Legislature Blogs

Equality State Policy Center director Dan Neal discusses the death of legislation that would have placed a constitutional amendment on the 2012 ballot to outlaw same-sex marriage and civil unions. Also dead is a bill that would have repealed minimum wage and wage reporting requirements in Wyoming.

Friday was the last day to hear bills on General File. Bills not brought up for discussion in Committee of the Whole in either chamber by the end of the day die for the year.

We were pleased particularly to see time run out on two measures:

1. SJ5 – Defense of marriage – constitutional amendment. This proposal would have placed a constitutional amendment on the 2012 ballot to make same-sex marriages and civil unions illegal in Wyoming.
2. HB 184 – Minimum wage statutes repeal. This bill would have eliminated laws imposing a state minimum wage and requiring wage data reporting of Wyoming businesses.

Many people worked hard to kill the proposed constitutional amendment. In committee testimony earlier this year, opponents of the anti-GLBT legislation worried that Wyoming would be subjected to a long, intense, and ugly campaign if the amendment proposal made it to the ballot. Majority Leader Tom Lubnau indicated earlier this week that supporters did not have the 40 votes needed for House passage (a proposed constitutional amendment requires a two-thirds vote from both houses).

Wyoming Tribune Eagle photographer James Brosher has been giving us some great moments from the Legislature, and his blog entry focusing on 30th day of the session has some compelling portraits of legislators having what appear to be pensive and deeply contemplative moments. A favorite from that group is this shot of Sen. Paul Barnard, R-Evanston, because it shows a funny sigh and equally funny necktie.

Richard Garrett Jr., legislative advocate for the Wyoming Outdoor Council, argues that House Bill 179, the energy efficiency bill, would help electric utility customers audit their energy consumption and finance energy efficiency improvements. The full Senate will debate the bill next week.

The bill was introduced in the Wyoming State House by Reps. Keith Gingery and Ruth Ann Petroff, with the hopes of enabling this program to be implemented in Teton County where the availability of power is capped at 85 megawatts.

The power company has informed Teton County that without an energy efficiency program the residents of the county (its customers) might be subject to a tripling of their energy costs and/or rolling brown-outs in the coming years.

House Bill 179 makes good environmental sense and serves the public good. Here’s why:

By establishing an energy efficiency program, one that can be adopted statewide, the House energy efficiency bill will be part of the solution to reducing the need for new coal-fired power plants. It can also reduce or cap loads on existing plants and help to avoid the installation of new and costly energy transmission corridors, which disrupt open space and wildlife habitats. Meanwhile it can be part of the effort to reduce the human health impacts of burning coal for energy. Power plant emissions are known to cause human health problems (a just-released study by the Harvard Medical School estimates human health costs in the Appalachian region of the United States alone to be $74.6 billion).

photo ©James Brosher

Wyoming Tribune Eagle photographer James Brosher continues to post some nice images on his personal blog of his photography from the Legislature. A shot of Sen. Bruce Burns, R-Sheridan, does a good job of showing how exhausting the long days (and nights) can be during the session.

Richard Winger of Ballot Access News takes a look at Senate File 20, which lets the state charge a fee for any voter or candidate who wants write-in votes counted. Winger notes that part of the job of public elections officials is to count the votes, and to charge a citizen for asking to learn how many votes a candidate received has routinely been ruled unconstitutional.

Among other things, it gives the Secretary of State authority to charge a fee, which can be paid by any person, if that person wants the elections officials to tally the number of write-in votes any candidate received. This idea would probably be invalidated if it were challenged in court. The U.S. Supreme Court has said several times that governments can’t charge fees for voters or candidates, unless there is a compelling state interest in the fees, and the only state interest the court has accepted has been to keep ballots uncrowded.

Geoff O’Gara of Wyoming PBS reports that teachers and legislators seem to be coming together over a couple of education bills moving through the House. Everyone may be close to agreeing on reasonable ways to weed out poor teachers without putting good instructors at risk of unwarranted firing. But now the hard work begins: figuring out an objective standard for testing students so administrators can determine which teachers are performing poorly. Wyoming’s recent history with standardized student testing doesn’t give anyone a good feeling about that effort.

There is still the question of just how student success will be “objectively” measured in Wyoming – the bills set up a process for assessment and accountability, but the actual assessment tools are not firm – the state’s much-revised, much-criticized PAWS test is hardly viewed as fool-proof. And the state Department of Education, and new chief Cindy Hill, have not contributed much to the accountability models – yet they’ll have to carry out these new requirements.

Equality State Policy Center director Dan Neal writes about the debate over House Bill 74, the “validity of marriage” bill. Opponents of the bill have pointed out how religious dogma can be used for and against the measure, and ultimately shouldn’t drive lawmaking. Neal also writes about an effort to bolster open meetings laws.

The Senate Travel Recreation and Wildlife Committee on Tuesday morning approved HB 120 – Public meetings. The bill will require the more than 500 state, local, and special district elected and appointed boards to handle their meetings to assure the public’s ability to track and participate in them as appropriate. The boards must:

1. Give at least 12 hours notice of any special meeting;
2. Announce the purpose of all executive sessions;
3. Make and retain audio recordings of executive sessions.

Holly Dabb, publisher of the Rock Springs Rocket-Miner, told the committee that the Sweetwater County Commission last year conducted more than 60 special meetings giving only 10 minutes notice of their plans to convene. The public simply had no opportunity to participate and observe as significant decisions were made.

Equality State Policy Center researcher Sarah Gorin writes about Senate File 14, which would allow counties to adopt “hybrid” districting, establishing both single-member districts and an at-large district. Last year a U.S. District Judge rejected a hybrid districting proposal by Fremont County.

Although Fremont County’s county districting was done under federal court order and ultimately resulted in single-member districts, its initial response to losing the lawsuit was to offer a districting plan with a majority Native American district to elect one commissioner, and an at-large district to elect the other four commissioners.

This “hybrid” districting proposal was aimed at preserving the status quo as much as possible, and also was described as a kind of “political quarantine” for the Native American population.

SF 14 changes current law to allow hybrid districting. The ESPC has been working against the bill due to the potential for using hybrid districting to discriminate, not only in Fremont County but in other areas of the state where there are geographical concentrations of minority populations.

SF 14 has passed the Senate and was heard (on February 8 ) and again Thursday (February 10) in the House Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Committee.

The Wyoming Outdoor Council is among several advocates that helped kill landfill legislation in 2009 that they say didn’t provide enough protections for Wyoming’s groundwater. Now the group is pleased with the current draft of SF 121, according to Richard Garrett Jr., legislative advocate for the Wyoming Outdoor Council. In this post, Garrett writes that there have been attempts to water-down the legislation.

This year’s original landfills bill was crafted closely after a bill that failed in 2009, one which we strongly opposed.

We were against the 2009 bill and we were against this year’s original bill because each would have failed to accomplish what we know is one of the most important tasks for the state’s Department of Environmental Quality—water resource protection from the consequences of badly designed and poorly sited municipal landfills.

With the support of our members, we were able to encourage Senator Bebout, fellow conservation groups, landfill operators, and advisors from the DEQ to reach a consensus on a good substitute bill.

Assuming it’s not amended and is approved by the house, we will encourage Gov. Matt Mead’s signature.

Equality State Policy Center director Dan Neal speaks out against on the rejection of HB 244, which would have circulated nearly $38 million into Wyoming’s economy through unemployed workers. Neal argues that the average $250 per unemployed worker for 13 weeks is hardly a gravy train.

The defeat of HB 244 means Wyoming will not see close to $38 million in available federal funds circulate through our economy. Instead, workers who fall into poverty when their benefits run out will be forced to turn to programs such as Medicaid and food stamps to take care of their families – programs whose growth disturbs many of the same legislators who voted against HB 244.

The bill would have brought about $24 million in extended unemployment insurance benefits for 13 weeks to workers who exhaust their ordinary unemployment benefits between March 15, 2011 and Jan. 1, 2012. Sponsor Rep. Cathy Connolly (D-HD13, Laramie) said the measure, funded fully by the federal government following Congress’ December decision to again fund extended benefits, would help 7,500 workers survive the recession after losing their jobs through no fault of their own.

Take a look at the arithmetic: $24 million divided by 7,500 workers divided by 13 weeks of extended benefits means the average check for a worker getting these benefits would be less than $250 per week, hardly a gravy train. It’s difficult to provide food and housing for a single person on that income; supporting a family of four would not be possible in Wyoming.

Rodger McDaniel, who last month retired as head of Wyoming’s Mental Health and Substance Abuse Division, takes a look at the Legislature’s decision to turn down $38 million in federal unemployment benefits for Wyoming residents. McDaniel, also an ordained minister, notes that “when Jesus said, ‘The poor will always be with you,’ it was not an invitation to exploit them, but a judgment against those who do.”

This week the House rejected a bill to provide meager unemployment benefits. The reality of seven straight quarters of decline in new business formation and the loss of 15,200 Wyoming jobs wasn’t persuasive. Somebody’s elected representatives still turned down 38 million dollars in federal unemployment funds in favor of stereotyping those who are without work. That is 38 million dollars that will remain in Washington for who knows what instead of circulating in Wyoming through the wallets of landlords, grocers, clothiers, service providers and others who could have used those dollars to create jobs here.

Geoff O’Gara of Wyoming PBS offers an interesting look in Wyoming Capitol Outlook at some of the behind-the-scenes forces shaping a tie vote this week in the House on whether to give wind energy companies a break on up-front infrastructure sales taxes while raising the per-megawatt tax rate.

When Rep. Matt Teeters (R-Lingle), who initially voted against the bill, moved for reconsideration, it was considered likely that his vote and a few more would move to the plus side, and break the tie in favor of the wind tax. But several legislators went the other way, defeating the bill. There is no debate on a reconsideration motion, but conversations with various legislators suggested the following pressures at work: 1/ Municipal and county governments want that big chunk of sales and use taxes up front, and they lobbied heavily; 2/ some legislators just don’t like wind energy; 3/ some Tea Party adherents saw it as more government taxes (even though it would have eliminated a tax as well); 4/ and some legislators simply don’t like to see a bill reconsidered.

Richard Garrett Jr., legislative advocate for the Wyoming Outdoor Council, writes that lawmakers are likely to strip the Wyoming Environmental Quality Council’s authority to designate landscapes as “very rare or uncommon.” Garrett writes that in 40 years, the designation has been extended to only 0.3 percent of Wyoming’s landscape.

The “very rare or uncommon” land designation was originally created by the Legislature in 1973 (it was first called “unique and irreplaceable”).

The protection afforded by such a designation is modest but important: it simply means that non-coal surface mining is not allowed in a place determined to be “very rare or uncommon.” Thus the designation doesn’t affect sub-surface mining, oil and gas development, or other sub-surface resource development, and it doesn’t even preclude surface coal mining.

Since 1973, the Environmental Quality Council has used this designation to recognize a few important historical locations around the state as well as a handful of state wildlife habitat management areas and petroglyph sites—and, perhaps most importantly, to recognize the crown jewel of Wyoming’s Red Desert: Adobe Town.

Legislators killed a bill Wednesday evening that would have exempted home child care providers from state certification, reports Equality State Policy Center director Dan Neal. In this blog post, Neal also details legislative action regarding the taxation of wind energy.

Mike McGrady, a Cheyenne attorney, said he had access to investigatory tools as he considered child care providers. “But I didn’t know what questions to ask,” he said. Home care providers are “still a business,” he said, and it makes sense to require them to meet basic standards.

Committee member Rep. Frank Peasley (R-HD3, Douglas) asked several opponents if there is any statistical proof that regulation has reduced problems surrounding child care.

“Did abuse go down?” he asked. It seems, he said, that “the more we regulate, the more problems we have.”

He noted his wife put him through school by “baby sitting” and she did so before the state licensed care.

When Cheyenne police detective Joe Hickerson said background checks would keep people clearly unsuited because of a record of violence against children out of the child care business, Rep. Peasley asked him, “Do you want the state more involved in parenting?”

Wyoming Tribune Eagle photographer James Brosher has a wonderful personal web site set up highlighting his great work. Included in his many arresting images are some nice moments from the legislative session, like First Lady Carol Mead reading to school kids and legislators working with each other and meeting with visitors. Brosher does a great job of capturing how closely Wyoming residents can interact with their lawmakers during the session.

Sienna Jung, age 5, sings along with a group of 19 children from the St. Mary's School after a book reading by Wyoming First Lady Carol Mead on Friday, Jan. 28, 2011, in the Wyoming State Capitol rotunda. The first lady read "Little Wyoming" to the youngsters. (photo by James Brosher © 2011)

On Tuesdays and Fridays, my main assignment of the day is to cover the Wyoming Legislature. Those are the two days when I work the day shift during the week, meaning that I go over to the capitol typically before lunch. Clad in a suit and tie, I roam the hallways and galleries of both the House and Senate chambers looking for something interesting to photograph. The light is terrible in the hallways, but I managed to make a couple features from overhead positions outside of the chambers today. I’ve never covered state government before so I’m enjoying the opportunity to run around the capitol and make features.

A resolution sponsored by Rep. Gerald Gay (R-Casper) to amend the state constitution “to forbid courts from considering international law or Sharia law when deciding cases” is drawing some national attention from bloggers and political commentators. Among them, Sarah Posner of Religion Dispatches takes a look at Gay’s proposal, as well as some tongue-in-cheek videos Gay made showing himself shooting targets representing socialism and cap and trade legislation.

In this campaign video, he aims his Smith and Wesson at “cap and trade.”

“Yes, sir,” he concludes, “that’s how we deal with government intrusion into your lives.”

In another video, he shoots socialism; in this one he shoots stimulus and health care. In a video posted on his Facebook page, he proudly “blew the heck out of that big government” by blasting a replica of the Capitol building with his rifle.

Richard Garrett Jr., energy and legislative advocate for the Wyoming Outdoor Council, posted this blog updating several bills related to wind energy development, microbial stimulation for coal-bed methane gas and federal regulation of greenhouse gases.

All of these bills are important, but perhaps the one of greatest interest to Outdoor Council members is the one that has yet to be introduced: This is a bill that would—if an excise tax on wind-energy production is extended—require that a portion of the tax be directed to the Wyoming Wildlife and Natural Resource Trust.

The practicality of this idea seems apparent: wind-energy development can do substantial harm to wildlife so it is fitting that resources from that development be directed to offset its impacts.

Equality State Policy Center director Dan Neal reports on an effort to counter anti-gay marriage legislation and instead strengthen the state’s anti-discriminatory statutes. Neal also reports that SF 13, which would have blocked voters from changing their party affiliation within 90 days of a primary election, was snuffed on Tuesday.

During its first two weeks of the session, much of the legislature’s attention focused on marriage and whether the state should recognize gay and lesbian marriages legally made outside Wyoming. Tuesday morning, Rep. Cathy Connolly shepherded a bill through the House Judiciary Committee that will make it illegal in Wyoming to discriminate against because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

“I consider this bill simple yet profound,” Connolly (D-HD13, Laramie) told the committee. House Bill 142 – Discrimination adds the words “sexual orientation or gender identity in all state laws that have anti-discrimination clauses.

For example, Wyoming statute 19-14-107 creases the veterans’ commission and outlines its composition and terms of commissioners.

“Appointments shall be made without regard to political affiliation, sex, religion or ethnic background,” the statute now reads. Connolly’s bill will insert the words “sexual orientation or gender identify” between the words sex and religion in that statute.

Equality State Policy Center president Dan Neal details the passionate debate over HB 35, which would make it illegal to enforce the Affordable Care Act in Wyoming, punishable by a $5,000 fine and felony conviction. This blog post also provides an overview of bills aimed at campaign finance and county elections.

EXCERPT:

The House Labor, Health and Social Services Committee worked hard – and late – on a nullification act that challenges the Affordable Care Act. It is sponsored by Rep. Bob Brechtel R-HD38, Casper) and a dozen other legislators, at least a few of them itching to prove their anti-federalism credentials.

House Bill 35 – Health care choice and protection act proclaims the ACA unconstitutional and thus null and void in Wyoming. As drafted, the bill imposed a $5,000 fine and a felony conviction on any state employee, official, or public servant found to be enforcing the ACA.

But the sponsors ran into a storm of criticism from a wide variety of interest groups. Wyoming Public Employees Association lobbyist Bob Kuchera expressed worries that the bill puts state employees at risk of committing a felony if they simply went about their work of implementing the new federal law.

WyoFile editor-in-chief Dustin Bleizeffer reports the death of a measure that would have required people  and groups wanting to protest energy or industrial development projects to post a bond.

EXCERPT:

Environmental groups, including the Powder River Basin Resource Council, had argued there are long-standing administrative and legal procedures to prove standing when challenging a permit application or permitted energy project. A major point of contention between conservationists and developers in Wyoming is the Wyoming Environmental Quality Council‘s administrative appeals process, which considers challenges permitting actions by the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality.

Two legislators are introducing bills that aim to tweak how Wyoming taxes wind energy producers, according to Wyoming Energy News. Rep. Tim Stubson (R-Casper) wants to tax new wind farms at $3 per megawatt hour, but exempt them from sales taxes on equipment. Rep. Jim Roscoe (D-Wilson) wants to divert a small portion of the state’s share of wind energy taxes to address wildlife issues in areas where large wind power installations are built.

Stubson believes his proposal would bring in more revenue for the state, while encouraging the state’s growing wind power industry, as developers would otherwise have to pay millions in sales taxes when they buy the turbines, machinery and other equipment for new wind farms. According to Stubson, these companies would often have to borrow large amounts of money to pay those up-front sales taxes, which would require them to interest payments in the millions of dollars over the years.

Stubson said that by replacing the sales tax with a flat tax, wind developers wouldn’t have to borrow that money — thus saving them money.

The other approach to the issue is being put forth by Rep. Jim Roscoe, a Democrat from Wilson. His bill would divert part of the $1-per-megawatt-hour tax revenue to help wildlife affected by wind farms.

Current law requires wind tax revenue will be split 60-40 between local governments and the state, respectively. Roscoe wants to take 2 percent of the state’s cut and give it to the Wyoming Wildlife and Natural Resources Trust fund.

WyoFile editor-in-chief Dustin Bleizeffer writes in the Wyoming Energy Blog about a failed effort to increase the minimum bond-on requirement for oil and gas companies wishing to develop minerals on split-estate lands from a minimum $2,000 per well to $10,000. The issue tests the reality of good-faith negotiations between landowners and mineral developers.

Usually, the oil and gas developer strikes a “surface use agreement” with the surface owner, which involves paying a fee to the surface owner for damages and loss of permanent or temporary use of the surface.

But Schiffer and others argued that some developers have figured out it’s easier, and cheaper, to not actually negotiate in good-faith and simply post the $2,000 bond. The surety (not the full dollar-amount) resides with the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, which can cash it in to pay for the cost of clean-up in the event the developer doesn’t meet reclamation requirements.

In this scenario, the surface owner still receives no “surface damage” payment. Schiffer and advocates of the bill said that by raising the minimum bond-on requirement to $10,000, more developers would be enticed to actually strike a surface use agreement resulting in some payment to the surface owner.

“We know that the chance of something happening is minimal, and if it is indeed minimal, then why the concern (about raising the bond),” said Patricia Hawk, a surface owner from Laramie County.

Equality State Policy Center director Dan Neal posted this blog on Friday explaining that his group is closely tracking Senate File 3, a measure that would bring Wyoming law into compliance with the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Citizens United vs. FEC. Another bill that has come before the Legislature several times and failed is back; the co-employee immunity measure that would protect supervisors guilty of wanton and willful actions that result in employees getting injured on the job.

EXCERPT:

Our first significant hearing was Thursday morning when the Senate Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Committee considered Senate File 3 Campaign finance – organizations.

The measure will bring state law into compliance with the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Citizens United vs. FEC. The decision opened the door to allow corporations to tap their treasuries for independent expenditure campaigns deployed to attack or support individual candidates. We’re pressing for amendments SF3 to improve disclosure requirements.

Business brings annual attack on co-employee immunity laws

On Friday, Jan. 14, the Senate Labor Committee heard final testimony on Senate File 61 – Co-employee immunity. The measure blocks liability lawsuits when people are injured at work due to wanton, willful actions of a fellow worker or supervisor. Under current law, if a supervisor orders a worker into an area known to be unsafe and in violation of safety rules and the worker gets hurt, he or she can sue the co-employee.

The Wyoming Outdoor Council advocates for conservation on public lands. Richard Garrett, Jr., energy and legislative advocate for the Wyoming Outdoor Council, outlines several legislative proposals high on the group’s radar. Read Garrett’s blog post, “A lot is at stake in the 2011 legislative session.”

EXCERPT:

A proposal will be considered again to task the State Division of Economic Analysis with determining the “optimum use” for all land in the state (private, state, and federal). A similar bill passed last year but was vetoed, wisely, by then Gov. Dave Freudenthal. That bill featured a modeling process that would have created a bias toward finding so-called optimum uses for Wyoming lands that would almost always have involved resource development and extraction. In other words, the determined “optimum use” would likely never have been open space, important wildlife habitat, historical preservation, ecotourism, iconic landscapes, or conservation.

Washington Post blogger Ezra Klein looks at Wyoming’s proposed Health Care Choice and Protection Act, which would make it a criminal offense to implement recent federal health care reforms. In comments made the day before Ariz. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and others were shot, and therefore unconnected to the subsequent controversy over what may have motivated the shooter, Klein points out that extremist rhetoric is not without consequences.

EXCERPT:

Given the extremism of the rhetoric at the top, is it any wonder that there is incredible fear trickling down to the grass roots? If those are the stakes, then of course criminalizing any implementation of the bill makes sense. Frankly, if those are the stakes, then violent resistance might be required.

Those aren’t the stakes, of course. They’re just the words. And words slip sometimes. Things come out too angry, or too quickly, or too sharply. I’ve had my share of experience with this. But words matter. And the Republican Party hasn’t been slipping up: It’s been engaged in a concerted campaign to scare the population into opposing health-care reform. That may be good politics, but it can have bad consequences.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Wyoming has weighed in opposing bills on illegal immigration, abortion and same-sex marriages. Read more about the group’s take on these and other recently introduced bills.

EXCERPT:

HB0094 – Illegal Immigration – AN ACT relating to immigration; establishing an offense for failure to carry an alien registration document; establishing offenses for unlawful hiring and unlawful employment; establishing an offense for unlawful transporting of aliens; providing for the determination and communication of immigration status; prohibiting employment of unauthorized alien’s requiring employers to participate in the e-verify program; authorizing warrantless arrest for offenses that make a person removable from the United Sates; providing penalties; providing for severability of provisions; and providing for an effective date.

This is a copy of the Arizona “papers please” bill, including sections that are being challenged as unconstitutional in federal courts. It is offensive on many levels; however, immigration laws are controlled by the U.S. Congress and not by the states. This is another example of an unnecessary mean spirited piece of legislation that is sure to be found unconstitutional.

Dustin Fink, a sports trainer, comments on a bill proposed by Sen. Bill Landen that would set care and release guidelines for school athletes who suffer concussions. The bill also seeks to raise awareness about proper treatment for consuccions. Read Fink’s impressions of the bill in his blog: The Concussion.

EXCERPT:

There are a lot of docs that are completely behind in research and management techniques.  The only way to stop the insanity of kids being released too soon is to mandate education, of not only doctors but everyone involved, including athletic trainers.  All must be on the same page so that there is less confusion and less error, which in turn, in my opinion, will lead to better outcomes of this injury.