A bill to call a special session to draft legislation regarding the duties of the Superintendent of Public Instruction died in the Wyoming House of Representatives today. (WyoFile/Gregory Nickerson — click to enlarge)
A bill to call a special session to consider the duties of the Superintendent of Public Instruction died in the Wyoming House of Representatives today. (WyoFile/Gregory Nickerson — click to enlarge)

Bill for special session on Superintendent of Public Instruction dies

By Gregory Nickerson
— March 3, 2014

A bill that would call a special session to address the duties of the Superintendent of Public Instruction died this afternoon when it failed to meet a procedural deadline. Legislative leaders wanted to call a special session to respond to the State Supreme Court decision that struck down Senate File 104. That is the 2013 law that removed Superintendent Cindy Hill from management of the Wyoming Department of Education.

To that end, lawmakers drafted Senate File 106 – State education administration. It passed out of the Senate last week. The special session called for in the bill would have explored constitutionally valid methods of shifting duties from the Superintendent to an appointed director of the Department of Education.

The bill in question had been slated for consideration on General File in the House this afternoon. However the bill was moved to the end of the list for the day’s proceedings, and the House adjourned before bringing it up for hearing. Leaders may have kept the bill from being heard on recognizing that the bill didn’t have the votes to pass the House. Since today is the last day for bills to go through first reading in the second chamber, Senate File 106 is dead.

— Gregory Nickerson is the government and policy reporter for WyoFile. He writes the Capitol Beat blog. Contact him at greg@wyofile.com.

SUPPORT: If you enjoy WyoFile’s 2014 coverage of the Wyoming Legislature and would like to see more quality Wyoming journalism, please consider supporting us. WyoFile is a non-partisan, non-profit news organization dedicated to in-depth reporting on Wyoming’s people, places and policy.
 
REPUBLISH THIS STORY: For details on how you can republish this story or other WyoFile content for free, click here.

Gregory Nickerson worked as government and policy reporter for WyoFile from 2012-2015. He studied history at the University of Wyoming. Follow Greg on Twitter at @GregNickersonWY and on www.facebook.com/GregoryNickersonWriter/

Leave a comment

WyoFile's goal is to provide readers with information and ideas that foster constructive conversations about the issues and opportunities our communities face. One small piece of how we do that is by offering a space below each story for readers to share perspectives, experiences and insights. For this to work, we need your help.

What we're looking for: 

  • Your real name — first and last. 
  • Direct responses to the article. Tell us how your experience relates to the story.
  • The truth. Share factual information that adds context to the reporting.
  • Thoughtful answers to questions raised by the reporting or other commenters.
  • Tips that could advance our reporting on the topic.
  • No more than three comments per story, including replies. 

What we block from our comments section, when we see it:

  • Pseudonyms. WyoFile stands behind everything we publish, and we expect commenters to do the same by using their real name.
  • Comments that are not directly relevant to the article. 
  • Demonstrably false claims, what-about-isms, references to debunked lines of rhetoric, professional political talking points or links to sites trafficking in misinformation.
  • Personal attacks, profanity, discriminatory language or threats.
  • Arguments with other commenters.

Other important things to know: 

  • Appearing in WyoFile’s comments section is a privilege, not a right or entitlement. 
  • We’re a small team and our first priority is reporting. Depending on what’s going on, comments may be moderated 24 to 48 hours from when they’re submitted — or even later. If you comment in the evening or on the weekend, please be patient. We’ll get to it when we’re back in the office.
  • We’re not interested in managing squeaky wheels, and even if we wanted to, we don't have time to address every single commenter’s grievance. 
  • Try as we might, we will make mistakes. We’ll fail to catch aliases, mistakenly allow folks to exceed the comment limit and occasionally miss false statements. If that’s going to upset you, it’s probably best to just stick with our journalism and avoid the comments section.
  • We don’t mediate disputes between commenters. If you have concerns about another commenter, please don’t bring them to us.

The bottom line:

If you repeatedly push the boundaries, make unreasonable demands, get caught lying or generally cause trouble, we will stop approving your comments — maybe forever. Such moderation decisions are not negotiable or subject to explanation. If civil and constructive conversation is not your goal, then our comments section is not for you. 

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *