Showing posts with label Wyoming. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wyoming. Show all posts

Sunday, March 17, 2024

Monday, March 17, 1924 Telephones and grim news.

The first around the world flight attempt was commenced by the United States Army Air Service.  The aircraft consisted of four Douglas World Cruisers.


The initial leg of the trip was from Santa Monica, California, to Seattle, which was the actual departure point.




Today In Wyoming's History: March 17: St. Patrick's Day1924  Work began on a dial telephone system at Guernsey. 

If Guernsey was getting good news, there was grim news on this St. Patrick's Day for central Wyoming residents.



Last prior edition:

Saturday, March 16, 2024

The Agrarian's Lament: A sort of Agrarian Manifesto. What's wrong with the world (and how to fix it). Part 6. Politics

The Agrarian's Lament: A sort of Agrarian Manifesto. What's wrong with th...

A sort of Agrarian Manifesto. What's wrong with the world (and how to fix it). Part 6. Politics

James Monroe.  

And, yes, we're still not on to the Agrarian finale in this series.  That's because we have one more important topic to consider first.

Politics.

If you read distributists' social media, and you probably don't, you'll see that some people have the namby pamby idea that if we all just act locally everything will fall in line.  While people should act locally, that's a bunch of crap.

What these people don't realize is that politically, we're a corporate capitalist society, and we are where we are right now, in large part due to that.  Corporations are a creature of the state, not of nature, and exists as a legal fiction because the state says they do.  This is deemed, in our imaginations, to be necessarily because, . . . well it is.

Or rather, it's deemed to be necessary as we believe we need every more consolidation and economies of scale.  

We really don't, and in the end, it serves just itself.  We do need some large entities, particularly in manufacturing, which would actually bring us back to the original allowance for corporate structure, which was quite limited.  Early in US history, most corporations were banned from being created.

Legally, they would not need to be banned now, but simply not allowed to form except for actual needs.  And when very large, the Theodore Roosevelt proposal that they be treated like public utilities, or alternatively some percentage of their stock or membership would vest in their employees, would result in remedying much of the ills that they've created.

Likewise, eliminating the absurd idea that they can use their money for influence in politics could and should be addressed.

Which would require changes in the law.

And that takes us back to politics.

Nearly every living American, and Canadian for that matter, would agree that a major portion of the problems their nations face today are ones manufactured by politics.  The current economic order, as noted, is politically vested.

The United States has slid into a political decline of epic proportions, and its noteworthy that this came about after Ronald Reagan attacked and destroyed the post 1932 economic order which provided for an amplified type of American System in which there was, in fact, a great deal of involvement in the economy and the affairs of corporations, as well as a hefty income tax on the wealth following the country's entry into World War Two.  It's never been the case, of course, that there was a trouble free political era although interestingly, there was a political era which is recalled as The Era of Good Feelings due to its lack of political strife.  

That era lasted a mere decade, from 1815 to 1825, but it's instructive.

The Era of Good Feelings came about after the War of 1812, which was a war that not only caused internal strife, but which risked the dissolution of the nation.  Following the war the Federalist Party collapsed thereby ending the bitter disputes that had characterized its fights with the more dominant Democratic-Republican Party.. . . . huh. . . 

Anyhow, President James Monroe downplayed partisan affiliation in his nominations, with the ultimate goal of affecting national unity and eliminating political parties altogether.

Borrowing a line from the Those Were the Days theme song of All In the Family, "Mister we could use a man like James Monroe again".

Political parties have had a long and honorable history in politics. They've also had a long and destructive one.  Much of their role depends upon the era.  In our era, for a variety of reasons, they are now at the hyper destructive level.

They are, we would note, uniquely subject to the influence of money, and the fringe, which itself is savvy to the influence of money.  And money, now matter where it originates from, tends to concentrate uphill if allowed to, and it ultimately tends to disregard the local.

"All politics is local" is the phrase that's famously attached to U.S. politics, but as early as 1968, according to Andrew Gelman, that's declined, and I agree with his observation.  Nowhere is that more evident than Wyoming.

In Wyoming both the Republican and the Democratic Party used to be focused on matters that were very local, which is why both parties embraced in varying degrees, The Land Ethic, and both parties, in varying degrees, embraced agriculture.  It explains why in the politics of the 70s and 80s the major economic driver of the state, the oil and gas industry, actually had much less influence than it does now.

Things were definitely changing by the 1980s, with money, the love of which is the root of all evil, being a primary driver.  Beyond that, however, technology played a role.  The consolidation of industry meant that employers once headquartered in Casper, for instance, moved first to Denver, then to Houston, or were even located in Norway. As the love of money is the root of all evil, and the fear of being poor a major personal motivator, concern for much that was local was increasingly lost.

The increasing broad scope of the economy, moreover, meant that there were economic relocations of people who had very little connection with the land and their state.  Today's local Freedom Caucus in the legislature, heavily represented by those whose formative years were out of state, is a primary example in the state.  Malevolent politics out of the south and the Rust Belt entered the state and are battled out in our legislature even though they have little to do with local culture, lands or ethics.

Moreover, since 1968 the Democratic Party has gone increasingly leftward, driven at first by the impacts of the 1960s and then by its left leaning elements.  It in turn became anti-democratic, relying on the Supreme Court to force upon the nation unwanted social change, until it suddenly couldn't rely on the Court anymore, at which time it rediscovered democracy.  At the same time Southern and Rust Belt Populists, brought into the Republican Party by Ronald Reagan, eventually took it over and are now fanatically devoted to anti-democratic mogul, Donald Trump, whose real values, other than the love of money and a certain sort of female appearance, is unknown, none of which maters to his fanatic base as they apply the Führerprinzip to his imagined wishes and he responds.

We know, accordingly, have a Congress that's completely incapable of doing anything other than banning TikTok.

Distributism by design, and Agrarianism by social reference, both apply Catholic Social Teaching, one intentionally and one essentially as it was already doing that before Catholic Social Teaching was defined.  As we've discussed elsewhere, Catholic Social Teaching applies the doctrines of Human Dignity, Solidarity and Subsidiarity.  Solidarity, as Pope John Paul II describe it In Sollicitudo rei socialis, is not “a feeling of vague compassion or shallow distress at the misfortunes of others. It is a firm and persevering determination to commit oneself to the common good”.  Subsidiarity provides that that matters ought to be handled by the smallest, lowest or least centralized competent authority.

We are a long ways from all of that, right now.

Politically, we're in a national political era that is violently opposed to solidarity and subsidiarity.  Supposed national issues and imagined remote conspiracies, dreamt up by political parties, swamp real local issues.  Global issues, in contract, which require a competent national authority, or even international authority, to deal with, cannot get attention as the masses are distracted by buffoons acting like Howler Monkeys.

Destroying the parties would serve all of this.  And that's a lot easier to do than might be supposed.

And more difficult.

Money makes it quite difficult, in fact.  But it can be done.

The easiest way to attack this problem is to remove political parties as quasi official state agencies, which right now the GOP and Democratic Party are.  Both parties have secured, in many states, state funded elections which masquerade as "primary elections" but which are actually party elections.  There's utterly no reason whatsoever that the State of Wyoming, for example, should fund an internal Republican election, or a Democratic one.

Primary elections are quite useful, but not in the fashion that most state's have them.  A useful example is Alaska's, whose system was recently proposed for Wyoming, but which was not accepted (no surprise).  Interestingly, given as the state's two actual political parties right now are the Trumpites and the Republican remnants, this a particularly good, and perhaps uniquely opportune, time to go to this system.  And that system disregard party affiliations.

Basically, in that type of election, the top two vote getters in the primary go on to the general election irrespective of party.  There doesn't need to be any voter party affiliation. The public just weeds the number of candidates down.

That is in fact how the system works here already, and in many places for local elections. But it should be adopted for all elections.  If it was, the system would be much different.

For example, in the last House Race, Harriet Hageman defeated Lynette Grey Bull, taking 132,206 votes to Gray Bull's 47,250.  Given the nature of the race, FWIW, Gray Bull did much better than people like to imagine, taking 25% of the vote in an overwhelmingly Republican state.  Incumbent Lynn Cheney was knocked out of the race in the primary, being punished for telling the truth about Дональд "The Insurrectionist" Trump.  But an interesting thing happens if you look at the GOP primary.

In that race, Harriet Hageman took 113,079 votes, for 66% of the vote, and Cheney took 49,339, for 29%.  Some hard right candidates took the minor balance. Grey Bull won in the primary with just 4,500 votes, however.

I'd also note here that Distributism in and of itself would have an impact on elections, as it would have a levelling effect on the money aspect of politics.  Consider this article by former Speaker of the House Tom Lubnau:

Tom Lubnau: Analyzing The Anonymous Mailers Attacking Chuck Gray


A person could ask, I suppose, of how this is an example, but it is.

Back to the Gray v. Nethercott race, Ms. Nethercott is a lawyer in a regional law firm. That's not distributist as I'd have it, as I'd provide that firms really ought to be local, as I discussed in yesterday's riveting installment.   But it is a regional law firm and depending upon its business model, she's likely responsible for what she brings in individually.  Indeed, the claim made during the race that she wanted the job of Secretary of State for a raise income was likely absurd.

But the thing here is that Nethercott, as explained by Lubnau, raised a total of $369,933, of which $304,503 were from individual donations.  That's a lot to spend for that office, but it was mostly donated by her supporters.

In contrast, Jan Charles Gray, Chuck Gray's father donated a total of $700,000 to Chuck Gray’s campaign, Chuck Gray donated $10,000 to his own campaign and others donated $25,994.

$700,000 is a shocking amount for that office, but beyond that, what it shows is that Nethercott's supporters vastly out contributed Gray's, except for Gray's father.  In a distributist society, it certainly wouldn't be impossible to amass $700,000 in surplus cash for such an endeavor, but it would frankly be much more difficult.

To conclude, no political system is going to convert people into saints.  But it's hard to whip people into a frenzy who are your friends and neighbors than it does people who are remote.  And its harder to serve the interest of money if the money is more widely distributed. Put another way, it's harder to tell 50 small business owners that that Bobo down in Colorado knows what she's talking about, than 50 people who depend on somebody else for a livelihood a myth.

Last prior:

The 2024 Wyoming Legislative Session. Part 6. After the Party

 


The legislators are home, but the Governor is still acting on bills.

And the session can now start to be assessed.

March 12, 2024

The Governor vetoed the charter school grant authorization bill.

None of the election bills survived the session.

Joan Barron, in a Trib op ed run today, has noted how the Senate is now being influenced by the far right and becoming less congenial.

The Wyoming Educational Association, in the same issue, ran a full page age against Casper's Jeanette Ward, a member of the Freedom Caucus, which read:

Ward is from Illinois and relocated from there to Wyoming under the far right's persistent mythical belief that Wyoming's conservatism is the same as the Rust Belt's, although their influence in the state is making the latter true.

The same group voted against increasing funding for police retirement, and did it the day of a Sheridan policeman's funeral.

And it wanted to send unallocated ARPA funding back to the Federal government.

FOR RELEASE Immediately 

DATE March 11, 2024

CONTACT Ryan Frost, Legislative Information Officer

TO REACH 307.777.7881

2024 Budget Session Concludes

CHEYENNE - With the sound of the gavel, the Wyoming Legislature wrapped up the 2024 Budget Session on Friday at the State Capitol in Cheyenne. 

At the start of session, a total of 366 bills and resolutions were numbered for introduction. The Wyoming Legislature passed a total of 126 bills. Of the 107 pieces of legislation that were introduced in the Senate, 71 of those bills passed both the House and Senate. The House introduced 84 bills and 55 of those garnered the approval of both bodies. Sixty-one percent of committee bills passed both chambers, while 20 percent of the individually sponsored bills passed both bodies. Legislation that passed both houses has either been acted on or is waiting to be acted on by Gov. Mark Gordon. 

The Legislature also adopted the State's biennial budget on Friday, and the bill has been sent to the Governor for his consideration. He will have 15 days to consider line-item vetoes and sign the bill. The appropriations and transfers in the bill for the 2025-2026 fiscal biennium total $11 billion. Of this, $3.4 billion is from the General Fund, net of de-appropriations and including $170 million of discretionary transfers to savings. 

Both the House and Senate have addressed a broad range of issues affecting Wyoming residents and while some of these laws will take effect immediately, many will not go into effect until July 1 of this year. Lawmakers will begin their interim committee work in the coming weeks. The Legislature’s Management Council plans to meet and assign interim committee topics April 1. Wyoming’s Sixty-Eighth Legislature will convene next year on Jan. 14 for the 2025 General Session.

The Wyoming Legislature encourages the public to participate in interim activities. The public can use the Legislature's website at www.wyoleg.gov to find information about interim legislative committees, including live video streams of committee meetings, committee rosters, dates and locations of interim meetings, and minutes from those meetings. The website also provides a free email subscription service for all interim committee information. -END-  

March 13, 2024

Ward was the subject of a second major ad in the Trib.


Ward also drew a lengthy letter to the Editor in the Trib.  Usually I don't post those, but I will here as this is interesting.

Ward wasting time with culture wars

Representative Jeanette Ward,

House District 57, has been doing a poor job of representing her constituents and listening to their needs. She has voted against numerous bills that would have helped Wyoming citizens and instead wasted valuable time during the legislative session touting culture war issues. House Bill 50, the “What is a Woman” act, is a prime example of this. During a budget session the legislature has 20 days to pass a budget. That is literally the only job that legislators have during the budget session. It takes a 2/3 majority to get a non-budget bill to the floor for debate. Knowing this, Representative Ward introduced a bill that wasted time and resources and was completely unnecessary. That bill rightly died because it failed introduction.

This session, she also voted against bills that committees had spent many hours considering during the interim period, which was disrespectful to their work and slowed down the legislative process. She voted against funding the 988 suicide hotline even though Wyoming has one of the highest suicide rates in the nation, literally voting against saving lives. Last session she voted against most of the bills that would have helped families and disadvantaged Wyoming citizens, including Medicare for Moms, which helps low-income women provide for their babies. Fortunately, other legislators understood the issue and the bill passed. Representative Ward is not interested in helping Wyoming’s most vulnerable citizens, she would rather propose bills that are solutions looking for problems.

This is not acceptable. House District 57 deserves a legislator who listens to constituents, focuses her time on the budget during a budget session, and understands what genuine issues matter to Wyoming. She is not it. We need someone who has solutions to Wyoming problems, not someone who fans the flames of culture wars. Voters need to remember this on election day.

Judy Trohkimoinen,

Casper

This would suggest that perhaps there's a rising effort against Ward, who was endorsed by her predecessor, now Secretary of State Gray, because of her far right views, even though she had next to no connection with the state when she arrived, or people are getting tired of her.  

In some ways, this reflects a rising feature of Wyoming's politics in which the old Party is beginning to react more strongly to the Trump Party.

March 15, 2024

Governor Gordon Signs Bills That Help Reduce Housing Costs, Protect Critical Infrastructure

 

CHEYENNE, Wyo. – Governor Mark Gordon signed two bills today, one that helps protect key infrastructure in Wyoming from foreign adversaries, and the other that lowers the cost of constructing housing

SF0077 - Homeland defense-infrastructure reporting and investigating requires the state to annually identify “critical infrastructure zones”.  Any property transactions within those zones will be shared among the county clerks, the Wyoming Office of Homeland Security and the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation. Those agencies will then determine if the transaction  involves a foreign adversary or a state sponsor of terrorism that could pose a threat to national or state security or to critical infrastructure.

“Our nation has never faced graver threats from adversaries both foreign and domestic,” Governor Gordon said. “Protection of Wyoming infrastructure and identifying potential threats to our state or national security must be among our highest priorities. I want to thank sponsor Senator Tara Nethercott, whose experience and insight were invaluable in the drafting and passage of this bill. It is imperative that we protect our precious property rights, while we also ensure we are aware of any potential threats within our state’s borders.”

Senate File 114 - Contractor licenses-reciprocal recognition requirements require local governments in Wyoming to recognize contractor licenses issued by a Wyoming county, city or town. This ensures that qualified contractors don’t have to go through additional, time-consuming and expensive licensing requirements when working in Wyoming communities. The bill emerged from the interim work of the Regulatory Reduction Task Force, which explored a range of ideas that could help expand housing opportunities for Wyoming’s essential workforce. The Task Force identified a patchwork of state and local licensing requirements that contributed to additional construction costs, which were then passed along to Wyoming home buyers. 

“My administration has been passionate in reducing red tape, and while there is certainly more work to be done in addressing Wyoming’s housing shortage, this new law is a small step towards streamlining unnecessarily redundant and costly requirements,” Governor Gordon said.

Both bills are effective July 1, 2024. 

March 15, cont:

Governor Gordon Vetoes Bills to Prevent Legislature From Overstepping its Authority and Creating Confusion for the Public

 

CHEYENNE, Wyo. – Governor Mark Gordon took action on 18 bills today, vetoing one bill that encroaches on the separation of powers between the executive and legislative branches, and one that could create confusion for consumers, meat processors and producers.

SF0013 - Federal land use plans - legal actions authorized would have duplicated funding for legal actions by the State and have been unconstitutional. The bill authorized the Legislature to take legal action against the federal government, and provided a whopping $75 million in borrowing authority for it to do so. In his veto letter, the Governor lambasted the bill as a “clear attempt to cross, blur and trample the line of separation between our equal, but separate, branches of government.” 

Governor Gordon criticized the bill as not being fiscally conservative, pointing out that $75 million represents 67 percent of the Attorney General’s office biennial budget. He said that the bill would only “enable duplicative Legislative litigation safaris that would be counterproductive and contrary to Wyoming’s well established practice of cooperation between branches.”

The Governor also expressed concern about the confusion that would be created in the courts over who represents Wyoming. It is the Executive branch that “is uniquely designed to provide one voice when it is necessary,” he wrote.

At best, competing litigation efforts would only serve to confuse courts as to who represents the State of Wyoming, and at worst it would enable frivolous and political pursuits,” the Governor wrote. 

The Governor also vetoed SF0103 - Wyoming PRIME Act, which as a “trigger” bill, would only become effective if the federal PRIME Act is passed by Congress. The Governor noted that while he is supportive of food freedom legislation, the Wyoming PRIME Act could create confusion among consumers, meat processors and livestock producers. Early media reports demonstrate the potential confusion created by the bill. Currently, an attempt to use the provisions of SF0103 by Wyoming producers before the federal PRIME Act is passed by Congress would put them at risk of fines and license revocation, and imperil Wyoming’s primacy for its meat and poultry inspection program. Finally, if the federal PRIME Act is passed by Congress, but is amended during that process, Wyoming statute would likely need to be changed to conform, which could unnecessarily delay state implementation.

The Governor’s veto letters are attached and may be found on the Bills page of the Governor’s website. 

Governor Gordon signed the following bills today: 

SEA0034 SF0014 State fair board-powers and responsibilities.

SEA0035 SF0113 Light and high profile vehicle closures-2.

SEA0039 SF0096 Trusts and bank assets in bankruptcy-clarification.

SEA0040 SF0080 Solid waste management-definition amendments.

SEA0043 SF0053 Sixth judicial district-number of judges

SEA0046 SF0026 Special district vacancies

SEA0047 SF0035 Public records-DOC investigations.

SEA0053 SF0023 Public utilities-energy resource procurement.

SEA0059 SF0100 Prompt payment of insurance claims.

SEA0063 SF0083 Revisor's bill.

SEA0064 SF0090 State-managed local government equity investment pool.

SEA0069 SF0042 Low-carbon reliable energy standards-amendments.

HEA0043 HB0126 Child care is a residential use of property.

HEA0046 HB0058 Forensic genetic genealogy pilot program.

HEA0047 HB0029 Cold case database and investigations.

HEA0051 HB0138 State funds-pool A participation and fund limits.

-END-

March 16, 2024

After a break of one day, the WEA resumbed its advertisements on Jeanette Ward.



Last Prior Edition:

The 2024 Wyoming Legislative Session. Part 5. Divisive and Mean.

Saturday, March 9, 2024

The 2024 Wyoming Legislative Session. Part 5. Divisive and Mean.

 


March 3, 2024


He's right.

Well, actually he's wrong a little.  

What's correct is that the legislature, reflecting Wyoming politics in general, which frankly reflects the largest party in the state, has become divisive and mean.

Indeed, hatred is what defines politics right now.  The populist wing of the GOP hates the government and the people who work for it.  They hate the Democrats as well, and they hate the members of their own party who aren't as extreme as they are.

Driscoll noted, in making this comment, that “We’re not going to pay our employees well.  We don’t really care a whole lot about, and what we want is a very de minimis government that does the baseline of things."  Again, he's mostly right.

The article is revealing regarding Drisocll, whom I know little abotu, but whom I'm gaining respect for.  It noted, for example, that he feels that there are Senators who would like to follow the mistaken path's of cheap governments of the Deep South, something I've noted here myself.  The article also notes that  Driskill "believes fighting a war against green and alternative energy projects is fruitless exercise for Wyoming’s long-term fiscal outlook".

Indeed, he noted:
We probably can effectively put the state in a tailspin, and we can probably do it in a very short period of time.  It’s disheartening to sit here and see us potentially cripple ourselves over a policy that federally just makes us look silly.
He's right.  And the state is looking really foolish to outsiders.

Driscoll was bold enough to predict conventional energy jobs going away, and he's right again.
For us to come out and say we are not going to in any way deal with any of the CO2 sequestration projects means that we lose our oil and gas and coal, which means we lose 50% of our tax base.  It is insanity, absolute craziness.
And he also noted that he feared cuts made to the University of Wyoming’s office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) and gender studies program, while a needed wake-up call for UW, will lead to professors leaving the school.

It likely will.

March 4, 2024
Governor Gordon to Hold Public Bill Signing on Monday, March 4
 
CHEYENNE, Wyo. –  Governor Mark Gordon will hold a formal bill signing ceremony today, Monday, March 4 at 1:30 pm in the Governor's Ceremonial Conference Room in the State Capitol Building. The ceremony is open to the public.
The Governor will sign the following bills:
SEA0004 SF0003 State employee leave for volunteer emergency services.
HEA0014 HB0014 Prior authorization regulations.
HEA0008 HB0023 Vehicle registration e-certificate and grace period.
HEA0013 HB0008 Commercial driver license-hazardous materials endorsement.
HEA0023 HB0066 Firefighter-cancer screening benefits.
March 5, 2024


March 6, 2024

One day after a Senate shakeup of the joint negotiating committee, it came to a compromise budget.

Hmmm. . . . 

The Senate voted 16-15 to suspend its own rules to resurrect a bill that eliminates gun-free zones in a move that Senate Majority Leader Driskill called "absolute idiocy".

Bills signed into law so far:

Enrolled Act #      Bill #     Bill Title

HEA0001 HB0073 Abandoned mine reclamation accounts.

HEA0002 HB0072 Worker's compensation-provision for adverse deviation.

HEA0003 HB0071 Broadband development subaccount-amendments.

HEA0004 HB0046 Chancery court-timeline for resolution of disputes.

HEA0005 HB0040 School district trustee oath of office.

HEA0006 HB0027 DFS and law enforcement-cross reporting.

HEA0007 HB0026 Emergency protective services-effective period.

HEA0008 HB0023 Vehicle registration e-certificate and grace period.

HEA0009 HB0021 Charter school leasing.

HEA0010 HB0016 Sutton state archaeological site-legal description.

HEA0011 HB0011 State land lease amendments.

HEA0012 HB0010 Grace period-state land lease renewals.

HEA0013 HB0008 Commercial driver license-hazardous materials endorsement.

HEA0014 HB0014 Prior authorization regulations.

HEA0015 HB0074 Public health nursing-budget requests.

HEA0016 HB0035 Limitation on environmental rulemaking.

HEA0017 HB0034 Solid waste municipal cease and transfer funding.

HEA0018 HB0033 Mining operations-blasting requirements.

HEA0019 HB0025 Medicaid-third party payor conditions.

HEA0020 HB0015 Health insurance-reimbursement of overpayments.

HEA0021 HB0013 Flow-through pools-exemption.

HEA0022 HB0012 Wyoming dairy marketing act-repeal.

HEA0023 HB0066 Firefighter-cancer screening benefits.

HEA0024 HB0032 Geologic sequestration-unitization amendments.

HEA0025 HB0054 Wyoming Reads Day.

HEA0026 HB0081 Public officer training-amendments.

SEA0001 SF0017 Plane coordinates system-amendments.

SEA0002 SF0015 Acceptance of retrocession-federal military installations.

SEA0003 SF0004 Rehiring retired firefighters-continued retirement benefits.

SEA0004 SF0003 State employee leave for volunteer emergency services.

SEA0005 SF0030 Influencing jurors and witnesses-judges amendment.

SEA0006 SF0021 Public utilities-net power cost sharing ratio.

SEA0007 SF0005 Organ transplant recipient protection.

Bills that passed into law, so far, without the Governor's signature.

SEA0008 SF0009 Parental rights in education-1.

March 7, 2024

Chloe's law banning the sexual mutilation of children has passed the legislature.

March 8, 2024

Governor Gordon Vetoes Bill that Could Hurt Charter Schools and Public Education System 
 
CHEYENNE, Wyo. – Governor Gordon issued his first veto of the 2024 Legislative Session today, calling a bill addressing charter schools a “bailing wire fix” that could threaten the sustainability of charter schools in the years to come. The Governor is an ardent supporter of school choice, and he points out that the legislation does not treat all charter schools equally. 
Senate File 61 - Education-charter school amendments authorizes charter schools as “local education agencies” (LEAs) to apply for, receive and administer federal and state grants. However, the bill repeals the ability of the state’s Charter Authorizing Board to serve this function before that board has even had an opportunity to demonstrate its effectiveness, the Governor said. In addition, the proposed legislation could impose significant costs and administrative burdens unequally across charter schools, potentially posing constitutional issues.  
“Without a thorough examination of the consequences and impacts on our state, students, parents, and taxpayers, I fear we may risk exacerbating existing impediments to charter growth and innovation while simultaneously raising the overall cost of education to unsustainable levels over the long term,” the Governor wrote in his veto letter. “Such a scenario is neither fiscally responsible nor supportive of students and parents who choose charter schools for their education.”
District-authorized charters could continue to receive LEA services from their Authorizer, but State-Authorized charter schools would be expected to provide these services without any new resources provided. The Governor concluded by urging the Legislature to undertake a comprehensive review of Wyoming’s charter school statutes as an interim topic. This would ensure that Wyoming’s education policies are fair, equitable, transparent, and accountable, he wrote.
The Governor’s veto letter is attached and may be found here.

Governor Gordon Expresses Concern That Legislature has Only Passed Budget for Itself While the Rest of Wyoming Waits
 
CHEYENNE, Wyo. –  Governor Mark Gordon’s message at the start of this legislative session was clear: The only constitutionally-required duty the Legislature has is to pass a balanced budget for the coming two years. That still has not happened. While the rest of Wyoming waits for its budget, the Legislature has passed a budget only for lawmakers and their staff. 
The Governor’s decision on the Legislature’s budget is due today (Thursday), while the budget for the rest of Wyoming remains in limbo until Friday. Noting that he is forced to consider funding the separate Legislative budget while awaiting that vote, the Governor issued several line-item vetoes. These vetoes would not imperil the ability of the legislative branch to function.
“I am optimistic even at this late hour that a budget for the other two branches of government could arrive as soon as tomorrow,” the Governor wrote. “Accordingly, as I understand the importance of funding the Legislature in the coming two years, I am not vetoing this entire piece of legislation, but am exercising my constitutional ability to disapprove of items in this spending bill.”
Governor Gordon struck the word “Energy” from a $76,800 appropriation for membership dues to the Energy Council, a legislative organization dedicated to energy policy. The Governor said “the Senate persists in sending confusing messages” about its support for the state’s energy industry and the thousands of people it employs. He invited the Legislature to override his veto “to send a clear message to the people of Wyoming and me about whether or not each chamber supports our energy industry, and follow up those words with action...” 
The Governor also had requested an inflation adjustment of $48 million to address increased operational costs the state has experienced over the past two years. The Legislature reduced that request to $28 million in the version of the budget bill currently being considered. Accordingly, the Governor reduced the Legislative budget request by $50,000 for new Legislative furniture and accessories so that all branches of government can contribute to the cost savings imposed by the Legislature on the rest of Wyoming.
The Governor’s letter is attached and may be viewed here.
The End?

This is supposed to be the end. Will they make it?

March 9, 2024

And they did conclude.  Here is the current list of bills that were signed into law.
Governor Mark Gordon has signed the following enrolled acts into law. The full text of all bills from the 2024 session may be found on the Wyoming Legislature's website:



Enrolled Act #      Bill #     Bill Title

HEA0001 HB0073 Abandoned mine reclamation accounts.

HEA0002 HB0072 Worker's compensation-provision for adverse deviation.

HEA0003 HB0071 Broadband development subaccount-amendments.

HEA0004 HB0046 Chancery court-timeline for resolution of disputes.

HEA0005 HB0040 School district trustee oath of office.

HEA0006 HB0027 DFS and law enforcement-cross reporting.

HEA0007 HB0026 Emergency protective services-effective period.

HEA0008 HB0023 Vehicle registration e-certificate and grace period.

HEA0009 HB0021 Charter school leasing.

HEA0010 HB0016 Sutton state archaeological site-legal description.

HEA0011 HB0011 State land lease amendments.

HEA0012 HB0010 Grace period-state land lease renewals.

HEA0013 HB0008 Commercial driver license-hazardous materials endorsement.

HEA0014 HB0014 Prior authorization regulations.

HEA0015 HB0074 Public health nursing-budget requests.

HEA0016 HB0035 Limitation on environmental rulemaking.

HEA0017 HB0034 Solid waste municipal cease and transfer funding.

HEA0018 HB0033 Mining operations-blasting requirements.

HEA0019 HB0025 Medicaid-third party payor conditions.

HEA0020 HB0015 Health insurance-reimbursement of overpayments.

HEA0021 HB0013 Flow-through pools-exemption.

HEA0022 HB0012 Wyoming dairy marketing act-repeal.

HEA0023 HB0066 Firefighter-cancer screening benefits.

HEA0024 HB0032 Geologic sequestration-unitization amendments.

HEA0025 HB0054 Wyoming Reads Day.

HEA0026 HB0081 Public officer training-amendments.

HEA0027 HB0067 Outdoor Recreation and Tourism Trust Fund Administration-2.

HEA0028 HB0086 Vehicle lien-amendments.

HEA0029 HB0070 Local government distributions.

HEA0030 HB0064 Fire prevention and electrical safety-amendments.

HEA0031 HB0031 Peace officers-records and reporting.

HEA0032 HB0009 Fuel tax-licensee information deadline.

SEA0001 SF0017 Plane coordinates system-amendments.

SEA0002 SF0015 Acceptance of retrocession-federal military installations.

SEA0003 SF0004 Rehiring retired firefighters-continued retirement benefits.

SEA0004 SF0003 State employee leave for volunteer emergency services.

SEA0005 SF0030 Influencing jurors and witnesses-judges amendment.

SEA0006 SF0021 Public utilities-net power cost sharing ratio.

SEA0007 SF0005 Organ transplant recipient protection.

SEA0009 SF0081 Hospital or healthcare district created entities-immunity.

SEA0010 SF0060 2024 large project funding.

SEA0011 SF0059 Federal unemployment compensation trust fund-adjustment.

SEA0012 SF0058 Investment of state unemployment insurance trust fund.

SEA0013 SF0049 Judicial retirement program-contributions.

SEA0014 SF0048 Patrol, warden and investigator retirement-contributions.

SEA0015 SF0045 Vulnerable adults-civil cause of action-2.

SEA0016 SF0038 Financial reporting amendments-2.

SEA0017 SF0037 Indian child welfare act-delinquency amendments.

SEA0018 SF0012 Meat processing plants-hides and carcasses.

SEA0019 SF0115 Behavioral health redesign amendments-2.

SEA0020 SF0079 Malt beverage franchise agreements.

SEA0021 SF0066 Water exchange amendments.

SEA0023 SF0050 Unincorporated nonprofit DAO's.

SEA0024 SF0032 Hemp-limitations on psychoactive substances.

SEA0025 SF0022 Public service commission-electricity reliability.

SEA0026 SF0018 Indian child welfare act-safe haven amendments.

SEA0027 SF0007 Behavioral health redesign-vulnerable adults.

The Governor allowed the following enrolled act to go into law without his signature. Click on the bill for the Governor's letter:

SEA0008 SF0009 Parental rights in education-1.

The Governor exercised his line-item veto authority on the following bills. Click on the bill for the Governor's letter and the specific strikethroughs:

SEA0028 SF0002 Legislative budget.

The Governor vetoed the following enrolled act. Click on the bill for the Governor's letter:

SEA0022 SF0061 Education-charter school amendments.


Last prior edition:


Monday, March 4, 2024

The Post Insurrection. Part VIII. The tangled web edition.

Oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive.

Sir Walter Scott, Marmion.


January 3, 2024.

Donald Trump's is appealing the ruling of the Secretary of State that Trump cannot stand for election under the 14th Amendment.

January 4, 2024

Trump is now appealing the ruling of the Colorado Supreme Court that he cannot be on Colorado's ballot as he's an insurrectionist. The state's GOP had already filed an appeal.

More properly, this is a petition. The U.S. Supreme Court does not have to take the matter up.

January 6, 2024

The current docket at the Supreme Court on the Trump v. Colorado case:

Jan 03 2024Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due February 5, 2024)
PetitionCertificate of Word CountProof of Service
Jan 03 2024Brief amici curiae of Senator Steve Daines & National Republican Senatorial Committee filed. VIDED.
Main DocumentProof of ServiceCertificate of Word Count
Jan 04 2024Letter from counsel for respondent Colorado Republican State Central Committee filed.
Main Document
Jan 04 2024Brief in response to the petition for a writ of certiorari of respondent Norma Anderson, et al. filed.
Main DocumentOtherCertificate of Word CountProof of Service
Jan 05 2024Petition GRANTED. The case is set for oral argument on Thursday, February 8, 2024. Petitioner’s brief on the merits, and any amicus curiae briefs in support or in support of neither party, are to be filed on or before Thursday, January 18, 2024. Respondents’ briefs on the merits, and any amicus curiae briefs in support, are to be filed on or before Wednesday, January 31, 2024. The reply brief, if any, is to be filed on or before 5 p.m., Monday, February 5 2024.
Jan 05 2024Amicus brief of Republican National Committee and National Republican Congressional Committee submitted.
Main DocumentCertificate of Word CountProof of Service
Jan 05 2024Amicus brief of States of Indiana, West Virginia, 25 Other States, and the Arizona Legislature submitted.
Main DocumentCertificate of Word CountProof of Service

January 9, 2024

An actual exchange in a Federal Appellate Court where Trump's claims for immunity were heard today.

Judge:  "I asked you a yes or no question. Could a president who ordered S.E.A.L. Team 6 to assassinate a political rival (and is) not impeached, would he be subject to criminal prosecution?"

Trump attorney says "qualified yes -- if he is impeached and convicted first."

The entire qualified immunity argument is legally infirm in the first place and needs to go.  This will probably help make it go.  Apparently, the judges weren't impressed with Trump's lawyer's arguments at all.

January 19, 2024

A court in Oregon determined Trump can remain on the ballot there.

Trump's lawyers filed their briefs in the Supreme Court case on the 14th Amendment yesterday.

January 27, 2024

E. Jean Carroll was awarded $83.3M in her defamation case against Donald Trump.

This will be appealed and it's likely that it'll actually not be paid in that amount.

February 6, 2024

No immunity.


Of course, who really thought there was?

Unfortunately, the delay in issuing the opinion has resulted in the postponement of the trial originally scheduled for March.

Cont:

Matt Gaetz and Elise Stephanik have co-sponsored a resolution that Donald Trump did not engage in insurrection or rebellion against the United States on January 6, something that clear is an attempt to address the 14th Amendment in that insurrection may be excused under it.

Having said that, a resolution that it didn't occur will not excuse it, and this will not get through the Senate.

February 8, 2024

Based on today's oral arguments, it appears likely that the Supreme Court is not going to disqualify Donald Trump under the 14th Amendment.

February 13, 2024

Defendant Trump is seeking a delay in his election interference trial, hoping to push it past the election, when he'll next hope that he can avoid it while President.

February 16, 2024

Nor really related to the other post insurrection legal woes that Donald Trump faces, his trial related to Stormy Daniel's hush money is set to commence on March 25.

In a more decent era, his payment to Daniels for sex would have ended his political career, but we obviously no longer live in a decent era.

In Georgia, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis testified regarding her relationship with the prosecutor assigned in the Georgia RICO action.

In another matter which is tangentially related to Trump's legal woes, House Republican effort to impeach Biden, which are monumentally improper, took a blow when Alexander Smirnov, an FBI informant was charged with fabricating a bribery scheme involving President Biden, his son Hunter and a Ukrainian company, which is what the attempt to impeach him is based on, other than on a desire for revenge.

Cont:

Trump has been found liable in New York in the civil fraud trial in the amount of $364,000,000 and is barred from doing business in New York for three years.

February 23, 2024

Trump's daughter-in-law who is campaigning for appointment to the RNC declared that Republican voters would likely welcome using RNC funds to support his legal battles.

I'd strongly question if this was legal, and frankly it likely opens the RNC up, in my view, to a Rico charge.

February 29, 2024

A Court in Illinois has ruled that Trump is banned from the Illinois ballot under the 14th Amendment, but stayed her decision until Friday in order to give him time to appeal.

The United States Supreme Court will take up Trump's immunity appeal, which will further delay his January 6 trial.  

At this point, I think it highly unlikely that the January 6 trial will be heard this year, which means that it likely won't be heard until 2028, which is s true injustice.

March 4, 2024

And now the Supreme Court has ruled. Trump stays on the ballot, insurrection notwithstanding.

The basis is that Congress hasn't enacted a law to enforce the 14th Amendment and the Court finds it not be a self enacting statute




Secretary of State Gray chimed in:

Secretary Gray Applauds Supreme Court Decision Keeping Trump on Ballot in 2024

     CHEYENNE, WY – On March 4, 2024, the Supreme Court of the United States issued a unanimous decision reversing the Colorado Supreme Court’s December ruling to remove Donald Trump from the ballot in 2024. Wyoming Secretary of State Chuck Gray previously filed an Amicus Curiae brief with the Supreme Court of the United States, arguing that the Supreme Court should reverse the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision to bar Donald Trump from the ballot under Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment. Secretary Gray’s brief argued that Trump did not engage in an insurrection or rebellion, nor give aid or comfort to the enemies of the United States.

     “I am extremely pleased with the Supreme Court’s decision reversing the Colorado Supreme Court’s repugnant ruling,” Secretary Gray said in a statement. “As Wyoming’s chief election officer, I filed an Amicus brief in January asking the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse Colorado’s outrageously wrong and unprecedented decision. For this, I have been repeatedly attacked by the radical left-wing media, and even members of the Legislature, for my efforts to ensure that Trump will be on the ballot. Today’s unanimous decision keeping Trump on the ballot marks vindication for the truth and for liberty. As Secretary of State, I will continue to fight to ensure the People of Wyoming can choose who to elect for themselves.”

Last Prior Edition:

The Post Insurrection. Part VII. The Insurrectionist.


Related Threads:




Thursday, February 29, 2024

Leap Day

Pope Gregory XIII, 1502 – 1585

Which is notable mostly because it simply is. We only get them, and don't notice them much, every four years.  Other than teasing people born on the day and miscalculating their actual age, not much will occur.

The added day, of course, come about due to the calendar adjustment that went into effect with the introduction of the Gregorian Calendar in October 1582. The added day was to keep the calendar from getting increasingly inaccurate.  The entire Christian world didn't adopt the new calendar all at once, in part due to the Great Schism and the start of the Protestant Reformation, but over time, it's taken over nearly completely for the entire globe.  About the only remaining use of the prior Julian Calendar is in some parts of the Eastern Orthodox world for their liturgical calendar, and even that is no longer universally true.

Pope Gregory actually met with a lot of opposition to the new calendar, FWIW.  Members of the general public were really upset at first.  Spain, Portugal, Poland-Lithuania and the Italian states nonetheless adopted it nearly immediately.  France, some of the Dutch Republic, and the Catholic states of the Holy Roman Empire and Swiss Confederation did in 1587.

Denmark and Norway, then one state, and the rest of the Dutch Republic didn't fall into line until 1700-1701, by which time the Julian Calendar was seriously out of whack.  The UK didn't adopt it until 1752.  Sweden came around in 1753.

You would think a day as odd as Leap Day would be associated with some interesting customs, and it actually is, or more accurately was.  In Wyoming, there once was a custom of appointing a teenager to be Governor for the day, honorific of course.  I don't think that occurs anymore, but I guess we'll see today.  If this does occur, I have not taken note of it recently.   Wyoming Public Media reported it has having occured as recently as 1940, FWIW.

One political thing that does happen is the U.S. Presidential Election.  It's always in a Leap Year. . . so we get to enjoy one more extra day of campaigning.

A tradition in the English-speaking world is that women can propose to men on this day, which, in some versions of the custom, extends to the whole year. This tradition was surprisingly wide spread in societies speaking English, and is attributed by some to the Irish Saint, St. Brigid, who predates the Gregorian Calendar by quite some measure.   She died in 525.

Anyhow, supposedly she licensed women to propose to men every four years, which is likely just a story.

"Taking" a person, then, was a much more serious matter, even though it should be equally serious now.

Even when I was a kid, however, there remained the odd custom, apparently limited to English-speaking countries as noted, that in Leap Years girls could "ask out" a boy, it being implicit that otherwise that was a right/burden that fell to males.  It still, in fact, largely does.  This appears to have been the remnant of a custom in English-speaking countries, no doubt only lightly observed, that on Leap Day, this day, women could propose marriage to men, that also being a prerogative which then, and largely now, was reserved to men by custom.

Frankly, this is vaguely threatening.

How much of a deal this really was, I don't know, but it was enough of one that late in the 19th Century and early in the 20th Century it generated cartoons, not all of which were kind, and it generated cards, most of which were, although more than a few of them were somewhat aggressive. The cards suggest that women were using them, so in fact some women did avail themselves of the licensed role reversal and propose.

Less threatening.

As odd as this may seem now, it may have made some sense at the time.  Another thread we have in draft deals with the economics, in part, of marriage in the age, but things were, quite frankly, tighter.  As that thread reveals, a lot more men went through life unmarried than do now, and far more than we might suspect.  More than a little of that was probably economic hesitation.  For women, however, unlike men, being unmarried was a societal strike against them and often a personal lifelong disaster.  If they were waiting for a proposal, this was a societally licensed way to deliver it.



Whatever was going on with this, it seems to have flat out ended in its original form right about the era of the cards we see here.  What happened?


I don't know, but what I suspect is that World War One dramatically altered the marriage landscape.  Indeed, we dealt with this briefly in regard to Catherinettes;

In France, for St. Catherine's saint's day, the Catherinettes were out on the streets:




From John Blackwell's Twitter feed on the topic.

We noted this custom in 2020:

The day is also St. Catherine's Day,, the feast day for that saint, which at the time was still celebrated in France as a day for unmarried women who had obtained twenty-five years of age.  Such women were known as Catherinettes. Women in general were committed since the Middle Ages to the protection of St. Catherine and on this day large crowds of unmarried 25 year old women wearing hats to mark their 25th year would gather for a celebration of sorts, where well wishers would wish them a speedy end to their single status. The custom remained strong at least until the 1930s but has since died out.


This of course is from a different culture yet, the French, but it addresses the same topic, with the French taking it up annually, and more cheerfully it looks like.

This custom apparently has largely died, but interestingly milliners are trying to revive it, as it was associated with outlandish hats.  Having said that, French single women over 25 were still out on the streets with wild costumes and hats in honor of the day, whereas the somewhat maudlin English Leap Day cards don't seem to have made it past World War one.  It's hard not to draw that line in the case of the Leap Day cards.  1916 was a Leap Year, and then 1920.  By 1920 there were a lot of single women in English-speaking countries (and in France too) who were going to be single for life, the war having made that a fact.

Before we leave this topic, it's interesting to note that in Medieval Times, after the introduction of the Gregorian Calendar, in some European countries this was Bachelor's Day for the same reason. I.e., Bachelors were subject to proposals.  It actually was a matter of law in some countries.  In some places it became the custom for men of means to be required to buy any suitor whose proposal he turned down twelve pairs of gloves so that she could hide her embarrassment at not having an engagement ring.

While on this, FWIW, as we've noted before, while spinster status was regarded as a disaster earl in the 20th Century, what exactly constituted it is misunderstood. As we have noted in another thread:





That deals with the averages, of course.  Looking at my own grandparents, I think one set was married in their late 20s or early 30s, while another in their early 20s.  My parents were in their 30s.

Related Threads:

Of interest, I note that some other blogs we link into this site also noted Leap Day or Leap Year, with some noting the same items we noted above.

Leap Year



Shockingly young! Surprisingly old! Too young, too old! Well, nothing much actually changing at all. . . Marriage ages then. . . and now. . and what does it all mean?