgetary woes. I'll note, however, that so far the state has been unwilling to look at anything much which was based on the hope that things would return to "normal". Wyomingites are acclimated to looking at taxation this way. Indeed, we used to proudly hear that Wyoming had "500 years" worth of coal resources, whatever that meant.
What now seems plain is that coal is on a long term systemic slide. Indeed, it was even at the time we started to first tax it. It's becoming additionally clear that petroleum may be entering an analogous condition, something we would have regarded as simply impossible only a few years ago. Petroleum production was increasing on a massive scale a decade or less ago, of course, and that could come back. But something is changing. Within the last few years, indeed within the present Administration, the country was proud of having reclaimed its status as an energy exporter for the first time in decades. Now, however, a Saudi Arabia/Russian price decline, combined with oversupply (which has decreased this year) has made the market highly valuable. More significantly, however, there's very open talk at the national level of a technological phase out of petroleum as a motor vehicle fuel.
That, as a technological matter, seemed like an absurd suggestion itself until only recently. But now electric cars are coming on strong. Ford is introducing an electric Mustang and has an electric F150 slated for 2022 or 2023. General Motors is introducing a light electric truck under the Hummer name. Chrysler has been pretending to hold back, having a sector of the truck market that is slated towards heavy trucks, which electric vehicles have not yet penetrated, but at the same time its introducing an electric Jeep. If Ford makes headway in the light industrial market with its F150 Chrysler will jump in, it'll have to.
Critics still scoff at the vehicle developments, and there are some real problems there. The one we hear here is that they don't have the range to be useful for the state's vast distances, but they're starting too. Indeed, while its never noted, their present range frankly exceeds that of early gasoline engined vehicles, the real difference being, of course, that you could take your fuel with you in the latter case. But they're developing rapidly. I have a range of 600 miles or so in my diesel 1 ton pickup, which compares with an advertised low 300s with the new Hummer, so the electrics aren't there yet, but they'll soon be. If nothing else, they're exploring what the market is and will start capturing sections of it soon.
The real irony of electric vehicles, which isn't missed by their critics, is that they're not really all that green in that they're not really necessarily "zero emissions". Indeed, electric vehicle are, if you will, energy vampires in that they suck their energy from something else generating it, as opposed to petroleum fueled vehicles which carry their own power plants. In the case of electric vehicles, they're only as green as the remote power plant that produced the energy they store in their batteries.
In fairness, that's become greener over the years, which takes us back to the story of coal. Coal's been heavily supplanted by natural gas, which requires drilling, we'd note. There should be, therefore, continued drilling for gas in the U.S. and indeed their has to be, as its largely non transported save by pipelines.
The dream, of course, of Green New Dealers is green electrical generation, and that has been coming on in the form of now viable wind and solar. Indeed, in this area I continue to hear from those who don't want any changes that wind isn't economically viable. Oh yes it is, and it has been for some time.
What would really push electricity for transportation over the top is nuclear energy. The fact that greens don't support it shows how unrealistic people could be. The US could generate 100% of its electrical needs through nuclear and its much safer than coal in real terms. Indeed, the US could have surplus capacity through nuclear energy even it it required the electrification of the railroads. Joe Biden spoke, in the recent debate, of having the US switched over to electric vehicles by 2035. I'm not suggesting it, but a real "New Deal" type program involving nuclear energy could do it in less than less than half that time.
Uranium is mined in Wyoming, or it was, so there would be some hope of regaining a revenue source there, if reason prevailed. Absent that, we're going to have to start taxing wind and solar, but we can't at a rate that would harm them as new entities. There have been proposals to do that, but once again they're sometimes advanced by people who really simply hope to kill them, which really would achieve what the opponents of Stan Hathaway feared in the late 1960s, driving an industry elsewhere. Right now we don't know how much money there will come to be in those sources. It might be quite a bit, and perhaps that will solve our budget woes.
Or maybe it won't. Indeed, it probably won't.
So what then?
It's interesting that agriculture carried the freight before the extractive industries. And that likely was as it was making more money per capita than it does now. Some serious examination should be given to reviving that situation while we still have the money to do so. Long term economic planning doesn't seem to be our forte, however, or we would have picked up the Occidental lands while we could have, which we didn't. We've noted that here before.
Where we're headed in the country right now with agricultural commodities is really hard to say. The United States has had a "cheap food" policy since after World War Two and it appears intent on keeping it. Cheap food is great for everyone, but it's greater for those consuming than those producing and its driven agricultural consolidation and monoculture. One thing Wyoming could do is to try to boost the mid and downstream aspects of agriculture, which we haven't done much of. That is, we don't have large commercial meat packing here, we don't have wool mills and so on. That may seem like not much, but it could be a lot, if done right.
If we're talking about agriculture and taxes, of course, we're into a new area that I didn't explore before. And if we're talking ag, what that means is that we're really looking at a mixed tax base, based on taxing production. Indeed, taxing wind and solar (and severance taxes) is really the same thing, but this would be on a broader basis.
Prior suggestions to tax production of every kind has been really hostilely received, however. Certainly a proposal to tax services, such as legal services, was hugely opposed some years ago.
About the only things left to tax, however, is land and income. There's little support for taxing property rates at an increased level, but I do have to wonder what would be the case if it was graduated. An effort like that would be specifically designed to tax the extremely wealthy and I suspect most Wyomingites would welcome that at some level. As far as I know, that's never been suggested so there's no way to know. People might resent the suggestion as unfair.
That leaves income taxes, which there is no present support to impose. I suppose it also leaves sales taxes, which there's no support to increase.
None of which addresses the cost of government itself. With no money, it'll have to shrink, there's no other choice. And given where we're presently at in this discussion, that seems inevitable. But how that will be done is yet to be seen. We will, I think, be seeing it in the very near future.
Which takes us back to the 1960s.
I was around in the 1960s, to be sure, but I don't recall much about state government and its funding woes. Shoot, I was seven years old when 1970 arrived, so I wouldn't.
I'd guess that the budget problems persisted into the early 1970s, but again, I don't recall much about that sort of thing. How much smaller was our government back then?
It's something we should begin to ask. At the state level, rather than the Federal one, everything has to be paid for. The state passed up on acquiring economic land, which will likely be to our huge regret really rapidly. We could likely have brought in large sums through it, but now we won't. And we don't have any immediately clear path out of where we are. That may mean a return to budgets of the past.
But what does that mean?
The Wyoming Economy. Looking at it in a different way.
Saturday, February 8, 2020
The 2020 Wyoming Legislative Session. The early committee efforts.
What!? It's only May 2019!
Yup, the committees of the legislature are hard at work and legislation is already being crafted that might receive introduction next year.
So far one such example is a revived effort to keep people from switching parties close to the General Election. This has been a focus of the state's GOP ever since the Gubernatorial race as there's a lingering perception, disputed by the statistical evidence, that a lot of Democrats crossed over to influence the outcome. The statistics branch of the University of Wyoming has conclusively demonstrated that this simply isn't the case, but the belief remains and it looks like the bill will be back in front of the legislature again.
So will a bill requiring voter ID at the polls, it appears. That bill failed to make it out of the House by a single vote. It appears it will be back.
May 14, 2019
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While the entire pundit class and press class of the nation is focused on Robert Mueller testifying in Congress, which will commence today, Wyoming's legislative committees have been looking at dollars and cents.
Which the state doesn't have enough of.
In an matter on that topic, Jerry Obermueuller's bill, which was introduced last session as the National Retail Fairness Act, and which did very well early on only to meet the opposition of national organizations (featuring even an op ed by a couple of Wal Mart employees) is back.
As noted, it appeared really likely that the bill was going to pass, but then national organizations that are opposed to the uniform legislation rode in with opposition. The bill taxes multi state retail entities that are taxed in other states on the basis that they budget for it anyway, and by omitting the tax, Wyoming is simply giving away money. Obviously large retailers and those that support them don't see it that way, and would likely prefer not to be taxed at all if possible.
Those supporting the bill were likely caught off guard by the sudden opposition and it failed, but only after a lingering death, in the last session. Maybe it isn't dead. The bill is interesting not only for its revenue angles, but also for the distributist nature of the bill which would operate to aid local retailers that are disadvantaged by their giant competitors.
Also under consideration is a study to look at storing spent nuclear fuel.
This has created a firestorm of opposition, not too surprisingly. People with long memories will recall that this topic has come up in Wyoming before, and interestingly also in times of economic distress.
July 24, 2019
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Up until some time in the early 1970s, Wyoming only had a legislative session every two years. Then, with things I guess seemingly being more complicated, a change was made so that every other year was a budget session, so there's a session every year.
Theoretically, the Legislature only takes up non budge bills on an extraordinary basis in budget sessions, which is what the next session will be. That seemingly doesn't stop legislators, however, from trying to put bills forward that aren't that, and readers of the local papers will have been seeing a lot of attempts to introduce non budget bills into consideration.
Some of those probably make voters who recall the old, every two year, system, nostalgic for that.
Anyhow, one bill that just entered and died in committee was a bill to eliminate the intent element for the misdemeanor crime of trespass.
That bill died, 8 to 6, and it should have died. It shouldn't have been introduced. It's appalling that it was.
Wyomingites are fond of saying "Wyoming is what American was", by which some apparently have in mind America as the posts Civil War South in which large landowners became engaged in a slow burn struggle with the Yeoman class. Depressingly, the Yeoman ultimately lost out, for the second time really as they'd been the same class the wealthy planter class had used to fight for the despicable Southern racist cause in which they really had very little stake. Wyoming's been seeing something like that in recent years.
Well, seeing that again.
We last went through this sort of struggle in the 1970s, with the Sagebrush Revolution. Most locals were sympathetic with that at first but it soon turned against them when a push was made to vest ownership of wildlife in the hands of private landowners. That caused a storm of protests, with some legislators loosing their seats, and that idea went away. At the same time, large landowners in the UP belt became aggressive about keeping people off the public lands in the UP checker board, and that caused a huge amount of tension.
All that seemed to die away, but then it started to come back when ranches in the state started to sell to wealthy out of states that, in some cases sought to lock up the public lands associated with them. It spread when Tea Party elements rose in the state's GOP, with those elements being well represented in certain counties and being very vocal about ideas that main stream members of the GOP regard as radical.
Indeed, Democrats are starting to see opportunities in that and for the first time the other day I read of a "resurgent Democratic Party" in the state in a context that stated it was a fact, not a wish on the Democrats part. The GOP itself is in a civil war that burst out into the press with the moderate elements coming out again in protest of this most latest effort.
Crimes usually require intent, including the crime of trespass. With a state as large as Wyoming in which so little is marked as to ownership, it's quite easy, even in the age of the GPS, to accidentally trespass a bit, or even a lot. And normally, quite frankly, nobody ever knows. Shoot, as a landowner myself, I like many local landowners frankly just ignore it. I've bypassed people fishing on my land and hunting on my land, and once grew a bit upset with a public do gooder who sought to keep two teenage girls from riding their horses on my land.
That's what I mean in regard to my comment about the immediate post Civil War South. Prior to the Civil War, a lot of property boundaries were harmlessly ignored. After it, the same former slave holding class that had dragged their region into hopeless bloodshed locked it up to the determent of the locals.
Around here, in the real frontier era everyone claims to wish we were still in, there really were no property lines that were observed. We all know that. That's what made the West the West.
This effort is really shocking and could have been potentially hugely detrimental to innocent people. If you have several misdemeanor convictions for the same crime, it can become a felony. Nobody should have a felony for this reason.
The bill failed. It was backed by the Wyoming Stock Growers Association, of which I was once part (I let my membership lapse during a period of domestic economic conservation), which I'm now tempted to rejoin to get a voice in opposition to this sort of thing. The WSGA has a long history, including association with some really good thing, and some really bad, such as the invasion of Johnson County. This sort of things should stop.
It was also supported by a local law enforcement organization, which really causes me heartburn quite frankly. Law enforcement really ought to think twice about laws being stricter and, really, probably ought to suggest that fewer things be criminal rather than more.
On that, in most of the European world, of which we are part, where there is a fair amount of open land, there is now a Right to Roam. That day is coming here, and things like this effort are the reason why.
On other matters, a recent bill proposes to all Tribal Enrollment ID to be used for voting purposes, which is a really good idea. It's very fair and ought to become law. FWIW, the Democratic Party is strong among enrolled Tribal Members so this will be a minor test of people's loyalty to democracy v loyalty to party.
Also, there was discussion about eliminating the incarceration option for some traffic offenses. This actually is a budget bill as the Public Defenders office in the state quit assigning public defenders to misdemeanors in two Wyoming counties (its restored it to one) as is so short staffed. This resulted in the head of the office being found in contempt of court, with the fine suspended until it makes its way to the Supreme Court. Wyoming doesn't assign a defender if there's no risk of incarceration, and there really ought not to be for a lot of routine traffic offenses. For that matter, given the era we are now in, there's a felony or two that ought to be reduced to misdemeanors.
As an aside, in the two counties in which public defenders ceased to be assigned, the local bars took note that unless there sufficient volunteers, the Court would assign local practitioners to the cases. Both counties had enough volunteers. That's a scary thought, quite frankly, but it is a solution. It's been done a lot of places at one time or another and its worth considering for wider application. One problem with it, however, is now that the state has the UBE, a lot of younger "Wyoming" lawyers are actually Denver Colorado lawyers. I frankly think that this presents an opportunity for them to be real Wyoming lawyers, and that the practice probably ought to be expanded and made to apply statewide in a method that would include the UBE lawyers who reside out of state. It's only fair.
One interesting aspect of this, as a final aside, is that its' never proposed for prosecutor's offices, but there's no reason it can't or shouldn't be. It often goes unnoticed by in our system prosecutors have enormous discretion on what they prosecute. It'd be interesting to see what would happen with a lot of routine prosecutions, or even major ones, if private practitioners were introduced into the mix.
August 20, 2019.
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A legislative committee killed a couple of election related bills this week when they voted down the effort to address party switching and voted down a requirement to have photo IDs when voting.
Both bills had been backed by conservative elements in the GOP and indeed were priorities for them. As the voter cross over bill keeps coming back, vampire like, from the dead, I wouldn't be surprised to see it come back again.
September 17, 2019.
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A legislative committee has asked for the State's Legislative Service Office to draft a bill to tax wind energy.
This proposal has been floated before but this is the first time in this context. The proposal is a serious one that aims to address budget shortfalls. No text yet exists, but it appears that in the upcoming legislative session there will be a serious attempt to introduce such a tax to start to attempt to make up what the shortfall in other energy generated taxes has become.
September 24, 2019
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A legislative committee has approved going forward with a bill to establish a gaming commission.
How this exactly plays out isn't clear, but what appears to be the case, based on the reporting, is that the state would establish the commission and give counties the option to allow gambling.
Gambling actually has a long, and mostly illegal, history in Wyoming. As late as the 1950s, at least, gambling was pretty openly conducted in many bars and a local one ran a big board behind the bar for the very purpose of betting on sports. That stopped at some point and it went underground, but even well into my adult years a person could place a bet a a magazine venders here, although you had to have their confidence to do it.
In more recent years that has seemingly stopped, but due to national legislation allowing Indian tribes, as sovereigns, to establish casinos and allow gambling on their reservations, open gambling has returned. The state attempted to prevent that early on, putting the state at odds with the tribes, but their legal effort failed. Now the state seems ready to join the club.
Assuming that passes the legislature, of course, which might be a big presumption. My prediction is that this bill will have a lot of opposition in the legislature.
One group of Wyoming residents who are openly opposed to it are the Tribes, and no wonder. The tribal casinos are the money makers they are as gambling isn't available elsewhere. Two casinos have been built, neither of which I've been in (as I don't gamble), both of which are very popular. However, except for people who live in Fremont County, they're a long drive for anyone who wants to gamble.
People do make that drive however.
If counties had the option to allow gambling, my prediction is that Fremont County, which the Reservation is in, would allow it as they already have gambling in the county and would probably want a piece of the pie. I suspect that other counties would be more difficult to predict. The counties bordering South Dakota would like open it up, as the neighboring South Dakota counties have it and they're getting that traffic already. I suspect that the counties bordering Idaho and Utah would not go for it, however. Teton and Park Counties would likely reject it as it would interfere with their image. I suspect that Natrona County would reject it, but my guess is that Converse County would allow it.
I guess we'll see, if it becomes law.
And that's too difficult to predict.
October 6, 2019.
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The Tribune ran a story on the front page to expand funding for wildlife crossings.
The state effort to date to fund crossing across highways has been very successful. The expanded program will build on that.
The bill to tax out of state retailers which was initially popular last session but which met with nationally backed opposition and was defeated has been advancing again and it is itself now getting some organized opposition. Indeed, a few nights ago, sometime in the dark of night, somebody left a door hanging type handbill in opposition to it on my door, which by morning was on the front stoop. I picked it up when I picked up the newspaper. The handbill was from the local expression of a very conservative national organization.
I'll be frank that I have a hard time seeing this in terms that some on the right side of the political isle do and indeed their approach to it doesn't seem "conservative" to me. A byproduct of the bill might be to conserve local businesses, as the bill is founded on the correct belief that big national retailers actually already price the tax into their shelf price. Given that, Wyomingites already pay the tax, but what occurs is that the retailer keeps it. Given Wyoming's very small role in the retail sales picture, and the huge role that national retailers have, the tax coming into existence in Wyoming will actually have no impact on prices in the store at all.
In reality, what it would do is put some money in the state's coffers, not do anything significant to the retailers, and probably not aid local retailers either. Given all that, organized opposition to it, except by the national retailers themselves, doesn't make any obvious sense except on the part of those who have a philosophical opposition to nearly any taxes.
In terms of traditional liberalism and conservatism, however, its either a neutral act or a "conservative" populist one in the context of the actual meaning of the word. It's surprising that it draws local opposition.
October 13, 2019.
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A bunch of taxation bills under consideration were discussed in the Tribune today.
When reading on such things its always important to recall that at this stage the bills are just being discussed for introduction. There's a long ways to go before any are actually discussed in the legislature. I note that as taxation measures tend to be hugely controversial in Wyoming and the fact that there's discussion at all will likely be upsetting in some quarters. Taxation usually is discussed, however, due to the ongoing budgetary shortfalls.
One measure would allow municipalities to add a sales tax. I don't know much about that, so that's all I'll note. There's a bill on the topic, but I don't know the details.
Another would propose to allow the voters of counties to make the .01 sales tax permanent. Most (indeed so far as I'm aware of, all) counties that have the tax routinely renew it, but it has met with opposition from time to time. I suspect the suggestion to make it a permanent tax, even with it having to get past a county's voters first, will not be popular with some. Indeed, a frequent complaint by those opposed to the tax is that it tends to become permanent. An additional complaint will likely be that making it permanent will remove voter input on whether the money is being appropriately applied. That's my guess anyhow.
Other news on the legislature is that a website has appeared which rates Republican members of the legislature based on their adherence to the GOP platform. Nobody knows who is behind it or what criteria they really use. There's been real dissension in the GOP recently, some of it quite open, so this is an interesting envelopment. Having said that, the sit itself is not a really well done one, production value wise, so that always makes a person wonder if the effort isn't a really limited one.
November 13, 2019
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There's been a lot of news since the 2018 election of a growing rift in the Republican Party and today that news was the headline news for the Tribune.
According to senior members of the Natrona County GOP the party authorized secret investigations into those members basically for their not being conservative enough in the minds of an increasingly right wing leadership in the party.
This news has been in the paper continually over the last several months. The Laramie County GOP nearly declared itself in open revolt over such activities while the Natrona County part made its displeasure known. In spite of that, things seem to have gotten worse. Things have been so surprising in this arena that even a really conservative party member from Natrona County has expressed concern.
Apparently the Party has now passed resolutions at its central committee level that declares that the party has the right to dictate all of its members' positions, according to the Tribune. The party now reserves the right to discipline members who fall out of line by way of one such resolution, and even used the word "lock step" in it.
There have always been members of any American political party who fall outside of its main. A party is not a religion, after all, that can claim its positions as dogma. Ironically, at least one of the greatest of Republican heroes, Theodore Roosevelt, was massively outside of the GOP mainstream for much of his political career and most of the Republican Presidents who have held office since 1950 would not fit the mold of today's GOP.
The Roosevelt example, and something I posted today on a much different political party from 1919, as well as today's Democratic Party, should all provide cautionary examples to the Wyoming GOP. Rifts inside the GOP in Roosevelt's day caused a split in the party that caused many of its members to bolt, some permanently, and for a time the bolting party threatened to destroy the Republican Party. Dissatisfaction with limited options inside of a political party have caused a plethora of parties to emerge in the early 20th Century, and the lock step nature of the current Democratic Party nationwide contributes, more than any other factor, to Independents being the largest single political block in the U.S. If the Democratic Party of today was to return to allowing more leeway to individual members and politicians, as it did in the 60s and 70s, it would frankly dwarf the current GOP.
The doctrinal hard right hard line that the central party is taking in Wyoming is causing members to bolt to being Independents now. Ironically this comes at a time when the local Democrats are all but dead for the same reasons noted above, it proved impossible for individuals to be members of a party that demanded doctrinaire positions on social issues that many former members were uncomfortable with. If the GOP is really successful at shutting down the moderates inside the party, the refugees from the Democratic Party will be joined by refugees from the GOP.
Seeing a repeat of what occurred early in the 20th Century, with local parties springing up within a state to reflect local views, is highly unlikely. But even right now senior members are warning that the GOP has gone so far it may now have to register itself as a lobbying organization with the state. If the GOP goes further on state lands issues, it's not impossible that local political organizations, sort of proto parties, could begin to take a serious role, and perhaps rapidly a more serious role than the parties, in endorsing candidates. As it is, its fairly clear that the GOP leadership is to the right of its own membership and is operating contrary to the party organizations in the two largest counties in the state.
This of course opens a door to the local Democratic Party, save for the fact that the local party has lost so many rank and file members since the 1980s that it practically can't form into a larger middle of the road party. If it valued obtaining office more than its self insulated views, it would exploit this rift, but it probably can't. Given that, this development will be interesting to follow. If it isn't arrested, it'll start to fracture and really weaken the local GOP, but that likely won't be to the benefit of the Democrats, at least at first.
November 22, 2019
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This year is a budget session, so the number of bills that will be considered should be limited, but this year is going to feature another effort to put Wyoming on Daylight Savings Time all year long.
Personally, I'd like to put the state on Standard Time all year long, but I'll take just not moving the clock twice a year no matter which way that would work.
This same bill has been attempted several times of the last few years, and never passed. I'm not real optimistic it will this time, or even actually be considered, but it is being attempted.
January 15, 2020
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Last year a legislature introduced a bill to change the age at which Wyomingites can legally marry. Discussed in terms of ending "child" marriages, the bill raised the age at which emancipated minors could legally marry up to 18 years of age.
If this seems familiar, it's because a bill on the same topic was introduced in the 2019 legislature and failed. This one is slightly different in that the previous bill did not take into account emancipated minors, and this one does, assuming that they are 17 years of age. Interestingly, that bill apparently ran into opposition from those who advocate for women who are subject to domestic abuse as they were concerned that the hard "no marriages" line that the prior bill had eliminated an "escape" route for young women who were trying to escape domestic abuse. I.e., without means and subject to violence at home, they escape into very early marriages, which is a depressing thought.
I had a long thread on the last bill and had come commentary on it, noting that marriages in this age bracket are fairly rare. According to the article in the Tribune, the year prior to the bill being introduced there were only eight marriages in the 16-17 age bracket in the state. Last year, however, there were apparently twenty-one. The article speculated that a bill that rose the marriage age in Utah may have caused young couples (or I guess a couple where one member is young, that undoubtedly being the female member) to cross the border into Wyoming. It is a very remarkable jump.
The Utah bill actually didn't ban marriages in this bracket outright actually. Rather, it banned them when one of the spouses to be was more than seven years older than the 16 or 17 year old. In other words, a person could be no older than 23 years old and marry a 16 year old. If the thought of that marriage makes your skin crawl a bit, that's the point of the bill. .. to address that situation.
Last year I noted:
This year I'm not so sure, although the libertarian impulses of the GOP have seemingly grown over the past year (the bill is sponsored by a Democrat). But if Utah has tightened up its laws and this is causing men more than seven years old to cross the border into Wyoming (and nobody has any actual statistics on this) to marry teenagers, well that ought to be stopped, assuming that there aren't other reasons to stop this in general.
If it doesn't pass, it'll be partially because this is a budget session. Having said that, there's also a really strong tea party movement in some county GOPs right now that might oppose it on philosophical grounds if it really gets introduced, which I doubt it will.
Anyhow, the big jump, even though its not a vast number, is surprising which suggest that if nothing else maybe Wyoming ought to cut, paste, and pass a copy of the Utah bill.
January 25, 2020
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It's a budget session, but so far 122 bills have been given numbers by the House of Representatives and 87 by the Senate, including budgets. The legislature lists them all as follows:
Most of these bills are going nowhere whatsoever. The budget session year makes that a certainty. None the less, as usual, there are an interesting early selection.
One that directly impacts budget is the effort to recapture taxes that large businesses budget for as they pay them elsewhere, but don't pay in Wyoming due to a lack of a state corporate income tax. That bill had a lot of traction last session, but met opposition from large entities and then died. It's being attempted again this year.
Some, if looked at closely, express concerns for the future, essentially attempting to preclude an imagined future more left wing Wyoming from doing things that no community in Wyoming would do now.
Such, for example, is a provision that seeks to prohibit gun buy back efforts, something that no community in the state dreams of attempting. That bill states:
There are actually a surprising number of firearms bills this session. Another one attempts to preserve the age old Wyoming custom of people keeping firearms in their cars.
An interesting thing about this one is that it clashes with another cherished Wyoming notion, the absolute right, as some people imagine it, of property owners to control their properties.
A different set of legislators wants to impose a three day waiting period on the purchase of a handgun. This bill is going to go nowhere.
Another bill in the nature of making illegal what isn't happening here anyway is one directed at "sanctuary cities". Absent perhaps Jackson, which hasn't done this, this isn't going to happen in Wyoming, and it probably won't in Jackson. A bill in the legislature proposes to address it anyway.
At least one bill is clearly unconstitutional, a quixotic bill that seeks to limit the ability of the National Guard to be Federalized. The Guard is a reserve of the U.S. Army, and this bill is flatly illegal.
The last provision of that bill actually seeks to subject the President of the United States to a Wyoming statutory provision. That's not going to pass legal muster.
Interesting, the primary sponsor of this bill is a veteran of one of the recent wars and has really campaigned on his opposition to them, which makes his election in Wyoming surprising. He's also pretty clearly, based on his other bills, in the Libertarian camp, which might explain a bill like HB0098.
Bills like this are what caused State Guard units to form just prior to World War One, fwiw.
Somebody wants to speed up land transfers where private property owners are swapping land for state lands. Given recent legislative efforts that would sell public lands, whether or not they state that they'd do this, this one bears watching.
As has already been noted, the bill to make illegal "child marriage" is back. This was discussed above.
Perhaps because they've been in the news so much recently, some legislators want to make the UW Board of Trustees elected.
College boards are, but they're very local. Chances are high that this would be one more elected office that people don't really pay any attention to.
Speaking of UW, some in agriculture want an annual report on how the University is fulfilling its land grant mission.
On land, some are trying, once again, to make trespass an offense that doesn't include intent, including interestingly enough the same legislator that otherwise has libertarian leanings.
Somebody wants to do away with license plates for front bumpers.
There's a proposal to dedicate a bridge in Casper that crosses Center Street in honor of a veteran of the Bataan Death March.
And somebody doesn't like free parking.
The legislature goes into session on February 10.
February 7, 2020
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While the legislature is going into session on Monday, bills are still being pulled from consideration even now, so the list provided above will have fewer bills on Monday.
One bill that is being pulled is a "Fix Nics" bill that was designed to improve the reporting of mental health matters that preclude a person from owning a firearm. There's been a lot of attention to bills of this type across the country and generally they're regarded as a conservative approach to trying to keep firearms out of the hands of the dangerously mentally impaired. Be that as it may, the bill drew opposition from members of a local firearms group and its drafter withdrew it as it appeared likely to impact his base support in the last election.
It's somewhat ironic, I'd note, that in the House a bill such as that one, which had no intent to really deprive firearms ownership more than it already is, drew such opposition while at the same time there's a three day waiting bill in the Senate. That bill isn't going to go anywhere, but apparently its drafters aren't worried about the impact the bill will have on them the next time they're on the ballot.
Another bill that's drawing early opposition is the effort to tax out of state entities that already budget for income tax and work it into their prices locally. This bill had initial support in the legislature last session but it drew the opposition of national opponents and it is again.
February 8, 2020
Yup, the committees of the legislature are hard at work and legislation is already being crafted that might receive introduction next year.
So far one such example is a revived effort to keep people from switching parties close to the General Election. This has been a focus of the state's GOP ever since the Gubernatorial race as there's a lingering perception, disputed by the statistical evidence, that a lot of Democrats crossed over to influence the outcome. The statistics branch of the University of Wyoming has conclusively demonstrated that this simply isn't the case, but the belief remains and it looks like the bill will be back in front of the legislature again.
So will a bill requiring voter ID at the polls, it appears. That bill failed to make it out of the House by a single vote. It appears it will be back.
May 14, 2019
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While the entire pundit class and press class of the nation is focused on Robert Mueller testifying in Congress, which will commence today, Wyoming's legislative committees have been looking at dollars and cents.
Which the state doesn't have enough of.
In an matter on that topic, Jerry Obermueuller's bill, which was introduced last session as the National Retail Fairness Act, and which did very well early on only to meet the opposition of national organizations (featuring even an op ed by a couple of Wal Mart employees) is back.
As noted, it appeared really likely that the bill was going to pass, but then national organizations that are opposed to the uniform legislation rode in with opposition. The bill taxes multi state retail entities that are taxed in other states on the basis that they budget for it anyway, and by omitting the tax, Wyoming is simply giving away money. Obviously large retailers and those that support them don't see it that way, and would likely prefer not to be taxed at all if possible.
Those supporting the bill were likely caught off guard by the sudden opposition and it failed, but only after a lingering death, in the last session. Maybe it isn't dead. The bill is interesting not only for its revenue angles, but also for the distributist nature of the bill which would operate to aid local retailers that are disadvantaged by their giant competitors.
Also under consideration is a study to look at storing spent nuclear fuel.
This has created a firestorm of opposition, not too surprisingly. People with long memories will recall that this topic has come up in Wyoming before, and interestingly also in times of economic distress.
July 24, 2019
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Up until some time in the early 1970s, Wyoming only had a legislative session every two years. Then, with things I guess seemingly being more complicated, a change was made so that every other year was a budget session, so there's a session every year.
Theoretically, the Legislature only takes up non budge bills on an extraordinary basis in budget sessions, which is what the next session will be. That seemingly doesn't stop legislators, however, from trying to put bills forward that aren't that, and readers of the local papers will have been seeing a lot of attempts to introduce non budget bills into consideration.
Some of those probably make voters who recall the old, every two year, system, nostalgic for that.
Anyhow, one bill that just entered and died in committee was a bill to eliminate the intent element for the misdemeanor crime of trespass.
That bill died, 8 to 6, and it should have died. It shouldn't have been introduced. It's appalling that it was.
Wyomingites are fond of saying "Wyoming is what American was", by which some apparently have in mind America as the posts Civil War South in which large landowners became engaged in a slow burn struggle with the Yeoman class. Depressingly, the Yeoman ultimately lost out, for the second time really as they'd been the same class the wealthy planter class had used to fight for the despicable Southern racist cause in which they really had very little stake. Wyoming's been seeing something like that in recent years.
Well, seeing that again.
We last went through this sort of struggle in the 1970s, with the Sagebrush Revolution. Most locals were sympathetic with that at first but it soon turned against them when a push was made to vest ownership of wildlife in the hands of private landowners. That caused a storm of protests, with some legislators loosing their seats, and that idea went away. At the same time, large landowners in the UP belt became aggressive about keeping people off the public lands in the UP checker board, and that caused a huge amount of tension.
All that seemed to die away, but then it started to come back when ranches in the state started to sell to wealthy out of states that, in some cases sought to lock up the public lands associated with them. It spread when Tea Party elements rose in the state's GOP, with those elements being well represented in certain counties and being very vocal about ideas that main stream members of the GOP regard as radical.
Indeed, Democrats are starting to see opportunities in that and for the first time the other day I read of a "resurgent Democratic Party" in the state in a context that stated it was a fact, not a wish on the Democrats part. The GOP itself is in a civil war that burst out into the press with the moderate elements coming out again in protest of this most latest effort.
Crimes usually require intent, including the crime of trespass. With a state as large as Wyoming in which so little is marked as to ownership, it's quite easy, even in the age of the GPS, to accidentally trespass a bit, or even a lot. And normally, quite frankly, nobody ever knows. Shoot, as a landowner myself, I like many local landowners frankly just ignore it. I've bypassed people fishing on my land and hunting on my land, and once grew a bit upset with a public do gooder who sought to keep two teenage girls from riding their horses on my land.
That's what I mean in regard to my comment about the immediate post Civil War South. Prior to the Civil War, a lot of property boundaries were harmlessly ignored. After it, the same former slave holding class that had dragged their region into hopeless bloodshed locked it up to the determent of the locals.
Around here, in the real frontier era everyone claims to wish we were still in, there really were no property lines that were observed. We all know that. That's what made the West the West.
This effort is really shocking and could have been potentially hugely detrimental to innocent people. If you have several misdemeanor convictions for the same crime, it can become a felony. Nobody should have a felony for this reason.
The bill failed. It was backed by the Wyoming Stock Growers Association, of which I was once part (I let my membership lapse during a period of domestic economic conservation), which I'm now tempted to rejoin to get a voice in opposition to this sort of thing. The WSGA has a long history, including association with some really good thing, and some really bad, such as the invasion of Johnson County. This sort of things should stop.
It was also supported by a local law enforcement organization, which really causes me heartburn quite frankly. Law enforcement really ought to think twice about laws being stricter and, really, probably ought to suggest that fewer things be criminal rather than more.
On that, in most of the European world, of which we are part, where there is a fair amount of open land, there is now a Right to Roam. That day is coming here, and things like this effort are the reason why.
On other matters, a recent bill proposes to all Tribal Enrollment ID to be used for voting purposes, which is a really good idea. It's very fair and ought to become law. FWIW, the Democratic Party is strong among enrolled Tribal Members so this will be a minor test of people's loyalty to democracy v loyalty to party.
Also, there was discussion about eliminating the incarceration option for some traffic offenses. This actually is a budget bill as the Public Defenders office in the state quit assigning public defenders to misdemeanors in two Wyoming counties (its restored it to one) as is so short staffed. This resulted in the head of the office being found in contempt of court, with the fine suspended until it makes its way to the Supreme Court. Wyoming doesn't assign a defender if there's no risk of incarceration, and there really ought not to be for a lot of routine traffic offenses. For that matter, given the era we are now in, there's a felony or two that ought to be reduced to misdemeanors.
As an aside, in the two counties in which public defenders ceased to be assigned, the local bars took note that unless there sufficient volunteers, the Court would assign local practitioners to the cases. Both counties had enough volunteers. That's a scary thought, quite frankly, but it is a solution. It's been done a lot of places at one time or another and its worth considering for wider application. One problem with it, however, is now that the state has the UBE, a lot of younger "Wyoming" lawyers are actually Denver Colorado lawyers. I frankly think that this presents an opportunity for them to be real Wyoming lawyers, and that the practice probably ought to be expanded and made to apply statewide in a method that would include the UBE lawyers who reside out of state. It's only fair.
One interesting aspect of this, as a final aside, is that its' never proposed for prosecutor's offices, but there's no reason it can't or shouldn't be. It often goes unnoticed by in our system prosecutors have enormous discretion on what they prosecute. It'd be interesting to see what would happen with a lot of routine prosecutions, or even major ones, if private practitioners were introduced into the mix.
August 20, 2019.
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A legislative committee killed a couple of election related bills this week when they voted down the effort to address party switching and voted down a requirement to have photo IDs when voting.
Both bills had been backed by conservative elements in the GOP and indeed were priorities for them. As the voter cross over bill keeps coming back, vampire like, from the dead, I wouldn't be surprised to see it come back again.
September 17, 2019.
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A legislative committee has asked for the State's Legislative Service Office to draft a bill to tax wind energy.
This proposal has been floated before but this is the first time in this context. The proposal is a serious one that aims to address budget shortfalls. No text yet exists, but it appears that in the upcoming legislative session there will be a serious attempt to introduce such a tax to start to attempt to make up what the shortfall in other energy generated taxes has become.
September 24, 2019
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A legislative committee has approved going forward with a bill to establish a gaming commission.
How this exactly plays out isn't clear, but what appears to be the case, based on the reporting, is that the state would establish the commission and give counties the option to allow gambling.
Gambling actually has a long, and mostly illegal, history in Wyoming. As late as the 1950s, at least, gambling was pretty openly conducted in many bars and a local one ran a big board behind the bar for the very purpose of betting on sports. That stopped at some point and it went underground, but even well into my adult years a person could place a bet a a magazine venders here, although you had to have their confidence to do it.
In more recent years that has seemingly stopped, but due to national legislation allowing Indian tribes, as sovereigns, to establish casinos and allow gambling on their reservations, open gambling has returned. The state attempted to prevent that early on, putting the state at odds with the tribes, but their legal effort failed. Now the state seems ready to join the club.
Assuming that passes the legislature, of course, which might be a big presumption. My prediction is that this bill will have a lot of opposition in the legislature.
One group of Wyoming residents who are openly opposed to it are the Tribes, and no wonder. The tribal casinos are the money makers they are as gambling isn't available elsewhere. Two casinos have been built, neither of which I've been in (as I don't gamble), both of which are very popular. However, except for people who live in Fremont County, they're a long drive for anyone who wants to gamble.
People do make that drive however.
If counties had the option to allow gambling, my prediction is that Fremont County, which the Reservation is in, would allow it as they already have gambling in the county and would probably want a piece of the pie. I suspect that other counties would be more difficult to predict. The counties bordering South Dakota would like open it up, as the neighboring South Dakota counties have it and they're getting that traffic already. I suspect that the counties bordering Idaho and Utah would not go for it, however. Teton and Park Counties would likely reject it as it would interfere with their image. I suspect that Natrona County would reject it, but my guess is that Converse County would allow it.
I guess we'll see, if it becomes law.
And that's too difficult to predict.
October 6, 2019.
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The Tribune ran a story on the front page to expand funding for wildlife crossings.
The state effort to date to fund crossing across highways has been very successful. The expanded program will build on that.
The bill to tax out of state retailers which was initially popular last session but which met with nationally backed opposition and was defeated has been advancing again and it is itself now getting some organized opposition. Indeed, a few nights ago, sometime in the dark of night, somebody left a door hanging type handbill in opposition to it on my door, which by morning was on the front stoop. I picked it up when I picked up the newspaper. The handbill was from the local expression of a very conservative national organization.
I'll be frank that I have a hard time seeing this in terms that some on the right side of the political isle do and indeed their approach to it doesn't seem "conservative" to me. A byproduct of the bill might be to conserve local businesses, as the bill is founded on the correct belief that big national retailers actually already price the tax into their shelf price. Given that, Wyomingites already pay the tax, but what occurs is that the retailer keeps it. Given Wyoming's very small role in the retail sales picture, and the huge role that national retailers have, the tax coming into existence in Wyoming will actually have no impact on prices in the store at all.
In reality, what it would do is put some money in the state's coffers, not do anything significant to the retailers, and probably not aid local retailers either. Given all that, organized opposition to it, except by the national retailers themselves, doesn't make any obvious sense except on the part of those who have a philosophical opposition to nearly any taxes.
In terms of traditional liberalism and conservatism, however, its either a neutral act or a "conservative" populist one in the context of the actual meaning of the word. It's surprising that it draws local opposition.
October 13, 2019.
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A bunch of taxation bills under consideration were discussed in the Tribune today.
When reading on such things its always important to recall that at this stage the bills are just being discussed for introduction. There's a long ways to go before any are actually discussed in the legislature. I note that as taxation measures tend to be hugely controversial in Wyoming and the fact that there's discussion at all will likely be upsetting in some quarters. Taxation usually is discussed, however, due to the ongoing budgetary shortfalls.
One measure would allow municipalities to add a sales tax. I don't know much about that, so that's all I'll note. There's a bill on the topic, but I don't know the details.
Another would propose to allow the voters of counties to make the .01 sales tax permanent. Most (indeed so far as I'm aware of, all) counties that have the tax routinely renew it, but it has met with opposition from time to time. I suspect the suggestion to make it a permanent tax, even with it having to get past a county's voters first, will not be popular with some. Indeed, a frequent complaint by those opposed to the tax is that it tends to become permanent. An additional complaint will likely be that making it permanent will remove voter input on whether the money is being appropriately applied. That's my guess anyhow.
Other news on the legislature is that a website has appeared which rates Republican members of the legislature based on their adherence to the GOP platform. Nobody knows who is behind it or what criteria they really use. There's been real dissension in the GOP recently, some of it quite open, so this is an interesting envelopment. Having said that, the sit itself is not a really well done one, production value wise, so that always makes a person wonder if the effort isn't a really limited one.
November 13, 2019
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There's been a lot of news since the 2018 election of a growing rift in the Republican Party and today that news was the headline news for the Tribune.
According to senior members of the Natrona County GOP the party authorized secret investigations into those members basically for their not being conservative enough in the minds of an increasingly right wing leadership in the party.
This news has been in the paper continually over the last several months. The Laramie County GOP nearly declared itself in open revolt over such activities while the Natrona County part made its displeasure known. In spite of that, things seem to have gotten worse. Things have been so surprising in this arena that even a really conservative party member from Natrona County has expressed concern.
Apparently the Party has now passed resolutions at its central committee level that declares that the party has the right to dictate all of its members' positions, according to the Tribune. The party now reserves the right to discipline members who fall out of line by way of one such resolution, and even used the word "lock step" in it.
There have always been members of any American political party who fall outside of its main. A party is not a religion, after all, that can claim its positions as dogma. Ironically, at least one of the greatest of Republican heroes, Theodore Roosevelt, was massively outside of the GOP mainstream for much of his political career and most of the Republican Presidents who have held office since 1950 would not fit the mold of today's GOP.
The Roosevelt example, and something I posted today on a much different political party from 1919, as well as today's Democratic Party, should all provide cautionary examples to the Wyoming GOP. Rifts inside the GOP in Roosevelt's day caused a split in the party that caused many of its members to bolt, some permanently, and for a time the bolting party threatened to destroy the Republican Party. Dissatisfaction with limited options inside of a political party have caused a plethora of parties to emerge in the early 20th Century, and the lock step nature of the current Democratic Party nationwide contributes, more than any other factor, to Independents being the largest single political block in the U.S. If the Democratic Party of today was to return to allowing more leeway to individual members and politicians, as it did in the 60s and 70s, it would frankly dwarf the current GOP.
The doctrinal hard right hard line that the central party is taking in Wyoming is causing members to bolt to being Independents now. Ironically this comes at a time when the local Democrats are all but dead for the same reasons noted above, it proved impossible for individuals to be members of a party that demanded doctrinaire positions on social issues that many former members were uncomfortable with. If the GOP is really successful at shutting down the moderates inside the party, the refugees from the Democratic Party will be joined by refugees from the GOP.
Seeing a repeat of what occurred early in the 20th Century, with local parties springing up within a state to reflect local views, is highly unlikely. But even right now senior members are warning that the GOP has gone so far it may now have to register itself as a lobbying organization with the state. If the GOP goes further on state lands issues, it's not impossible that local political organizations, sort of proto parties, could begin to take a serious role, and perhaps rapidly a more serious role than the parties, in endorsing candidates. As it is, its fairly clear that the GOP leadership is to the right of its own membership and is operating contrary to the party organizations in the two largest counties in the state.
This of course opens a door to the local Democratic Party, save for the fact that the local party has lost so many rank and file members since the 1980s that it practically can't form into a larger middle of the road party. If it valued obtaining office more than its self insulated views, it would exploit this rift, but it probably can't. Given that, this development will be interesting to follow. If it isn't arrested, it'll start to fracture and really weaken the local GOP, but that likely won't be to the benefit of the Democrats, at least at first.
November 22, 2019
________________________________________________________________________________
This year is a budget session, so the number of bills that will be considered should be limited, but this year is going to feature another effort to put Wyoming on Daylight Savings Time all year long.
Personally, I'd like to put the state on Standard Time all year long, but I'll take just not moving the clock twice a year no matter which way that would work.
This same bill has been attempted several times of the last few years, and never passed. I'm not real optimistic it will this time, or even actually be considered, but it is being attempted.
January 15, 2020
_________________________________________________________________________________
Last year a legislature introduced a bill to change the age at which Wyomingites can legally marry. Discussed in terms of ending "child" marriages, the bill raised the age at which emancipated minors could legally marry up to 18 years of age.
If this seems familiar, it's because a bill on the same topic was introduced in the 2019 legislature and failed. This one is slightly different in that the previous bill did not take into account emancipated minors, and this one does, assuming that they are 17 years of age. Interestingly, that bill apparently ran into opposition from those who advocate for women who are subject to domestic abuse as they were concerned that the hard "no marriages" line that the prior bill had eliminated an "escape" route for young women who were trying to escape domestic abuse. I.e., without means and subject to violence at home, they escape into very early marriages, which is a depressing thought.
I had a long thread on the last bill and had come commentary on it, noting that marriages in this age bracket are fairly rare. According to the article in the Tribune, the year prior to the bill being introduced there were only eight marriages in the 16-17 age bracket in the state. Last year, however, there were apparently twenty-one. The article speculated that a bill that rose the marriage age in Utah may have caused young couples (or I guess a couple where one member is young, that undoubtedly being the female member) to cross the border into Wyoming. It is a very remarkable jump.
The Utah bill actually didn't ban marriages in this bracket outright actually. Rather, it banned them when one of the spouses to be was more than seven years older than the 16 or 17 year old. In other words, a person could be no older than 23 years old and marry a 16 year old. If the thought of that marriage makes your skin crawl a bit, that's the point of the bill. .. to address that situation.
Last year I noted:
This year I'm not so sure, although the libertarian impulses of the GOP have seemingly grown over the past year (the bill is sponsored by a Democrat). But if Utah has tightened up its laws and this is causing men more than seven years old to cross the border into Wyoming (and nobody has any actual statistics on this) to marry teenagers, well that ought to be stopped, assuming that there aren't other reasons to stop this in general.
If it doesn't pass, it'll be partially because this is a budget session. Having said that, there's also a really strong tea party movement in some county GOPs right now that might oppose it on philosophical grounds if it really gets introduced, which I doubt it will.
Anyhow, the big jump, even though its not a vast number, is surprising which suggest that if nothing else maybe Wyoming ought to cut, paste, and pass a copy of the Utah bill.
January 25, 2020
________________________________________________________________________________
It's a budget session, but so far 122 bills have been given numbers by the House of Representatives and 87 by the Senate, including budgets. The legislature lists them all as follows:
| Bill | Catch Title | Sponsor | Last Action | Last Action Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HB0003 | Wyoming energy authority-amendments. | Minerals | Bill Number Assigned | 12/10/2019 |
| HB0004 | Wyoming coal marketing program. | Minerals | Bill Number Assigned | 12/10/2019 |
| HB0005 | Driver's licenses and IDs. | Transportation | Bill Number Assigned | 12/10/2019 |
| HB0006 | Commercial operators-registration and authority to operate. | Transportation | Bill Number Assigned | 12/10/2019 |
| HB0007 | Commercial learner's permits. | Transportation | Bill Number Assigned | 12/10/2019 |
| HB0008 | Digital expression protection. | Judiciary | Bill Number Assigned | 12/10/2019 |
| HB0009 | Abstracts of court records. | Judiciary | Bill Number Assigned | 12/10/2019 |
| HB0010 | Human trafficking-penalty for subsequent conviction. | Judiciary | Bill Number Assigned | 12/10/2019 |
| HB0011 | Qualified residential treatment programs. | Judiciary | Bill Number Assigned | 12/10/2019 |
| HB0012 | Motor vehicle violations-penalties. | Judiciary | Bill Number Assigned | 12/10/2019 |
| HB0013 | Sage grouse mitigation credits. | Minerals | Bill Number Assigned | 12/10/2019 |
| HB0014 | Drilling units-risk penalties and mandatory royalties. | Minerals | Bill Number Assigned | 12/10/2019 |
| HB0015 | School capital construction account. | Sel Sch Fac | Bill Number Assigned | 12/10/2019 |
| HB0016 | Consolidation of theft crimes. | Judiciary | Bill Number Assigned | 12/11/2019 |
| HB0017 | Parent counsel and family preservation. | Judiciary | Bill Number Assigned | 12/11/2019 |
| HB0018 | Office of guardian ad litem. | Judiciary | Bill Number Assigned | 12/11/2019 |
| HB0019 | Municipal right-of-way franchise fees. | Corporations | Bill Number Assigned | 12/11/2019 |
| HB0020 | Municipal bonds-digital securities. | Corporations | Bill Number Assigned | 12/11/2019 |
| HB0021 | Insurance investments-digital assets. | Corporations | Bill Number Assigned | 12/11/2019 |
| HB0022 | Town and county development regulations. | Corporations | Bill Number Assigned | 12/11/2019 |
| HB0023 | School district procurement amendment. | Sel Sch Fac | Bill Number Assigned | 12/11/2019 |
| HB0024 | Medicaid birth costs recovery-amendments. | Labor | Bill Number Assigned | 12/13/2019 |
| HB0025 | County reserve accounts. | Corporations | Bill Number Assigned | 12/16/2019 |
| HB0026 | Tribal ID for voting. | Corporations | Bill Number Assigned | 12/16/2019 |
| HB0027 | Select committee on blockchain, technology and innovation. | Corporations | Bill Number Assigned | 12/17/2019 |
| HB0028 | Firearm regulation. | Lindholm | Bill Number Assigned | 12/24/2019 |
| HB0029 | Designation of migration corridors. | Fed Nat Res | Bill Number Assigned | 12/24/2019 |
| HB0030 | Behavioral health services task force. | Labor | Bill Number Assigned | 12/30/2019 |
| HB0031 | Criminal justice-mental health-substance use programming. | Labor | Bill Number Assigned | 12/30/2019 |
| HB0032 | Resident tuition for military members and family. | Brown | Bill Number Assigned | 12/31/2019 |
| HB0033 | Agricultural land qualification. | Revenue | Bill Number Assigned | 01/03/2020 |
| HB0034 | Motor vehicle franchises-telephone requirements. | Blake | Bill Number Assigned | 01/07/2020 |
| HB0035 | Wolf depredation compensation. | Winter | Bill Number Assigned | 01/07/2020 |
| HB0036 | Pesticide registration fee. | Agriculture | Bill Number Assigned | 01/07/2020 |
| HB0037 | Voluntary land exchange process. | Agriculture | Bill Number Assigned | 01/07/2020 |
| HB0038 | Weed and pest amendments. | Agriculture | Bill Number Assigned | 01/07/2020 |
| HB0039 | Remote education within a school district. | Education | Bill Number Assigned | 01/08/2020 |
| HB0040 | School finance - model recalibration. | Education | Bill Number Assigned | 01/08/2020 |
| HB0041 | Disclosure of private cryptographic keys. | Judiciary | Bill Number Assigned | 01/08/2020 |
| HB0042 | Good time allowances for jail time. | Judiciary | Bill Number Assigned | 01/08/2020 |
| HB0043 | Digital representation tokens. | Corporations | Bill Number Assigned | 01/09/2020 |
| HB0044 | Mountain daylight time preservation. | Laursen | Bill Number Assigned | 01/13/2020 |
| HB0045 | Special purpose depository institutions-amendments. | Minerals | Bill Number Assigned | 01/13/2020 |
| HB0046 | Special education funding. | Education | Bill Number Assigned | 01/13/2020 |
| HB0047 | Local sales and use taxes. | Revenue | Bill Number Assigned | 01/13/2020 |
| HB0048 | Voyeurism-amendments. | Crank | Bill Number Assigned | 01/15/2020 |
| HB0049 | Retirement savings information-workforce services. | Wilson | Bill Number Assigned | 01/16/2020 |
| HB0050 | Government procurement-amendments. | Appropriations | Bill Number Assigned | 01/16/2020 |
| HB0051 | Professional services procurement-amendments. | Appropriations | Bill Number Assigned | 01/16/2020 |
| HB0052 | Public works and contracts. | Appropriations | Bill Number Assigned | 01/16/2020 |
| HB0053 | Education accounts-investment earnings. | Appropriations | Bill Number Assigned | 01/16/2020 |
| HB0054 | State officials salary. | Appropriations | Bill Number Assigned | 01/16/2020 |
| HB0055 | Fishing task force. | Travel | Bill Number Assigned | 01/16/2020 |
| HB0056 | Good neighbor authority revolving account. | Lindholm | Bill Number Assigned | 01/17/2020 |
| HB0057 | Underground facilities notification-exemption. | Laursen | Bill Number Assigned | 01/17/2020 |
| HB0058 | State Engineer list of approved flumes. | Sommers | Bill Number Assigned | 01/17/2020 |
| HB0059 | Reporting of and relief from firearms disqualification. | Pownall | Bill Number Assigned | 01/21/2020 |
| HB0060 | Insurance policies-notice provisions. | Stith | Bill Number Assigned | 01/21/2020 |
| HB0061 | Motor vehicle speed evidence. | Stith | Bill Number Assigned | 01/21/2020 |
| HB0062 | Senior health care special districts. | Labor | Bill Number Assigned | 01/21/2020 |
| HB0063 | Fuel tax. | Revenue | Bill Number Assigned | 01/23/2020 |
| HB0064 | National corporate tax recapture. | Revenue | Bill Number Assigned | 01/23/2020 |
| HB0065 | Jury procedure amendments. | Kirkbride | Bill Number Assigned | 01/23/2020 |
| HB0066 | Promotion of individual invention act. | Stith | Bill Number Assigned | 01/23/2020 |
| HB0067 | Child marriage restriction. | Pelkey | Bill Number Assigned | 01/23/2020 |
| HB0068 | Sex offender-prohibited access to school facilities. | Simpson | Bill Number Assigned | 01/24/2020 |
| HB0069 | Wildlife conservation efforts-1. | Transportation | Bill Number Assigned | 01/24/2020 |
| HB0070 | State employee-moving expenses. | Transportation | Bill Number Assigned | 01/24/2020 |
| HB0071 | Wyoming public safety communications system funding. | Transportation | Bill Number Assigned | 01/24/2020 |
| HB0072 | Vehicle titles-transfers and receipts. | Lindholm | Bill Number Assigned | 01/28/2020 |
| HB0073 | Nicotine products-taxation. | Revenue | Bill Number Assigned | 01/28/2020 |
| HB0074 | Small modular nuclear reactor permitting. | Miller | Bill Number Assigned | 01/28/2020 |
| HB0075 | Medicaid expansion-authorization. | Revenue | Bill Number Assigned | 01/28/2020 |
| HB0076 | Veterans property tax exemption-access. | Greear | Bill Number Assigned | 01/28/2020 |
| HB0077 | Wyoming Law Enforcement Memorial Highway-designation. | Brown | Bill Number Assigned | 01/29/2020 |
| HB0078 | Firearms in private vehicles. | Blake | Bill Number Assigned | 01/29/2020 |
| HB0079 | Railroad safety. | Blake | Bill Number Assigned | 01/29/2020 |
| HB0080 | Land appraisal appeal process. | Agriculture | Bill Number Assigned | 01/29/2020 |
| HB0081 | Emergency water projects account. | Water | Bill Number Assigned | 01/29/2020 |
| HB0082 | Contract brewing. | Loucks | Bill Number Assigned | 01/30/2020 |
| HB0083 | UW board of trustees-selection by electorate. | Gray | Bill Number Assigned | 01/30/2020 |
| HB0084 | Food freedom amendments. | Duncan | Bill Number Assigned | 01/31/2020 |
| HB0085 | Prescription tracking program rules. | Wilson | Bill Number Assigned | 02/03/2020 |
| HB0086 | Removal of elected municipal officials. | Loucks | Bill Number Assigned | 02/03/2020 |
| HB0087 | Youth entrepreneurship exceptions. | Barlow | Bill Number Assigned | 02/03/2020 |
| HB0088 | Livestock board investigators. | Sommers | Bill Number Assigned | 02/03/2020 |
| HB0089 | Improvement and service districts-financial enforcement. | Stith | Bill Number Assigned | 02/03/2020 |
| HB0090 | State lands-notice of lease sales. | Roscoe | Bill Number Assigned | 02/03/2020 |
| HB0091 | Economic diversification incentives for mineral exploration. | Miller | Bill Number Assigned | 02/03/2020 |
| HB0092 | Pioneer archery licenses. | Haley | Bill Number Assigned | 02/03/2020 |
| HB0093 | Governmental claims-maximum liability. | Kirkbride | Bill Number Assigned | 02/03/2020 |
| HB0094 | Budget modifications-executive. | Mgt Council | Bill Number Assigned | 02/03/2020 |
| HB0095 | Building and construction projects. | Walters | Bill Number Assigned | 02/03/2020 |
| HB0096 | Dr. Leonard L. Robinson memorial bridge. | Harshman | Bill Number Assigned | 02/03/2020 |
| HB0097 | Omnibus water bill - construction. | Water | Bill Number Assigned | 02/04/2020 |
| HB0098 | Defend the Guard Act. | Lindholm | Bill Number Assigned | 02/04/2020 |
| HB0099 | Animal reimbursement program-amendments. | Hunt | Bill Number Assigned | 02/04/2020 |
| HB0100 | Naturopathy licensing. | Hunt | Bill Number Assigned | 02/04/2020 |
| HB0101 | Protection and privacy of online customer information. | Yin | Bill Number Assigned | 02/04/2020 |
| HB0102 | Wyoming combat sports commission. | Olsen | Bill Number Assigned | 02/04/2020 |
| HB0103 | Chancery court amendments. | Greear | Bill Number Assigned | 02/04/2020 |
| HB0104 | Public assistance programs. | Connolly | Bill Number Assigned | 02/04/2020 |
| HB0105 | Metal mustache freedom act. | Clem | Bill Number Assigned | 02/04/2020 |
| HB0106 | Immunization exemptions-nonrefusal of services. | Clem | Bill Number Assigned | 02/04/2020 |
| HB0107 | Neglect and abuse. | Clem | Bill Number Assigned | 02/04/2020 |
| HB0108 | Ban on sanctuary cities and counties. | Gray | Bill Number Assigned | 02/04/2020 |
| HB0109 | Electronic monitoring in long-term care facilities. | Kirkbride | Bill Number Assigned | 02/05/2020 |
| HB0110 | Non-recurring retiree inflation adjustments. | Harshman | Bill Number Assigned | 02/06/2020 |
| HB0111 | Split estates-measure of damages-3. | Clausen | Bill Number Assigned | 02/06/2020 |
| HB0112 | Wyoming retirement plans-adjustments. | Henderson | Bill Number Assigned | 02/06/2020 |
| HB0113 | Importation of prescription drugs-study. | Salazar | Bill Number Assigned | 02/06/2020 |
| HB0114 | Transportation commission contract immunity repeal. | Laursen | Bill Number Assigned | 02/06/2020 |
| HB0115 | Multi-disciplinary clinical advisory panel. | Wilson | Bill Number Assigned | 02/06/2020 |
| HB0116 | Split estates-good faith negotiations. | Clausen | Bill Number Assigned | 02/06/2020 |
| HB0117 | Exportation of mineral resources. | Harshman | Bill Number Assigned | 02/06/2020 |
| HB0118 | Second Amendment Preservation Act. | Jennings | Bill Number Assigned | 02/06/2020 |
| HB0119 | Medicaid billing for school-based services. | Appropriations | Bill Number Assigned | 02/06/2020 |
| HB0120 | CHIP-state administration. | Appropriations | Bill Number Assigned | 02/06/2020 |
| HB0121 | Legislative committees-interim topics. | Jennings | Bill Number Assigned | 02/06/2020 |
| HB0122 | Tax exemption-private school attendance. | Clem | Bill Number Assigned | 02/06/2020 |
| HJ0001 | State lands mineral royalties-constitutional amendment. | Hallinan | Bill Number Assigned | 12/30/2019 |
| HJ0002 | Taxpayer's bill of rights. | Gray | Bill Number Assigned | 02/06/2020 |
| SF0002 | Legislative budget. | Mgt Council | Bill Number Assigned | 02/06/2020 |
| SF0003 | Military department authority to accept donations. | Transportation | Bill Number Assigned | 12/10/2019 |
| SF0004 | Wildlife conservation account. | Transportation | Bill Number Assigned | 12/10/2019 |
| SF0005 | DUI limited driving privileges. | Transportation | Bill Number Assigned | 12/10/2019 |
| SF0006 | Tolling authority for I-80. | Transportation | Bill Number Assigned | 12/10/2019 |
| SF0007 | School buildings and facilities-lease reimbursements. | Sel Sch Fac | Bill Number Assigned | 12/10/2019 |
| SF0008 | Missing and murdered persons and other events-cooperation. | Judiciary | Bill Number Assigned | 12/10/2019 |
| SF0009 | Ethics and Disclosure Act amendments. | Judiciary | Bill Number Assigned | 12/10/2019 |
| SF0010 | Warrants for digital records. | Judiciary | Bill Number Assigned | 12/10/2019 |
| SF0011 | Consumer protection act amendments. | Judiciary | Bill Number Assigned | 12/10/2019 |
| SF0012 | Child sexual abuse civil action statute of limitations. | Judiciary | Bill Number Assigned | 12/10/2019 |
| SF0013 | Public defender-indigency standards. | Judiciary | Bill Number Assigned | 12/10/2019 |
| SF0014 | Probation and parole sanctions-amendments. | Judiciary | Bill Number Assigned | 12/10/2019 |
| SF0015 | Absenteeism and truancy. | Education | Bill Number Assigned | 12/13/2019 |
| SF0016 | School district procurement. | Education | Bill Number Assigned | 12/13/2019 |
| SF0017 | Hathaway need-based scholarships-graduate school. | Education | Bill Number Assigned | 12/13/2019 |
| SF0018 | Wildlife conservation efforts-2. | Transportation | Bill Number Assigned | 12/13/2019 |
| SF0019 | Ad valorem-confidentiality exception. | Revenue | Bill Number Assigned | 12/17/2019 |
| SF0020 | Election code revisions. | Corporations | Bill Number Assigned | 12/17/2019 |
| SF0021 | Coal fired electric generation facilities. | Corporations | Bill Number Assigned | 12/17/2019 |
| SF0022 | Surface water diversion. | Corporations | Bill Number Assigned | 12/17/2019 |
| SF0023 | Insurance code updates. | Corporations | Bill Number Assigned | 12/17/2019 |
| SF0024 | State employees' and officials' group insurance. | Corporations | Bill Number Assigned | 12/17/2019 |
| SF0025 | Energy production inventory exemption. | Corporations | Bill Number Assigned | 12/17/2019 |
| SF0026 | State group insurance plan-participation. | Corporations | Bill Number Assigned | 12/17/2019 |
| SF0027 | Discovered property-probate procedures. | Von Flatern | Bill Number Assigned | 12/24/2019 |
| SF0028 | Sixth judicial district-number of district judges. | Von Flatern | Bill Number Assigned | 12/24/2019 |
| SF0029 | Optometrist practice act amendments. | Baldwin | Bill Number Assigned | 01/07/2020 |
| SF0030 | Reporting of property. | Revenue | Bill Number Assigned | 01/08/2020 |
| SF0031 | University of Wyoming-land grant mission report. | Agriculture | Bill Number Assigned | 01/08/2020 |
| SF0032 | Public meetings-executive sessions for security planning. | Kost | Bill Number Assigned | 01/10/2020 |
| SF0033 | Extension agents. | Agriculture | Bill Number Assigned | 01/10/2020 |
| SF0034 | Child welfare-QRTP accreditation assistance program. | Labor | Bill Number Assigned | 01/10/2020 |
| SF0035 | Health care claims database reporting. | Labor | Bill Number Assigned | 01/10/2020 |
| SF0036 | Large scale solar and wind energy facilities. | Corporations | Bill Number Assigned | 01/13/2020 |
| SF0037 | Psychology Interjurisdictional Compact. | Labor | Bill Number Assigned | 01/13/2020 |
| SF0038 | Health insurance costs-bundled payment study. | Labor | Bill Number Assigned | 01/13/2020 |
| SF0039 | Statements of consideration. | Revenue | Bill Number Assigned | 01/13/2020 |
| SF0040 | Certification of cases to state board of equalization. | Revenue | Bill Number Assigned | 01/15/2020 |
| SF0041 | Animal damage management funding. | Agriculture | Bill Number Assigned | 01/16/2020 |
| SF0042 | Nicotine products–age verification and shipping. | Revenue | Bill Number Assigned | 01/17/2020 |
| SF0043 | Sales and use tax-definitions update. | Revenue | Bill Number Assigned | 01/17/2020 |
| SF0044 | Mining permit applications-objections. | Minerals | Bill Number Assigned | 01/21/2020 |
| SF0045 | Underground disposal wells-regulation. | Minerals | Bill Number Assigned | 01/21/2020 |
| SF0046 | Wyoming Money Transmitters Act-exemption. | Minerals | Bill Number Assigned | 01/21/2020 |
| SF0047 | Digital assets-statutory amendments. | Minerals | Bill Number Assigned | 01/21/2020 |
| SF0048 | Solid waste cease and transfer program funding. | Minerals | Bill Number Assigned | 01/21/2020 |
| SF0049 | Per diem rates. | Mgt Council | Bill Number Assigned | 01/21/2020 |
| SF0050 | Nicotine products-lawful age and penalties. | Revenue | Bill Number Assigned | 01/21/2020 |
| SF0051 | Wyoming retirement plans-contributions. | Appropriations | Bill Number Assigned | 01/24/2020 |
| SF0052 | Tobacco products-mail and online sales prohibition. | Revenue | Bill Number Assigned | 01/21/2020 |
| SF0053 | Property tax exemption. | Revenue | Bill Number Assigned | 01/21/2020 |
| SF0054 | Surplus food programs. | Wasserburger | Bill Number Assigned | 01/23/2020 |
| SF0055 | Hemp production-fees. | Appropriations | Bill Number Assigned | 01/24/2020 |
| SF0056 | Absentee polling places. | Case | Bill Number Assigned | 01/24/2020 |
| SF0057 | Local government distributions. | Appropriations | Bill Number Assigned | 01/24/2020 |
| SF0058 | Wyoming education trust fund-investment earnings. | Appropriations | Bill Number Assigned | 01/24/2020 |
| SF0059 | Governmental property. | Revenue | Bill Number Assigned | 01/29/2020 |
| SF0060 | Wyoming pollution discharge elimination system fees. | Appropriations | Bill Number Assigned | 01/24/2020 |
| SF0061 | Omnibus water bill - planning. | Water | Bill Number Assigned | 01/29/2020 |
| SF0062 | Appraisal management companies-amendments. | Pappas | Bill Number Assigned | 01/30/2020 |
| SF0063 | Motor vehicles-security interest perfection. | Case | Bill Number Assigned | 01/30/2020 |
| SF0064 | Trust companies-statutory amendments. | Rothfuss | Bill Number Assigned | 01/31/2020 |
| SF0065 | Wild bison licenses. | Travel | Bill Number Assigned | 01/31/2020 |
| SF0066 | Retiring electric generation facilities-financial assurance. | Driskill | Bill Number Assigned | 01/31/2020 |
| SF0067 | Criminal trespass. | Boner | Bill Number Assigned | 02/03/2020 |
| SF0068 | Legislator salary restrictions. | James | Bill Number Assigned | 02/03/2020 |
| SF0069 | Rural health care district authority. | Baldwin | Bill Number Assigned | 02/03/2020 |
| SF0070 | Government abuse, fraud and waste reporting. | James | Bill Number Assigned | 02/03/2020 |
| SF0071 | Life insurance premiums. | Case | Bill Number Assigned | 02/03/2020 |
| SF0072 | Revisor's bill. | Mgt Council | Bill Number Assigned | 02/03/2020 |
| SF0073 | Prescription tracking program amendments. | SLabor | Bill Number Assigned | 02/03/2020 |
| SF0074 | Permit not required for using a de minimis amount of water. | Water | Bill Number Assigned | 02/04/2020 |
| SF0075 | Instream flow application process. | Water | Bill Number Assigned | 02/04/2020 |
| SF0076 | Free parking. | Coe | Bill Number Assigned | 02/04/2020 |
| SF0077 | Prescription tracking program. | Labor | Bill Number Assigned | 02/05/2020 |
| SF0078 | State capital construction-oversight. | Mgt Council | Bill Number Assigned | 02/05/2020 |
| SF0079 | School safety and security. | Ellis | Bill Number Assigned | 02/05/2020 |
| SF0080 | Handgun purchases. | Rothfuss | Bill Number Assigned | 02/05/2020 |
| SF0081 | Livestock brand administration. | Agriculture | Bill Number Assigned | 02/05/2020 |
| SF0082 | Public records-amendments. | Judiciary | Bill Number Assigned | 02/05/2020 |
| SF0083 | Budget and financial data reporting. | Judiciary | Bill Number Assigned | 02/05/2020 |
| SF0084 | Life insurance plan-legislators. | Mgt Council | Bill Number Assigned | 02/05/2020 |
| SF0085 | Uranium taxation rates. | Boner | Bill Number Assigned | 02/06/2020 |
| SF0086 | Essential health product dignity act. | Ellis | Bill Number Assigned | 02/06/2020 |
| SF0087 | Audiology and speech-language pathology compact. | Pappas | Bill Number Assigned | 02/06/2020 |
| SJ0001 | Firearm and hunter education. | Driskill | Bill Number Assigned | 01/31/2020 |
| SJ0002 | General session appropriations-constitutional amendment. | James | Bill Number Assigned | 02/03/2020 |
Most of these bills are going nowhere whatsoever. The budget session year makes that a certainty. None the less, as usual, there are an interesting early selection.
One that directly impacts budget is the effort to recapture taxes that large businesses budget for as they pay them elsewhere, but don't pay in Wyoming due to a lack of a state corporate income tax. That bill had a lot of traction last session, but met opposition from large entities and then died. It's being attempted again this year.
2020
|
STATE OF WYOMING
|
20LSO-0073
|
HOUSE BILL NO. HB0064
National corporate tax recapture.
Sponsored by: Joint Revenue Interim Committee
A BILL
for
AN ACT relating to taxation; creating the National Corporate Tax Recapture Act; imposing a tax on businesses as specified; providing for administration of the Act; providing penalties; requiring rulemaking; requiring a report; and providing for effective dates.
Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Wyoming:
Section 1. W.S. 39‑12‑102 through 39‑12‑111 are created to read:
39‑12‑102. Administration; confidentiality.
(a) This chapter is known and may be cited as the "National Corporate Tax Recapture Act".
(b) The administration of this chapter is vested in the department of revenue. The department shall administer this chapter in accordance with the multistate tax compact to the extent that the compact does not conflict with this chapter or Wyoming law.
(c) The department shall, to the extent practical, obtain information from the federal Internal Revenue Service to verify taxable income under this chapter. The department shall adopt rules and regulations necessary to efficiently secure the payment, collection and accounting for taxes imposed by this chapter.
(d) Notices required to be mailed by the department under this chapter if mailed to the address shown on the records of the department shall be sufficient for the purposes of this chapter.
(e) No state employee or other person who by his employment has knowledge of the business affairs of any person filing or required to file any tax returns under this chapter shall make known their contents in any manner or permit any person to have access to any returns or information contained therein except as provided by law. The department may also allow the following:
(i) The delivery to the taxpayer or his legal representatives upon written request of a copy of any return or report in connection with the tax imposed by this chapter;
(ii) The publication of statistics formatted to prevent the identification of particular returns or reports;
(iii) The inspection by the Wyoming attorney general of the report or return of any person who brings an action against the state relating to the report or return, or against whom an action is contemplated or has been instituted;
(iv) The introduction into evidence of any report or return or information therefrom in any administrative or court proceeding relating to the report or return and to which the person making the report or return is a party;
(v) The furnishing of any information to the United States government and its territories, the District of Columbia, any state allowing similar privileges to the department or to the multistate tax commission for relay to tax officials of cooperating states. Information furnished shall be only for tax purposes;
(vi) The inspection of tax returns and records by the state department of audit;
(vii) The sharing of information with local governmental entities and other state agencies, provided a written request is made to the department and the governmental entity or agency demonstrates sufficient reason to obtain the information for official business purposes. Information furnished shall be used for official business purposes only.
(f) The district court of the county in which violations of this subsection occur shall have jurisdiction over those violations. No person shall:
(i) Fail or refuse to make any return or payment required by this chapter;
(ii) Make any false return or statement;
(iii) Evade the payment of any tax due;
(iv) Aid or abet another in any attempt to evade payment of the tax due;
(v) Knowingly attest by signature to a false or fraudulent return.
39‑12‑103. Imposition.
(a) Taxable event. There is levied a franchise tax upon the taxable income of each taxpayer in this state as defined in W.S. 39‑12‑101(b)(iv).
(b) A taxpayer having income from business activity in Wyoming shall allocate and apportion the taxable income of the taxpayer as provided in this subsection for the purposes of W.S. 39‑12‑101(b)(iv)(F). Allocation and apportionment of taxable business income shall be as follows:
(i) If a taxpayer has no income from activity that is taxable outside of Wyoming, the taxpayer's entire taxable business income shall be allocated to Wyoming;
(ii) A taxpayer having income from activity that is taxable both within and without Wyoming shall apportion and allocate the taxable business income as provided in this section;
(iii) Income is taxable in another state if:
(A) In that other state, the income is subject to a net income tax, a franchise tax measured by net income, a franchise tax for the privilege of doing business, a corporate stock tax or any similar tax; or
(B) That other state has jurisdiction to subject the income to a net income tax regardless of whether, in fact, the state subjects the taxpayer to such tax.
(iv) Taxable business income shall be apportioned to Wyoming by multiplying the income by a fraction, the numerator of which is the property factor as provided under subsection (c) of this section plus the payroll factor under subsection (d) of this section plus the sales factor under subsection (e) of this section, and the denominator of which is three (3).
(c) The property factor shall be calculated as follows:
(i) The property factor is a fraction, the numerator of which is the average value of the taxpayer's real and tangible personal property owned or rented and used in this state during the tax period and the denominator of which is the average value of all the taxpayer's real and tangible personal property owned or rented and used during the tax period;
(ii) Property owned by the taxpayer shall be valued at its original cost. Property rented by the taxpayer shall be valued at eight (8) times the net annual rental rate. As used in this paragraph, "net annual rental rate" means the annual rental rate paid by the taxpayer less any annual rental rate received by the taxpayer from subrentals;
(iii) The average value of property shall be determined by averaging the values at the beginning and ending of the tax period but the director of the department of revenue may require the averaging of monthly values during the tax period if reasonably required to reflect properly the average value of the taxpayer's property.
(d) The payroll factor shall be calculated as follows:
(i) The payroll factor is a fraction, the numerator of which is the total amount paid in this state during the tax period by the taxpayer for compensation and the denominator of which is the total compensation paid everywhere by the taxpayer during the tax period;
(ii) Compensation is paid in this state if:
(A) The individual's service is performed entirely within the state;
(B) The individual's service is performed both inside and outside the state, but the service performed outside the state is incidental to the individual's service within this state; or
(C) Some of the individual's service is performed in the state and the base of operations:
(I) For the service or, if there is no base of operations, the place from which the service is directed or controlled is in the state; or
(II) The place from which the service is directed or controlled is not in any state in which some part of the service is performed, but the individual's residence is in this state.
(e) The sales factor shall be calculated as follows:
(i) The sales factor is a fraction, the numerator of which is the total sales of the taxpayer in this state during the tax period, and the denominator of which is the total sales of the taxpayer everywhere during the tax period;
(ii) Sales of tangible personal property are in this state if the property is:
(A) Delivered or shipped to a purchaser within this state regardless of the f.o.b. shipping point or other conditions of the sale; or
(B) Shipped from an office, store, warehouse, factory or other place of storage in this state and the taxpayer is not taxable in the state of the purchaser.
(iii) Sales, other than sales of tangible personal property, are in this state if the income producing activity is performed:
(A) In this state; or
(B) Receipts, other than receipts described in subparagraph (A) of this paragraph are in this state if the taxpayer's market for the sales is in this state. The taxpayer's market for sales is in this state:
(I) In the case of sale, rental, lease or license of real property, if and to the extent the property is located in this state;
(II) In the case of rental, lease or license of tangible personal property, if and to the extent the property is located in this state;
(III) In the case of sale of a service, if and to the extent the benefit of the service is received in this state;
(IV) In the case of intangible property that is rented, leased or licensed, if and to the extent the property is used in this state, provided that intangible property used in marketing a good or service to a consumer is "used in this state" if that good or service is purchased by a consumer who is in this state; and
(V) In the case of intangible property that is sold, if and to the extent the property is used in this state, provided that:
(1) A contract right, government license, or similar intangible property that authorizes the holder to conduct a business activity in a specific geographic area is "used in this state" if the geographic area includes all or part of this state;
(2) Receipts from intangible property sales that are contingent on the productivity, use, or disposition of the intangible property shall be treated as receipts from the rental, lease or licensing of the intangible property under subdivision (IV) of this subparagraph; and
(3) All other receipts from a sale of intangible property shall be excluded from the numerator and denominator of the receipts factor.
(C) If the state or states of attribution under subparagraph (B) of this paragraph cannot be determined, the state or states of attribution shall be determined by the state or states in which the delivery of the service occurs;
(D) If the state of attribution cannot be determined under subparagraph (B) or (C) of this paragraph, the receipt shall be excluded from the denominator of the receipts factor.
(f) Rents and royalties from real or tangible personal property, capital gains, interest, dividends or patent or copyright royalties, to the extent they constitute nonbusiness income, shall be allocated, net of related expenses, as provided in this section.
(g) The department may require taxpayers to provide additional information and documentation related to apportionment, allocation of income and the property factor, payroll factor and sales factor to support an income tax return under this chapter.
(h) If the allocation and apportionment provisions of this chapter do not fairly represent the extent of the taxpayer's business activity in this state, the taxpayer may petition for or the director of the department of revenue may require any or all of the following, if reasonable:
(i) A separate accounting of all or a part of the business activity of the taxpayer;
(ii) The exclusion of one (1) or more of the apportionment factors;
(iii) The inclusion of one (1) or more additional factors which will fairly represent the taxpayer's business activity in this state;
(iv) The use of any other method to effectuate an equitable allocation and apportionment of the taxpayer's income.
39‑12‑104. Taxation rate.
There is levied and shall be paid by the taxpayer a tax on that portion of taxable income of the taxpayer that is allocated and apportioned to Wyoming at a rate of seven percent (7%).
39‑12‑105. Exemptions.
There are no specific applicable provisions for exemptions for this chapter.
39‑12‑106. Licenses and permits.
There are no specific applicable provisions for licenses and permits for this chapter.
39‑12‑107. Compliance; collection procedures.
(a) Returns and reports. Except as otherwise provided in this subsection, each taxpayer shall report their total taxable income and the portion of the income that is apportioned to Wyoming as provided in W.S. 39‑12‑103 to the department not more than thirty (30) days after the date the taxpayer is required to file a federal income tax return under the provisions of the Internal Revenue Code including any extensions authorized for filing of the federal income tax return. The following shall apply to affiliated groups:
(i) An affiliated group of corporations may make or the director of the department of revenue may require them to make a consolidated return for the tax year in place of separate returns using the combined method of accounting. For purposes of calculating the amount of tax payable by the group under a consolidated filing, the provisions of 26 U.S.C. § 1552 shall apply;
(ii) A corporation that is a member of an affiliated group shall file a return using the water's edge reporting method. A return under this section shall include the following corporations that are part of an affiliated group with the filing corporation:
(A) An affiliated corporation that is eligible to be included in a federal consolidated return under 26 U.S.C. § 1501 through 1505 if the corporation's property, payroll and sale factors in the United States average twenty percent (20%) or more or average under twenty percent (20%) if the corporation does not meet the requirements of 26 U.S.C. § 861(c);
(B) A domestic international sales corporation as defined in 26 U.S.C. § 992(a);
(C) A foreign sales corporation or FSC as defined in 26 U.S.C. § 922(a);
(D) A corporation, regardless of the place where the corporation was incorporated, if the corporation's property, payroll and sales factors in the United States average twenty percent (20%) or more.
(iii) As used in this section:
(A) "Affiliated corporation" means a member of an affiliated group to which the taxpayer filing a return under this section belongs;
(B) "Affiliated group" means a group of two (2) or more corporations in which fifty percent (50%) or more of the voting stock of each member of the group is directly or indirectly owned by one (1) or more corporate or noncorporate owners or by one (1) or more of the members of the group;
(C) "Foreign corporation" means a corporation created or organized outside of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico or a possession of the United States;
(D) "Water's edge reporting method" means a reporting method in which the only corporations besides the taxpayer that may be included in the return are corporations listed in paragraph (ii) of this subsection.
(b) Payment. Any taxpayer owing a tax under this chapter shall pay the tax once each year at the same time the report under subsection (a) of this section is provided. The tax shall be collected by the department.
(c) Timelines. There are no specific applicable provisions for timelines for this chapter.
39‑12‑108. Enforcement.
(a) Audits. To assess credits and deficiencies against taxpayers, the department is authorized to rely on final audit findings made by the department of audit, taxpayer information or information reported by the taxpayer to the Internal Revenue Service or to the department of revenue subject to the following conditions:
(i) Audits shall commence when the taxpayer receives written notice of the engagement of the audit. The issuance of the written notice of the audit shall toll the statute of limitations provided in W.S. 39‑12‑110 for the audit period specified in this subsection;
(ii) After receiving notice of an audit under this subsection, the taxpayer shall preserve all records and books necessary to determine the amount of tax due for the time period that is being audited;
(iii) Except as otherwise provided in this paragraph, audits shall encompass a time period not to exceed three (3) years immediately preceding the reporting period when the audit is engaged. The three (3) year limit shall not apply to an audit if there is evidence of gross negligence or intent to evade by the taxpayer in reporting or remitting taxes for the reporting period being audited;
(iv) If a taxpayer is not willing or able to produce adequate records to demonstrate taxes due, the department or the department of audit may project taxes based on the best information available;
(v) The department of audit may contract with or employ auditors or other technical assistance necessary to determine whether the taxes imposed by this chapter have been properly reported and paid;
(vi) Audits under this subsection are subject to the authority and procedures provided in W.S. 9‑2‑2003.
(b) Interest. The following shall apply:
(i) Interest at an annual rate equal to the average prime interest as determined by the state treasurer during the preceding fiscal year, plus four percent (4%), shall be added to all delinquent taxes under this chapter. To determine the average prime interest rate, the state treasurer shall average the prime interest for at least seventy‑five percent (75%) of the thirty (30) largest banks in the United States. The interest rate on delinquent taxes shall be adjusted on January 1 of each year following the year in which the taxes first became delinquent. In no instance shall the delinquent interest rate be less than twelve percent (12%) nor greater than eighteen percent (18%);
(ii) The department may credit or waive interest imposed by this subsection as part of a settlement or for any other good cause.
(c) Penalties. The following shall apply:
(i) If any part of a deficiency is due to negligence or intentional disregard of rules and regulations but without intent to defraud there shall be added a penalty of ten percent (10%) of the amount of the deficiency plus interest as provided by paragraph (b)(i) of this section. The taxes, penalty and interest shall be paid by the taxpayer within ten (10) days after notice and demand is made by the department;
(ii) If any part of the deficiency is due to fraud with intent to evade there shall be added a penalty of twenty‑five percent (25%) of the amount of the deficiency plus interest as provided by paragraph (b)(i) of this section. The taxes, penalty and interest shall be paid by the taxpayer within ten (10) days after notice and demand is made by the department;
(iii) Any person who files a false or fraudulent return is subject to the provisions of W.S. 6‑5‑303;
(iv) Any person who violates any provision of this chapter for which there are no specific penalties is guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be fined not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000.00). Each violation is a separate offense;
(v) If a taxpayer fails to file a return as required by this chapter, the department shall give written notice by mail to the taxpayer to file a return on or before the last day of the month following the notice of delinquency. If a taxpayer then fails to file a return the department shall make a return from the best information available which will be prima facie correct and the tax due therein is a deficiency and subject to penalties and interest as provided by this chapter;
(vi) The department may credit or waive penalties imposed by this subsection as part of a settlement or for any other good cause.
(d) Liens. The following shall apply:
(i) Any tax due under this chapter constitutes a debt to the state from the taxpayer, and is a lien from the date the tax is due on all the real and personal property of the taxpayer. Notice of the lien shall be filed with the county clerk of the county in which the taxpayer resides or conducts business. The lien does not have preference over preexisting secured indebtedness but shall have priority from and after the date of filing or recording. The department shall cancel lien statements within sixty (60) days after taxes due are paid or collected. No other action by the department is required to perfect a lien under this paragraph regardless of the type of property involved.
(e) Tax sales. The following shall apply:
(i) The tax due together with interest, penalties and costs may be collected by appropriate judicial proceedings or the department, with board approval, or its representative, may seize and sell at public auction so much of the taxpayer's property as will pay all the tax then due plus interest, penalties and costs. Notice of the auction shall be published for four (4) weeks in a newspaper published in the resident county of the taxpayer or the county in which the majority of the property is located.
39‑12‑109. Taxpayer remedies.
(a) Interpretation requests. A taxpayer may request and the department shall provide written interpretations of these statutes and rules adopted by the department. When requesting an interpretation, a taxpayer shall set forth the facts and circumstances pertinent to the issue. If the department deems the facts and circumstances provided to be insufficient, it may request additional information. A taxpayer may act in reliance upon a written interpretation through the end of the calendar year in which the interpretation was issued, or until revoked by the department, whichever occurs last if the pertinent facts and circumstances were substantially correct and fully disclosed.
(b) Appeals. Except as provided by this subsection, no person aggrieved by the payment of the taxes, penalty and interest imposed by this chapter may appeal a decision of the state board of equalization until all taxes, penalty and interest have been paid. For good cause shown, the court to which the decision of the board is appealed may stay enforcement of the tax during the pendency of the appeal. The court's stay of enforcement shall not affect the accruing of interest upon any assessment and levy.
(c) Refunds. The following shall apply:
(i) Any tax, penalty or interest which has been erroneously paid, computed or remitted to the department by a taxpayer shall either be credited against any subsequent tax liability of the taxpayer or refunded. No credit or refund shall be allowed after three (3) years from the date of overpayment. The receipt of a claim for a refund by the department shall toll the statute of limitations under W.S. 39‑12‑110. All refund requests received by the department shall be approved or denied within ninety (90) days of receipt. Any refund or credit erroneously made or allowed may be recovered in an action brought by the attorney general in any court of competent jurisdiction.
(d) Credits. The following shall apply:
(i) Each taxpayer is entitled to a credit against tax liability under this chapter for all excise, sales, use, severance and ad valorem taxes paid in the tax year by the same taxpayer to any taxing authority in Wyoming. No credit shall be allowed for any tax collected or remitted by the taxpayer on behalf of another person including property taxes paid by the taxpayer on property that is not owned by the taxpayer. The taxpayer shall report the credit to the department on the return filed under W.S. 39‑12‑107. The department may require supporting documentation on the credit claimed under this paragraph. In no case shall any refund be due or payable if the amount of the credit claimed by any taxpayer under this paragraph exceeds the amount of tax due under this chapter. False claims are punishable as provided by W.S. 6‑5‑303;
(ii) The taxpayer is entitled to receive an offsetting credit for any overpaid tax identified by an audit that is within the scope of the audit period, without regard to the limitation period for requesting refunds.
(e) Redemption. There are no specific applicable provisions for redemption for this chapter.
(f) Escrow. There are no specific applicable provisions for escrow for this chapter.
39‑12‑110. Statute of limitations.
(a) Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, no credit or refund shall be allowed after three (3) years from the date of overpayment. The receipt of a claim for a refund by the department shall toll the statute of limitations.
(b) The department may bring an action to recover any delinquent taxes, penalty or interest in any appropriate court within three (3) years following the delinquency. In the case of an assessment created by an audit, the delinquency period is deemed to start thirty (30) days after the date the assessment letter is sent. Any tax penalty and interest related to the audit assessment shall be calculated from the date on which the deficiency occurred. In any such action a certificate by the department is prima facie evidence of the amount due.
39‑12‑111. Distribution.
Revenues collected under W.S. 39‑12‑104 during each fiscal year shall be recognized as revenue during that fiscal year for accounting purposes. For all revenue collected by the department under W.S. 39‑12‑104 the department shall credit one hundred percent (100%) to the school foundation program account.
Section 2. W.S. 39‑12‑101 is amended to read:
39‑12‑101. Preemption by state; definitions.
(a) The state of Wyoming does hereby preempt for itself the field of imposing and levying income taxes, earning taxes, or any other form of tax based on wages or other income and no county, city, town or other political subdivision shall have the right to impose, levy or collect such taxes.
(b) To the extent they do not conflict with the provisions of this chapter, the terms and definitions of the Internal Revenue Code shall apply to this chapter. As used in this chapter:
(i) "Business income" means income arising from transactions and activity in the regular course of the taxpayer's trade or business and includes income from tangible and intangible property if the acquisition, management and disposition of the property constitute integral parts of the taxpayer's regular trade or business operations;
(ii) "Nonbusiness income" means all income other than business income;
(iii) "Tax year" means the taxable year used by the taxpayer for purposes of the federal income tax;
(iv) "Taxable income" means the federal taxable income of a taxpayer as computed under the Internal Revenue Code and reported by the taxpayer to the Internal Revenue Service on federal form 1120, adjusted as follows:
(A) Reduced by any interest received from obligations of the United States that is included in taxable income or in the computation of taxable income on the federal tax return;
(B) Reduced by any other income included in the taxable income or in the computation of taxable income which is exempt from taxation by this state because of the provisions of the Constitution of Wyoming or the Constitution of the United States;
(C) Increased by the amount of any income taxes, including income taxes of foreign countries, or franchise or privilege taxes measured by income, to the extent that the taxes were deducted to determine federal taxable income;
(D) Increased to remove any deductions taken for sales, use and ad valorem taxes paid in the tax year by the same taxpayer to any taxing authority in Wyoming;
(E) Increased by the amount of any special deductions and net operating loss deductions to the extent that these items were deducted in determining federal taxable income;
(F) Reduced by the amount of income not allocated and apportioned to this state under the provisions of W.S. 39‑12‑103, but only to the extent that the amount of net income not allocated and apportioned to this state under the provisions of that section is not included in any adjustment made pursuant to the preceding subparagraphs of this paragraph;
(G) The total sum calculated pursuant to the preceding subparagraphs of this paragraph shall be reduced by the amount of any net operating loss that is attributable to Wyoming sources. If the net operating loss that is attributable to Wyoming sources exceeds the taxable income calculated pursuant to the preceding subparagraphs of this paragraph, the excess may be carried forward for the same time period that an identical federal net operating loss may be carried forward. If a corporation uses an apportionment formula to determine the amount of income that is attributable to Wyoming, the corporation shall use the same formula to determine the amount of net operating loss that is attributable to Wyoming. No deduction may be taken for a carryforward when determining the amount of net operating loss that is attributable to Wyoming sources.
(v) "Taxpayer" means any person who has taxable income earned in Wyoming and who files or is required to file federal form 1120 with the Internal Revenue Service if the corporation or the affiliated group as defined in W.S. 39‑12‑107(a)(iii)(B) has more than one hundred (100) shareholders. For purposes of this paragraph, an employee stock ownership plan shall count as one (1) shareholder regardless of the number of employees in the plan. "Taxpayer" shall not include any person who makes an election as an unincorporated entity and shall not include a limited liability company that makes an election to file taxes on federal form 1120 to the Internal Revenue Service regardless of the number of members of the limited liability company.
Section 3. The department of revenue shall adopt rules under W.S. 39‑11‑102 as necessary to begin collection of the tax created by this act for tax years beginning in 2021.
Section 4. The department of revenue shall investigate the advisability of Wyoming becoming a member state of the multistate tax commission and the advisability of adopting all or a portion of the multistate tax compact. The investigation shall include a determination of what statutory changes would be required for Wyoming to become a member of the multistate tax commission and any other actions that would be necessary for membership. The department shall report the results of the investigation under this section to the joint revenue interim committee not later than September 1, 2020.
Section 5.
(a) Sections 3 through 5 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.
(b) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (a) of this section, this act is effective January 1, 2021.
(END)
1
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HB0064
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Some, if looked at closely, express concerns for the future, essentially attempting to preclude an imagined future more left wing Wyoming from doing things that no community in Wyoming would do now.
Such, for example, is a provision that seeks to prohibit gun buy back efforts, something that no community in the state dreams of attempting. That bill states:
HOUSE BILL NO. HB0028
Firearm regulation.
Sponsored by: Representative(s) Lindholm, Blackburn, Blake, Clem, Greear, Loucks, MacGuire and Olsen and Senator(s) Coe, Driskill, Landen, Pappas and Schuler
A BILL
for
AN ACT relating to firearms; clarifying the applicability of the preemption of firearms regulation by the state; prohibiting governmental entities from operating firearm buyback programs; conforming language; and providing for an effective date.
Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Wyoming:
Section 1. W.S. 6‑8‑401(c), by creating new subsections (d) and (e) and 6‑8‑403(a)(vii) are amended to read:
6‑8‑401. Firearm, weapon and ammunition regulation and prohibition by state; preemption of gun buyback programs.
(c) The sale, transfer, purchase, delivery, taxation, manufacture, ownership, transportation, storage, use and possession of firearms, weapons and ammunition shall be authorized, regulated and prohibited by the state, and regulation thereof is preempted by the state. Except as authorized by W.S. 15‑1‑103(a)(xviii) and 21‑3‑132 and as otherwise specifically provided by this chapter, no city, town, county, political subdivision or any other governmental entity shall authorize, regulate or prohibit the sale, transfer, purchase, delivery, taxation, manufacture, ownership, transportation, storage, use, carrying or possession of firearms, weapons, accessories, components or ammunition. except as specifically provided by this chapter. This section shall not affect zoning or other ordinances which encompass firearms businesses along with other businesses. Zoning and other ordinances which are designed for the purpose of restricting or prohibiting the sale, purchase, transfer or manufacture of firearms or ammunition as a method of regulating firearms or ammunition are in conflict with this section and are prohibited.
(d) No city, town, county, political subdivision, state agency or entity or any other governmental entity shall operate a firearm buyback program or participate in the implementation, administration or operation of a firearm buyback program.
(e) As used in this section:
(i) "Ammunition" means any projectile expelled by action of an explosive from a firearm;
(ii) "Firearm" means any weapon which will or is designed to expel a projectile by the action of an explosive;
(iii) "Firearm accessories" means as defined in W.S. 6‑8‑403(a)(iv);
(iv) "Firearm buyback program" means a program designed to reduce the number of firearms, firearm accessories or ammunition owned by members of the public through the purchase of privately owned firearms, firearm accessories or ammunition. The term does not include any other program operated by a law enforcement agency to purchase firearms, firearm accessories or ammunition to be used for law enforcement purposes.
6‑8‑403. Definitions.
(a) As used in this act:
(vii) "This act" means W.S. 6‑8‑401 6‑8‑402 through 6‑8‑406;
Section 2. This act is effective July 1, 2020.
There are actually a surprising number of firearms bills this session. Another one attempts to preserve the age old Wyoming custom of people keeping firearms in their cars.
An interesting thing about this one is that it clashes with another cherished Wyoming notion, the absolute right, as some people imagine it, of property owners to control their properties.
Firearms in private vehicles.
Sponsored by: Representative(s) Blake, Clem, Duncan, Harshman, Larsen, Lindholm and Olsen and Senator(s) Driskill, Hicks and Nethercott
A BILL
for
AN ACT relating to employment; allowing firearms to be stored in a motor vehicle located in an employer's motor vehicle parking area; providing exemptions and immunity; and providing for an effective date.
Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Wyoming:
Section 1. W.S. 27‑16‑101 through 27‑16‑104 are created to read:
CHAPTER 16
PROTECTION OF SECURED FIREARMS IN PRIVATE VEHICLES
27‑16‑101. Title.
This act shall be known as the "Right to Keep and Bear Arms in Private Vehicles Act."
27‑16‑102. Definitions.
(a) As used in this act:
(i) "Employee" means any person who:
(A) Works for salary, wages or other compensation;
(B) Is an independent contractor; or
(C) Is a volunteer, intern or other similar individual.
(ii) "Employer" means any business that is a sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation, limited liability company, professional association, cooperative, joint venture, trust, firm, institution, entity or association that has employees;
(iii) "Firearm" means as defined by W.S. 6‑8‑403(a)(iii);
(iv) "Motor vehicle" means as defined by W.S. 31‑1‑101(a)(xv);
(v) "Motor vehicle parking" means an area available for temporary or long‑term parking or storage of motor vehicles that is available to employees, customers or invitees;
(vi) "This act" means W.S. 27‑16‑101 through 27‑16‑104.
27‑16‑103. Protection of certain activities; firearms.
(a) An employer shall not establish, maintain or enforce any policy or rule that has the effect of prohibiting any employee from transporting or storing a firearm in a motor vehicle on any property designated for motor vehicle parking, if:
(i) The employee is not otherwise prohibited from transporting, possessing, purchasing, receiving, transferring or storing the firearm;
(ii) The firearm is in a motor vehicle that is securely locked or is in a locked container attached to the motor vehicle while the motor vehicle is not occupied; and
(iii) The firearm is not in plain view from the outside of the motor vehicle.
(b) An employer has no duty of care to any person as a result of complying with the provisions of this act.
(c) An employer that complies with this act is not liable in any criminal or civil action for damages resulting from or arising out of an occurrence involving the transportation or storage of a firearm in a motor vehicle on property designated for motor vehicle parking. This immunity shall not apply to acts or omissions unrelated to compliance with this act, constituting gross negligence or willful or wanton misconduct.
(d) Nothing in this act shall be construed to expand any existing duty, or create any additional duty, on the part of an employer or that employer's agent.
27‑16‑104. Exemptions.
(a) The provisions of this act allowing the transportation or storage of firearms in motor vehicles shall not apply to:
(i) The University of Wyoming, community colleges and schools, including any school building or school grounds in Wyoming and other properties owned or leased by a school;
(ii) Government entities, including the federal government and its agencies, state agencies, cities, towns, counties and political subdivisions of the state;
(iii) Religious organizations, including religious organizations acting as an employer.
(b) Nothing in this act shall affect restrictions on the carrying of concealed weapons as provided in W.S. 6‑8‑104(t).
(c) This act shall not apply to any property owned or leased by an employer upon which possession of a firearm is prohibited under federal law.
Section 2. This act is effective July 1, 2020.
(END)
1
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HB0078
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A different set of legislators wants to impose a three day waiting period on the purchase of a handgun. This bill is going to go nowhere.
2020
|
STATE OF WYOMING
|
20LSO-0492
|
SENATE FILE NO. SF0080
Handgun purchases.
Sponsored by: Senator(s) Rothfuss and Representative(s) Connolly and Furphy
A BILL
for
AN ACT relating to firearms; providing for a waiting period for the purchase of a handgun; providing an exemption; providing criminal penalties; and providing for an effective date.
Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Wyoming:
Section 1. W.S. 6‑8‑205 is created to read:
6‑8‑205. Waiting period for handgun purchases; exemption; penalties.
(a) No firearms dealer shall deliver a handgun to a person who has purchased a handgun until three (3) business days have elapsed from the date of the purchase to the date of the delivery.
(b) Subsection (a) of this section shall not apply to the sale and delivery of a handgun if another handgun is exchanged or otherwise traded in by the purchaser during the same transaction.
(c) Any firearms dealer who violates subsection (a) of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for not more than six (6) months, a fine of not more than seven hundred fifty dollars ($750.00), or both. A person convicted of a second or subsequent violation of subsection (a) of this section is guilty of a felony punishable by imprisonment for not more than two (2) years, a fine of not more than two thousand dollars ($2,000.00), or both.
(d) As used in this section:
(i) "Handgun" means a firearm designed to be operated with one (1) hand including, without limitation, a pistol, derringer or revolver;
(ii) "Firearms dealer" means any person holding a federal firearms license.
Section 2. This act is effective July 1, 2020.
(END)
1
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SF0080
|
Another bill in the nature of making illegal what isn't happening here anyway is one directed at "sanctuary cities". Absent perhaps Jackson, which hasn't done this, this isn't going to happen in Wyoming, and it probably won't in Jackson. A bill in the legislature proposes to address it anyway.
2020
|
STATE OF WYOMING
|
20LSO-0014
|
HOUSE BILL NO. HB0108
Ban on sanctuary cities and counties.
Sponsored by: Representative(s) Gray, Eyre, Jennings, Lindholm, Loucks, Salazar, Tass and Washut and Senator(s) Bebout and James
A BILL
for
AN ACT relating to cities, towns and counties; banning the implementation of immigration sanctuary policies by cities, towns and counties; providing penalties; requiring certification of compliance; requiring a report; and providing for an effective date.
Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Wyoming:
Section 1. W.S. 15‑1‑131 and 18‑2‑116 are created to read:
15‑1‑131. Prohibition on immigration sanctuary policies by cities and towns; certification of compliance.
(a) No governing body of a city or town, whether acting through its governing body or by an initiative, referendum or any other process, shall enact, adopt, implement or enforce any policy that prohibits or restricts local officials or employees from communicating or cooperating with federal officials or law enforcement officers with regard to reporting immigration status information while the local official or employee is acting within the scope of their official duties.
(b) Any governing body of a city or town that acts in violation of this section shall be subject to the withholding of state funding and state administered federal funding, unless otherwise specifically provided by law.
(c) As used in this section:
(i) "Federal officials or law enforcement officers" means any person employed by the United States government for the purpose of enforcing or regulating federal immigration laws and any peace officer as defined in W.S. 7‑2‑101(a)(iv) when the person or peace officer is acting within the scope of their employment for the purpose of enforcing federal immigration laws or preserving homeland security;
(ii) "Immigration status" means the legality or illegality of an individual's presence in the United States as determined by federal law;
(iii) "Immigration status information" means any information which is not confidential or privileged by law including any statement, document, computer generated data, recording or photograph that is relevant to immigration status or the identity or location of an individual who is reasonably believed to be illegally residing within the United States or who is involved in international or domestic terrorism as defined in 18 U.S.C. § 2331;
(iv) "Local official or employee" means any elected or appointed official, supervisor or managerial employee, contractor, agent or certified peace officer acting on behalf of or in conjunction with a city or town;
(v) "Policy" means any regulation, rule, policy or practice adopted by the governing body of a city or town.
18‑2‑116. Prohibition on immigration sanctuary policies by counties; certification of compliance.
(a) No governing body of a county, whether acting through its governing body or by an initiative, referendum or any other process, shall enact, adopt, implement or enforce any policy that prohibits or restricts local officials or employees from communicating or cooperating with federal officials or law enforcement officers with regard to reporting immigration status information while the local official or employee is acting within the scope of their official duties.
(b) Any governing body of a county that acts in violation of this section shall be subject to the withholding of state funding and state administered federal funding, unless otherwise specifically provided by law.
(c) As used in this section:
(i) "Federal officials or law enforcement officers" means any person employed by the United States government for the purpose of enforcing or regulating federal immigration laws and any peace officer as defined in W.S. 7‑2‑101(a)(iv) when the person or peace officer is acting within the scope of their employment for the purpose of enforcing federal immigration laws or preserving homeland security;
(ii) "Immigration status" means the legality or illegality of an individual's presence in the United States as determined by federal law;
(iii) "Immigration status information" means any information which is not confidential or privileged by law including any statement, document, computer generated data, recording or photograph that is relevant to immigration status or the identity or location of an individual who is reasonably believed to be illegally residing within the United States or involved in international or domestic terrorism as defined in 18 U.S.C. § 2331;
(iv) "Local official or employee" means any elected or appointed official, supervisor or managerial employee, contractor, agent or certified peace officer acting on behalf of or in conjunction with a county;
(v) "Policy" means any regulation, rule, policy or practice adopted by the governing body of a county.
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.
(END)
1
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HB0108
|
At least one bill is clearly unconstitutional, a quixotic bill that seeks to limit the ability of the National Guard to be Federalized. The Guard is a reserve of the U.S. Army, and this bill is flatly illegal.
2020
|
STATE OF WYOMING
|
20LSO-0331
|
HOUSE BILL NO. HB0098
Defend the Guard Act.
Sponsored by: Representative(s) Lindholm, Barlow, Blackburn, Blake, Clem, Clifford, Duncan, Henderson, Hunt, Olsen and Pelkey and Senator(s) Biteman, Case, Hicks and Rothfuss
A BILL
for
AN ACT relating to defense forces and affairs; specifying requirements before the Wyoming national guard or state militia may be released from the state into active duty combat; and providing for an effective date.
Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Wyoming:
Section 1. W.S. 19‑8‑101 by creating a new subsection (d), 19‑9‑103 by creating a new subsection (b) and 19‑9‑204(b) are amended to read:
19‑8‑101. Organized and unorganized militia; defend the militia.
(d) No militia of the state shall be released from the state into active duty combat except in accordance with W.S. 19‑9‑103(b).
19‑9‑103. Manner of calling for duty; defend the guard.
(b) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Wyoming national guard and any member thereof shall not be released from the state into active duty combat unless the United States congress has passed an official declaration of war or has taken an official action pursuant to article I, section 8, clause 15 of the United States constitution to explicitly call forth the Wyoming national guard and any member thereof for a purpose specified in article I, section 8, clause 15 of the United States constitution. The governor shall take all actions necessary to comply with the requirements of this subsection. As used in this subsection, "active duty combat" means performing the following services in the active federal service of the United States:
(i) Participation in an armed conflict;
(ii) Performance of a hazardous service in a foreign state; or
(iii) Performance of a duty through an instrumentality of war.
19‑9‑204. Command of military force called into service.
(b) Subject to W.S. 19‑9‑103(b), the national guard of the state may be ordered into the service of the United States by the president of the United States for any purpose for which he is authorized to use militia of the states by the constitution of the United States.
Section 2. This act is effective July 1, 2020.
(END)
1
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HB0098
|
The last provision of that bill actually seeks to subject the President of the United States to a Wyoming statutory provision. That's not going to pass legal muster.
Interesting, the primary sponsor of this bill is a veteran of one of the recent wars and has really campaigned on his opposition to them, which makes his election in Wyoming surprising. He's also pretty clearly, based on his other bills, in the Libertarian camp, which might explain a bill like HB0098.
Bills like this are what caused State Guard units to form just prior to World War One, fwiw.
Somebody wants to speed up land transfers where private property owners are swapping land for state lands. Given recent legislative efforts that would sell public lands, whether or not they state that they'd do this, this one bears watching.
2020
|
STATE OF WYOMING
|
20LSO-0149
|
HOUSE BILL NO. HB0037
Voluntary land exchange process.
Sponsored by: Joint Agriculture, State and Public Lands & Water Resources Interim Committee
A BILL
for
AN ACT relating to state lands; authorizing the development of an expedited process for the exchange of state lands for the purpose of public access to state lands; and providing for an effective date.
Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Wyoming:
Section 1. W.S. 36‑1‑111 by creating a new subsection (b) is amended to read:
36‑1‑111. Orders, rules and regulations relative to exchange of lands.
(b) The board of land commissioners is authorized to promulgate rules and regulations necessary to enable the expedited exchange of state lands, initiated by the lessee of the state lands, for private lands on a value for value basis. The expedited process under this subsection shall be used if the board determines that, in addition to meeting the requirements of subsection (a) of this section, the exchange of lands would facilitate legal access to state or federal lands including, without limitation, exchanging an isolated parcel for a parcel contiguous with other state lands.
Section 2. This act is effective July 1, 2020.
(END)
1
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HB0037
|
2020
|
STATE OF WYOMING
|
20LSO-0312
|
HOUSE BILL NO. HB0044
Mountain daylight time preservation.
Sponsored by: Representative(s) Laursen, Barlow, Blackburn, Lindholm, Olsen, Sommers and Yin and Senator(s) Case, Driskill and Gierau
A BILL
for
AN ACT relating to legal time; requiring an application for the state to transfer time zones as specified; establishing a new uniform state time; specifying contingencies; making legislative findings; and providing for an effective date.
Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Wyoming:
Section 1.
(a) The legislature finds that:
(i) The federal Standard Time Act of 1918, P.L. 65-106, 40 Stat. 450, established standard time zones for the United States bounded by designated meridian lines, including the zone designated as United States standard mountain time in which the state of Wyoming is placed, and the standard time zone designations have since become geographic names of regional identity;
(ii) The federal Uniform Time Act of 1966, P.L. 89-387, 80 Stat. 107, 15 U.S.C. 260 et seq., was enacted by Congress to promote the adoption and observance of uniform time within the standard time zones of the United States. It standardized an annual one (1) hour advancement from standard time in April of each year, commonly called "daylight saving time," and an annual return to standard time approximately six (6) months later. A 2005 amendment to the Federal Uniform Time Act of 1966, P.L. 109-58, 119 Stat. 594, adjusted the daylight saving advancement date to mid-March and the return date to early November;
(iii) The federal Uniform Time Act of 1966 authorizes a state that is entirely situated within one (1) time zone, as the state of Wyoming is, to exempt itself from the change to daylight saving time as long as it does so uniformly as an entire state;
(iv) The residents and businesses of the state of Wyoming have become more habituated to the eight (8) months of daylight saving time per year than the four (4) months of standard time per year; and
(v) The biannual change of time between mountain standard time and mountain daylight time is disruptive to commerce and to the daily schedules of the residents of the state of Wyoming.
Section 2.
(a) Upon the enactment of a law similar to this act that authorizes an application for the same time zone change in Montana, Idaho, Utah and Colorado, the governor shall apply to the United States secretary of transportation for the state of Wyoming to be transferred to the zone designated as United States standard central time by the federal Standard Time Act of 1918.
(b) Upon approval of a transfer to the zone designated as United States standard central time by the United States secretary of transportation, the uniform time within the state of Wyoming shall be coordinated universal time offset by six (6) hours throughout the year. The state of Wyoming shall then exempt itself from the provisions of federal law providing for the advancement of time.
(c) Upon approval of a transfer to the zone designated as United States standard central time by the United States secretary of transportation, the uniform time within the state of Wyoming shall be known as mountain daylight saving time unless the other states applying for a time zone change uniformly select another name for the uniform time.
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.
(END)
1
|
HB0044
|
As has already been noted, the bill to make illegal "child marriage" is back. This was discussed above.
2020
|
STATE OF WYOMING
|
20LSO-0066
|
HOUSE BILL NO. HB0067
Child marriage restriction.
Sponsored by: Representative(s) Pelkey, Blake, Clifford, Connolly and Zwonitzer and Senator(s) Anselmi-Dalton and Nethercott
A BILL
for
AN ACT relating to the creation of marriage; increasing the minimum marriageable age; providing an exception for emancipated minors; making conforming amendments; specifying applicability; and providing for an effective date.
Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Wyoming:
Section 1. W.S. 3‑2‑201(b)(vi), 14‑1‑202(a)(i) by creating a new subparagraph (F), 20‑1‑102(a) and (b), 20‑1‑103(c)(iii), 20‑1‑105(a) and 20‑2‑101(a) by creating a new paragraph (iv) and (b) are amended to read:
3‑2‑201. Powers and duties of guardian.
(b) The guardian may:
(vi) Consent to the marriage or adoption of the ward unless otherwise prohibited by law.
14‑1‑202. Application for emancipation decree; effect of decree.
(a) Upon written application of a minor under jurisdiction of the court and notwithstanding any other provision of law, a district court may enter a decree of emancipation in accordance with this act. In addition to W.S. 14‑1‑101(b), the decree shall only:
(i) Recognize the minor as an adult for purposes of:
(F) Entering into a civil contract of marriage.
20‑1‑102. Minimum marriageable age.
(a) At the time of marriage the parties shall be at least sixteen (16) eighteen (18) years of age except as otherwise provided.
(b) All marriages involving a person under sixteen (16) eighteen (18) years of age are prohibited and voidable, void unless the contracting party who was under eighteen (18) years of age was emancipated pursuant to W.S. 14‑1‑201 through 14‑1‑206 or under the laws of another state before contracting the marriage. a judge of a court of record in Wyoming approves the marriage and authorizes the county clerk to issue a license therefor.
20‑1‑103. License; required.
(c) Unless there is an order to waive the requirements of this section by a judge of a court of record in the county pursuant to W.S. 20‑1‑105, the clerk shall refuse to issue a license if:
(iii) Either party is a minor, and the consent of a parent or guardian has not been given except if the minor is emancipated pursuant to W.S. 14‑1‑201 through 14‑1‑206 or under the laws of another state.
20‑1‑105. Judge may order license issued.
(a) If any county clerk refuses to issue a license to marry, or in case of circumstances arising which would necessitate the waiver of any one (1) or more of the requirements of W.S. 20‑1‑102 and 20‑1‑103(b) and (c), either applicant for the license may apply to the district court of the county for the issuance of a license without compliance with one (1) or more of those requirements. If the judge finds that a license should be issued, or such circumstances exist that it is proper that any one (1) or more of the requirements should be waived, the judge may order in writing the issuance of the license. Upon the order of the judge being filed with the county clerk, the county clerk shall issue the license at the time specified in the order. No fee or court costs shall be charged or taxed for the order. Unless the applicant is emancipated pursuant to W.S. 14‑1‑201 through 14‑1‑206 or under the laws of another state, no district court shall order the issuance of a license to marry under this subsection to any applicant under eighteen (18) years of age.
20‑2‑101. Void and voidable marriages defined; annulments.
(a) Marriages contracted in Wyoming are void without any decree of divorce:
(iv) When either party was under the age of legal consent and was not emancipated pursuant to W.S. 14‑1‑201 through 14‑1‑206 or under the laws of another state before contracting the marriage.
(b) A marriage is voidable if solemnized when either party was under the age of legal consent unless a judge gave consent, if they separated during nonage and did not cohabit together afterwards, or if the consent of one (1) of the parties was obtained by force or fraud and there was no subsequent voluntary cohabitation of the parties.
Section 2. W.S. 20‑1‑102(c) and 20‑1‑105(b) are repealed.
Section 3. This act shall apply to all marriages entered into on and after the effective date of this act and shall not affect any marriage entered into prior to that date.
Section 4. This act is effective July 1, 2020.
(END)
1
|
HB0067
|
Perhaps because they've been in the news so much recently, some legislators want to make the UW Board of Trustees elected.
College boards are, but they're very local. Chances are high that this would be one more elected office that people don't really pay any attention to.
2020
|
STATE OF WYOMING
|
20LSO-0249
|
HOUSE BILL NO. HB0083
UW board of trustees-selection by electorate.
Sponsored by: Representative(s) Gray, Jennings and Salazar and Senator(s) Bouchard and James
A BILL
for
AN ACT relating to the University of Wyoming board of trustees; providing for selection of prospective appointees by the electorate and providing for gubernatorial appointment; authorizing removal for cause; modifying trustee terms; conforming provisions; repealing an inconsistent provision; providing applicability; and providing for an effective date.
Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Wyoming:
Section 1. W.S. 22‑18‑113 is created to read:
22‑18‑113. Applicability to members of the University of Wyoming board of trustees.
This chapter shall not apply to the selection and appointment of members to the University of Wyoming board of trustees.
Section 2. W.S. 9‑1‑202(a), 21‑17‑201, 21‑17‑202(a) and by creating new subsections (c) and (d), 21‑17‑203, 22‑1‑102 by creating a new subsection (b), 22‑2‑105(a)(ii)(intro), 22‑4‑304(a), 22‑5‑206(a), 22‑5‑208(a)(i), 22‑5‑215, 22‑6‑117(a) by creating a new paragraph (xii), 22‑6‑120(a)(x), 22‑16‑116, 22‑16‑121(b) and 22‑25‑107(a)(iii) are amended to read:
9‑1‑202. Removal of appointive officers and commissioners; reason for removal to be filed.
(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law and except as otherwise provided in this section, any person may be removed by the governor, at the governor's pleasure, if appointed by the governor to serve as head of a state agency, department or division, or as a member of a state board or commission. The governor may only remove a member of the Wyoming business council as provided in W.S. 9‑12‑103. The governor may only remove a member of the University of Wyoming board of trustees as provided in W.S. 21‑17‑202.
21‑17‑201. Composition; selection and appointment; quorum.
The government of the university is vested in a board of twelve (12) eight (8) trustees appointed by the governor, no two (2) of whom may be residents of the same county of the state in accordance with this section. At least One (1) trustee shall be appointed from each of the seven (7) appointment district pursuant to districts designated in W.S. 9‑1‑218. Not more than seventy‑five percent (75%) of the members of the board shall be registered in the same political party. The electors of each appointment district at a general election shall select two (2) prospective appointees for the applicable trustee position. On or about January 15 immediately following a general election, the governor shall appoint one (1) of the two (2) prospective appointees to fill an open position. In addition, at a general election the electors of the state shall select two (2) prospective appointees to be chairman of the board of trustees. On or about January 15 immediately following a general election, the governor shall appoint one (1) of the two (2) prospective appointees to fill the position of board chairman. All appointees shall be subject to the advice and consent of the senate. The governor, the president of the university, the state superintendent of public instruction and the president of the associated students of the university are members ex officio, having the right to speak, but not to vote. A majority of the board is a quorum.
21‑17‑202. Term; vacancies; members of faculty disqualified; removal.
(a) The term of office of the trustees appointed is six (6) four (4) years. During each session of the legislature, the governor shall nominate, and with the advice and consent of the senate, appoint successors to those trustees whose term of office has expired or will expire before the next session of the legislature. Any vacancy in the board of trustees caused by death, resignation, removal from the state, failure of the senate to confirm appointment in the first legislative session following appointment or otherwise, shall be filled by appointment by the governor as provided in W.S. 28‑12‑101 this section.
(c) The governor shall fill a vacancy in the board of trustees by appointing the prospective appointee selected through election for the trustee position under W.S. 21‑17‑201 but not appointed by the governor. That appointee may serve as trustee for the remainder of the term unless the senate fails to confirm the appointment in the legislative session first following appointment, in which case the trustee position shall be vacant. Subsequent vacancies in a trustee position prior to a general election at which prospective appointees are to be selected shall be filled for the remainder of the term in accordance with the following:
(i) The governor shall immediately notify in writing the chairman of the state central committee of the political party which last represented the trustee position at the time of appointment. The chairman shall call a meeting of the state central committee to be held not later than fifteen (15) days after he receives notice of the vacancy. At the meeting the state central committee shall select and transmit to the governor the names of three (3) persons qualified to hold the trustee position. Within five (5) days after receiving these three (3) names, the governor shall fill the vacancy by appointment of one (1) of the three (3) to hold the position. If the person who has vacated the position did not represent a political party at the time of appointment the governor shall notify in writing the chairman of all state central committees of parties registered with the secretary of state. Each state central committee shall submit to the governor, within fifteen (15) days after notice of the vacancy, the name of one (1) person qualified to hold the position. The governor shall also cause to be published in a newspaper of general circulation in the state notice of the vacancy in the position. Persons qualified to hold the position who do not belong to a party may, within fifteen (15) days after publication of the vacancy in the position, submit a petition signed by one hundred (100) registered voters, seeking consideration for appointment. Within five (5) days after receiving the names of qualified persons, the governor shall fill the vacancy by appointment, from the names submitted or from those petitioning for appointment.
(d) No member of the faculty, while holding that position, shall ever be appointed a trustee. The governor may only remove any a trustee as provided in W.S. 9‑1‑202 for cause.
21‑17‑203. To be body corporate; powers, duties and functions generally.
The board of trustees and their successors in office constitute a body corporate by the name of "the trustees of the University of Wyoming". They possess all the powers necessary or convenient to accomplish the objects and perform the duties prescribed by law, and shall have custody of the books, records, buildings and all other property of the university. The board shall elect a chairman, secretary and treasurer, who shall perform the duties prescribed in the bylaws of the board. The treasurer shall execute a bond, with approved sureties in double the sum likely to come into his hands, for the faithful discharge of his duties. The term of office of board officers the secretary and the treasurer, their duties severally duties of board officers and the times for holding meetings shall be fixed in the bylaws of the board. A majority of the board constitutes a quorum for the transaction of business but a less number may adjourn from time to time, and all routine business may be entrusted to an executive committee of no fewer than three (3) members subject to such conditions as the bylaws of the board prescribe. The board may from time to time appoint and authorize a person to examine and approve for payment all legal claims against the corporation. The person shall give bond with surety approved by the board, payable to the state of Wyoming in such sum as the board may fix, conditioned for the faithful performance of his duties. A certificate of appointment signed by the chairman and secretary of the board and the bond shall be filed with the state auditor. At each meeting of the board all action taken by the person so appointed subsequent to the immediately preceding board meeting shall be submitted to the board for its approval or disapproval. The actual and necessary traveling expenses of nonresident members in attending the annual meeting of the board may be audited by the auditing committee thereof and paid by warrant on the treasurer out of the general fund of the university.
22‑1‑102. Definitions.
(b) As used in this act unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, "nominated" or "elected" to public office or other similar term shall include the selection of prospective appointees to the University of Wyoming board of trustees in accordance with W.S. 21‑17‑201.
22‑2‑105. Terms of office and offices voted on at general elections.
(a) The terms of office and offices voted on at general elections are as follows:
(ii) Four Year Term. ‑ At the general election in 1974 and in every fourth (4th) year thereafter, there shall be elected the following officers: one (1) governor, one (1) secretary of state, one (1) state treasurer, one (1) state auditor, one (1) superintendent of public instruction, county clerks, county treasurers, county assessors, county coroners, county and prosecuting attorneys, district attorneys, sheriffs, clerks of the district court. At the general election in 2020 and in every fourth (4th) year thereafter, there shall be selected two (2) prospective appointees for each of the eight (8) trustee positions on the University of Wyoming board of trustees. At every general election there shall be elected the necessary member or members of the Wyoming senate and county commissioners. The question of retention of a circuit court judge or a magistrate of the circuit court shall be submitted:
22‑4‑304. Certification of candidates; fees.
(a) The chairman and secretary of the state political convention shall certify to the secretary of state the names of its party's nominees for United States senator, United States representative, University of Wyoming board trustee, all elective state offices and legislative offices.
22‑5‑206. Where nomination applications to be filed.
(a) Nomination applications for United States senators and representatives in congress, state offices, members of the legislature, University of Wyoming board trustees, circuit court judges, and state district court judges shall be filed in the office of the secretary of state.
22‑5‑208. Filing fees; exception.
(a) Applications shall be accompanied by the following fees:
(i) Twenty‑five dollars ($25.00) for the offices of state senator, state representative, University of Wyoming board trustee to an appointment district, district attorney and for the offices to be voted for by electors wholly within a county;
22‑5‑215. Nomination of partisan candidates and write‑in candidates.
On each party ballot the candidate or candidates equal in number to the number to be elected to each office who receive the largest number of votes shall be nominated and shall be entitled to have their names printed on the ballot for the next general election. For appointed positions on the University of Wyoming's board of trustees, the two (2) candidates who receive the largest number of votes on each party ballot shall be nominated and shall be entitled to have their names printed on the ballot for the next general election. A write‑in candidate shall not be nominated and shall not be entitled to have his name printed on the ballot for the next general election unless he received at least twenty‑five (25) write‑in votes. An unsuccessful candidate for office at a primary election whose name is printed on any party ballot may not accept nomination for the same office at the next general election.
22‑6‑117. Order of listing offices in partisan elections.
(a) The major party primary and general partisan election ballots shall contain the offices to be voted on in the following order:
(xii) Candidates for University of Wyoming board trustees.
22‑6‑120. Format of general election ballot.
(a) The general election ballot shall be printed in substantial compliance with this format:
(x) Below the names of candidates for each office shall be printed blank lines for write‑in candidates equal in number to the number of persons to be elected. In the case of selection of University of Wyoming board trustees for appointment, two (2) blank lines for write‑in candidates shall be printed for each person to be appointed by the governor;
22‑16‑116. Statewide abstract; discrepancies with county abstracts.
From the unofficial tabulations delivered directly to his office, the secretary of state shall tabulate a statewide abstract by counties of votes for president and vice‑president, state officers, justice of the supreme court, United States senator, representative in congress, district court judges, circuit court judges, members of the state legislature, University of Wyoming board trustee and the votes for and against ballot propositions voted on by electors of a district larger than a county. The unofficial tabulation shall then be reconciled to the official abstracts of the county canvassing boards and the secretary of state shall prepare the state abstract from the official county abstracts.
22‑16‑121. Certificates of nomination, selection and election following state or county canvass.
(b) The governor shall issue a certificate of election to a candidate duly elected to an office to be filled by electors of the state, district court judges, circuit court judges and members of the state legislature. The governor shall issue a certificate of selection to a candidate duly selected for prospective appointment to the office of University of Wyoming board trustee. The county clerk shall issue a certificate of election to each candidate duly elected to a county or precinct office in the county and to members elected to boards of trustees of special districts, school or community college districts and city or town councils.
22‑25‑107. Where reports to be filed.
(a) All reports required under this chapter shall be filed as follows:
(iii) Any candidate for statewide office or University of Wyoming board trustee shall file with the secretary of state;
Section 3. W.S. 21‑17‑202(b) is repealed.
Section 4. New members to the University of Wyoming board of trustees shall be selected in accordance with this act in the 2020 general election. Pursuant to W.S. 21‑17‑201, as amended by this act, the governor shall nominate and, with the advice and consent of the Wyoming senate, appoint members to the University of Wyoming board of trustees. The terms of an existing board member not selected through a general election shall expire when a successor, designated by the governor, is duly appointed to that existing board member's position. All existing board members' term shall expire not later than March 31, 2021.
Section 5. 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.
(END)
1
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HB0083
|
Speaking of UW, some in agriculture want an annual report on how the University is fulfilling its land grant mission.
2020
|
STATE OF WYOMING
|
20LSO-0148
|
SENATE FILE NO. SF0031
University of Wyoming-land grant mission report.
Sponsored by: Joint Agriculture, State and Public Lands & Water Resources Interim Committee
A BILL
for
AN ACT relating to education; requiring a report from the University of Wyoming; and providing for an effective date.
Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Wyoming:
Section 1. W.S. 21‑17‑309 is created to read:
21‑17‑309. Land grant mission report.
On or before October 1 of each year, the University of Wyoming shall provide a report on the land grant mission of the University to the joint agriculture, public lands and water resources interim committee. The report under this section shall include all revenues to and expenditures by or for the operation of the college of agriculture during the preceding fiscal year. The report shall also include information on the faculty staffing levels at the college of agriculture including any recent or expected changes in those staffing levels, the accomplishments of the college and the benefits of the college to Wyoming's agricultural economy.
Section 2. This act is effective July 1, 2020.
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1
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SF0031
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On land, some are trying, once again, to make trespass an offense that doesn't include intent, including interestingly enough the same legislator that otherwise has libertarian leanings.
2020
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STATE OF WYOMING
|
20LSO-0365
|
SENATE FILE NO. SF0067
Criminal trespass.
Sponsored by: Senator(s) Boner, Driskill and Kost and Representative(s) Barlow, Kirkbride and Lindholm
A BILL
for
AN ACT relating to crimes and offenses; amending criminal trespass elements; establishing the crime of and penalty for criminal trespass within an incorporated city or town; amending the penalty for criminal trespass; providing defenses; making conforming amendments; repealing notice provisions for criminal trespass; and providing an effective date.
Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Wyoming:
Section 1. W.S. 6‑3‑303(a)(intro), (b) and by creating new subsections (d) through (f) and 31‑2‑704(b) are amended to read:
6‑3‑303. Criminal trespass; trespass within a municipality; penalties.
(a) Except on property for which subsection (d) of this section applies, a person is guilty of criminal trespass if he enters or remains on or in the land or premises of another person, knowing when he is not authorized does not have authorization to do so, or, after an authorized entry, remains on the land or premises after being notified to depart or to not trespass. For purposes of this section, notice is given by:
(b) Criminal trespass is a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for not more than six (6) months, a fine of not more than seven hundred fifty dollars ($750.00) one thousand dollars ($1,000.00), or both.
(d) A person is guilty of criminal trespass within an incorporated city or town if he enters the land or premises of another person that is located within the corporate boundaries of a city or town, knowing he is not authorized to do so, or, after an authorized entry, remains on the land or premises after being notified to depart or to not trespass.
(e) Criminal trespass within an incorporated city or town is a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for not more than six (6) months, a fine of not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000.00), or both.
(f) It is an affirmative defense to prosecution under this section that:
(i) The entry was made pursuant to a valid easement, license, lease, contract or other legal right to enter;
(ii) The entry was made because of a reasonable mistake of fact;
(iii) The entry was made to prevent injury or to preserve life or property in an emergency;
(iv) The land or premises was at the time open to the public and the person complied with all lawful conditions imposed for accessing and remaining on or in the land or premises; or
(v) The person believed he was authorized to enter or remain on the land or premises based on reasonable use of a land status map or a global positioning system device.
31‑2‑704. Payment of fees; issuance of numbered decal; trespass warning printed on decal.
(b) Numbered decals issued under this article shall contain the following language: "Warning: trespass upon private property while operating an off‑road recreational vehicle is punishable by imprisonment up to six (6) months, a fine up to seven hundred fifty dollars ($750.00) one thousand dollars ($1,000.00), or both, under W.S. 6‑3‑303."
Section 2. W.S. 6‑3‑303(a)(i) and (ii) is repealed.
Section 3. This act is effective July 1, 2020.
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1
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SF0067
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Somebody wants to do away with license plates for front bumpers.
2020
|
STATE OF WYOMING
|
20LSO-0457
|
HOUSE BILL NO. HB0105
Metal mustache freedom act.
Sponsored by: Representative(s) Clem, Blake, Brown, Lindholm, Olsen and Yin and Senator(s) Driskill, Hutchings and Steinmetz
A BILL
for
AN ACT relating to motor vehicles; amending license plate display provisions; repealing the requirement to display a front license plate; making conforming amendments; and providing for an effective date.
Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Wyoming:
Section 1. W.S. 31‑2‑204(a), 31‑2‑213(h)(intro) and (viii), 31‑2‑215(a) and (c), 31‑2‑216(a), 31‑2‑217(a), 31‑2‑223(c), 31‑2‑230(h) and 31‑2‑231(f) are amended to read:
31‑2‑204. Issuance of certificates of registration and license plates by county; form.
(a) Upon receipt of an approved application and payment of fees the county treasurer shall issue to the applicant a certificate of registration conforming with the facts set forth in the application together with one (1) license plate or validation sticker. for motorcycles, multipurpose vehicles, trailers, including house trailers, and vehicles operated with dealer license plates and two (2) license plates or proper validation stickers for any other vehicle. A copy of the certificate of registration shall be carried at all times in the motor vehicle for which it is valid and shall be displayed upon demand of any peace officer.
31‑2‑213. Department to supply registration certificates, plates and stickers; removable windshield placards.
(h) Effective January 1, 1993, Any person eligible for a special placard under subsection (c) of this section may apply to the county treasurer for special license plates for a motor vehicle owned by that person. Special license plates shall not be issued to any person who is eligible only for a temporary removable windshield placard under subsection (g) of this section. Special plates issued under this subsection are subject to the following:
(viii) The county treasurer shall issue a set of plates license plate for each vehicle and a special license plate for each motorcycle registered to a qualified applicant under this subsection upon payment of required fees.
31‑2‑215. Disabled veteran's license plates.
(a) A disabled veteran who receives fifty percent (50%) or more service connected disability compensation from the United States department of veteran's affairs and who is a resident at the time of initial application and renewal application under subsection (b) of this section, may apply for a distinctive license plates plate for a passenger car, pickup truck, motorcycle or multipurpose vehicle owned or leased by him upon registration of the vehicle. These The license plates plate shall be displayed upon the vehicle for which they are it is issued. A disabled veteran may purchase one (1) additional pair of license plates plate as provided in this section for either a motorcycle or a multipurpose vehicle upon payment of regular fees provided in this article. The license plates shall bear a distinctive symbol or letters identifying the registrant as a disabled veteran. The department shall prescribe the symbol or letters which shall not include arabic numerals designating the county.
(c) The county treasurer shall only issue one (1) pair of license plates plate annually that are exempt as provided by W.S. 31‑3‑101(a)(xv) to each applicant under this section.
31‑2‑216. Special plates; former prisoners of war.
(a) The county treasurer shall issue one (1) set of special license plates plate for either a passenger car, truck or motor home owned or leased by a former prisoner of war in accordance with this section for the year 1988 and thereafter.
31‑2‑217. Special plates; Pearl Harbor survivors; national guard members; armed forces veterans; purple heart recipients.
(a) The county treasurer shall issue one (1) set of special license plates plate to each applicant for either a passenger car, truck, motorcycle, handicapped motorcycle or motor home owned or leased by a survivor of Pearl Harbor, a member of the Wyoming army or air national guard a purple heart recipient or honorably discharged veteran of the United States armed forces in accordance with this section for the year 1990 and thereafter. For the year 1993 and thereafter, The county treasurer shall issue one (1) set of special license plates plate to each applicant for either a passenger car, truck, motorcycle, handicapped motorcycle or motor home owned by a purple heart recipient. These license plates shall be displayed upon the vehicle for which they are issued.
31‑2‑223. Antique motor vehicles.
(c) Upon receipt of an approved application and payment of fees the vehicle shall be registered and license plates issued therefor. The registration expires upon transfer of ownership of the vehicle. Notwithstanding W.S. 31‑2‑205(a)(i)(A), a The license plate shall only be required to be displayed on the rear of those antique motor vehicles. that were originally manufactured to have one (1) license plate.
31‑2‑230. Tribal license plates.
(h) Unless five hundred (500) sets of license plates are issued under this section before December 31, 2025, the plates authorized under this section shall be eliminated from production, and the department shall report the cessation of production to the legislature not later than January 15, 2027.
31‑2‑231. Wildlife conservation license plates; wildlife conservation account.
(f) Unless one thousand (1,000) sets of license plates are issued under this section before December 31, 2023, the plates authorized under this section shall be eliminated from production and the department shall report the cessation of production to the legislature not later than January 15, 2025.
Section 2. W.S. 31‑2‑205(a)(i)(A) is repealed.
Section 3. This act is effective July 1, 2020.
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1
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HB0105
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There's a proposal to dedicate a bridge in Casper that crosses Center Street in honor of a veteran of the Bataan Death March.
2020
|
STATE OF WYOMING
|
20LSO-0464
|
HOUSE BILL NO. HB0096
Dr. Leonard L. Robinson memorial bridge.
Sponsored by: Representative(s) Harshman, Blake, Brown, Lindholm, MacGuire and Walters and Senator(s) Anderson, Landen, Pappas and Von Flatern
A BILL
for
AN ACT relating to highways and bridges; designating a bridge as specified; providing for signage; providing an appropriation; and providing for an effective date.
Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Wyoming:
Section 1. W.S. 24‑1‑138 is created to read:
24‑1‑138. Dr. Leonard L. Robinson World War II Bataan Death March memorial bridge.
The bridge on United States Interstate Highway 25 crossing over Center Street in Casper, Wyoming shall be known as the "Dr. Leonard L. Robinson World War II Bataan Death March Memorial Bridge." The department of transportation shall install appropriate signage, in compliance with applicable federal and state law, to identify the Dr. Leonard L. Robinson World War II Bataan Death March Memorial Bridge.
Section 2. Nothing in this act shall require the department of transportation to remove or modify any designation of the bridge specified in section 1 of this act submitted to the federal highway administration.
Section 3. There is appropriated five thousand dollars ($5,000.00) from the general fund to the department of transportation for purposes of installing signage required by this act. This appropriation shall be for the period beginning with the effective date of this act and ending June 30, 2022. This appropriation shall not be transferred or expended for any other purpose and any unexpended, unobligated funds remaining from this appropriation shall revert as provided by law on June 30, 2022. It is the intent of the legislature that this appropriation not be included in the department of transportation's standard budget for the immediately succeeding fiscal biennium.
Section 4. This act is effective July 1, 2020.
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1
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HB0096
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And somebody doesn't like free parking.
2020
|
STATE OF WYOMING
|
20LSO-0413
|
SENATE FILE NO. SF0076
Free parking.
Sponsored by: Senator(s) Coe
A BILL
for
AN ACT relating to motor vehicles; repealing requirement for governmental entities to provide free parking; and providing for an effective date.
Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Wyoming:
Section 1. W.S. 31‑5‑501(d) is repealed.
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.
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1
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SF0076
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The legislature goes into session on February 10.
February 7, 2020
_________________________________________________________________________________
While the legislature is going into session on Monday, bills are still being pulled from consideration even now, so the list provided above will have fewer bills on Monday.
One bill that is being pulled is a "Fix Nics" bill that was designed to improve the reporting of mental health matters that preclude a person from owning a firearm. There's been a lot of attention to bills of this type across the country and generally they're regarded as a conservative approach to trying to keep firearms out of the hands of the dangerously mentally impaired. Be that as it may, the bill drew opposition from members of a local firearms group and its drafter withdrew it as it appeared likely to impact his base support in the last election.
It's somewhat ironic, I'd note, that in the House a bill such as that one, which had no intent to really deprive firearms ownership more than it already is, drew such opposition while at the same time there's a three day waiting bill in the Senate. That bill isn't going to go anywhere, but apparently its drafters aren't worried about the impact the bill will have on them the next time they're on the ballot.
Another bill that's drawing early opposition is the effort to tax out of state entities that already budget for income tax and work it into their prices locally. This bill had initial support in the legislature last session but it drew the opposition of national opponents and it is again.
February 8, 2020
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