This story is part of a collaborative legislative initiative by WyoFile, Wyoming Tribune Eagle, Sheridan Press and Jackson Hole News&Guide to deliver comprehensive coverage of Wyoming’s 2026 budget session.
CHEYENNE–In Wyoming, there is currently no formal process to recall municipal mayors and council members.
A proposed law is looking to change that.
House Bill 22, sponsored by Rep. Scott Heiner, R-Green River, received an 8-1 committee vote Wednesday to advance after a lengthy discussion centered on how to balance voter accountability with the administrative complexities of the Wyoming Election Code.
Heiner is the chair of the House Minerals, Business and Economic Development Committee, which discussed the bill Wednesday. He opened by pointing to a cautionary tale from Illinois involving former Mayor Tiffany Henyard, who allegedly used public funds for personal luxuries while residents had no immediate recourse.
Heiner explained that while Wyoming’s original statutes provided for recalls under the commission form of government, the state’s shift to mayor-council systems a century ago left a statutory gap.
“If there’s an issue with any of these electeds, there’s nothing (voters) can do to recall them,” Heiner said.
The bill aims to move the recall mechanism into a broader section of the law, making it available for all municipal officers. As introduced, it requires a petition signed by 25% of registered electors to trigger a special removal election.
The committee heard from Mills Mayor Leah Juarez, who testified online about the fallout of a previous administration’s decisions. She described how in 2019 the city’s firefighters were given less than three weeks’ notice that their contracts would not be renewed, leaving the city without fire or EMS services.
“The residents must have the ability to protect their community when an elected official is causing demonstrable harm,” Juarez said, noting that residents felt they had “no meaningful recourse” at the time.
Despite support for the bill’s intent, experts warned of significant administrative hurdles. Laramie County Clerk Debra Lee, representing the Wyoming County Clerks’ Association, urged the committee to refer the bill to an interim study. She highlighted a critical flaw: Town clerks, who would be tasked with verifying recall petitions under the bill, do not have access to the state’s voter registration system.
“It’s a bit like pulling a string out of a sweater, and before you know it, it can be unraveled,” Lee said. “There are a lot of complexities and things that we may not be aware of.”
She raised concerns that the bill’s timelines might conflict with the existing election code, potentially unraveling the integrity of local elections.
Ashley Harpstreith, executive director of the Wyoming Association of Municipalities, echoed these concerns, proposing a series of amendments designed to prevent retaliatory recalls. WAM proposed raising the signature threshold from 25% to 40% and implementing grace periods.
Pinedale Mayor Matt Murdock, serving as current WAM board president, warned that in very small towns, a 25% threshold could represent as few as eight voters.
“That petition could be a very small number … and that could turn into a clan fight instead of an actual political issue,” Murdock said.
He also argued that a recall should only remove an official, with the resulting vacancy filled via existing statutory procedures, rather than an immediate “free-for-all” election. “Otherwise, it could become really competitive, and it just turns into the wrong model of democracy,” he added.
The potential for administrative chaos led Rep. Martha Lawley, R-Worland, to move to table the bill, arguing that the committee was “not there yet” in resolving the conflicts between municipal and county election rules.
“I guess I want to make sure that we don’t create ambiguities,” Lawley said. However, the motion to table failed to gain enough support.
Rep. J.T. Larson, R-Rock Springs, successfully moved several amendments to address concerns raised through testimony. The committee ultimately adopted changes that:
- Increased the signature requirement to 40% of registered electors.
- Prohibited a recall petition from being filed during an official’s first nine months in office.
- Prohibited petitions from being filed within six months of the next general election.
- Limited recalls to once per person per term.
Lawley cast the lone dissenting vote, maintaining that the “unresolved” administrative issues would burden rural counties.
Having passed the Minerals Committee, HB 22 now moves to the House floor for its first reading. If it passes three readings in the House, it will head to the Senate for further consideration.
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It needs to be amended to cover any elected official.
What we really need is an easy process to remove bad legislators, without waiting for the vote.