Lawmakers will not meet for a special session to override Gov. Mark Gordon’s vetoes — at least not if it’s up to Speaker of the House Albert Sommers (R–Pinedale) or Senate President Ogden Driskill (R-Devils Tower).
While they expressed disappointment in Gordon’s “liberal use of his veto authority,” a special session would be costly and ineffective, Sommers and Driskill wrote in an op-ed sent Monday morning to press outlets.
“What is needed now is not to come into special session to rehash old ideas, but to charge our legislative interim committees with developing bills with input from all interested parties and address the needs of Wyoming,” leadership wrote.
After Gordon rejected multiple controversial bills and signed the budget on Saturday with dozens of line-item vetoes, the hard-line Freedom Caucus swiftly called on legislative leadership to convene a special session to override the governor. Sen. Cheri Steinmetz (R-Lingle) also submitted a formal request that Senate leadership either hold a special session or poll membership on whether to convene.
With leadership denying calls for a special session, such a poll is the last avenue available to lawmakers since the governor is not likely to use his authority for a cause against his own vetoes. Leadership must conduct a poll if at least 35% of members in both chambers request it, according to the Joint Rules Rules of the Wyoming Legislature. If a poll is conducted, a special session would require a simple majority.
Requests and rejection
Both Steinmetz and the Freedom Caucus pointed not only to the governor’s action on the budget but also to several vetoed bills, including a property tax relief measure and legislation to repeal most gun-free zones. Gordon also vetoed a bill that would have created more regulations for abortion clinics while mandating ultrasounds for women before they could undergo the procedure.
“These are just a few of the actions taken by the chief executive in our absence that require our attention,” Steinmetz wrote. “Many sage legislators warned we should never leave town without the Governor completing his work and the legislative veto intact.”
No lawmaker — including Steinmetz and members of the Freedom Caucus — objected when floor leaders in either chamber motioned to adjourn “sine die” — a motion that ends the session “without date” for resumption. In the House, the motion was brought by Majority Floor Leader Chip Neiman (R-Hulett), a member of the Freedom Caucus.
Sommers and Driskill pointed out this apparent contradiction.
“We do not recall the legislators who are now clamoring for a special session formally asking us or the chambers to utilize our three extra days,” leadership wrote. Lawmakers met for the full 20 days as scheduled, but technically had three days available to them that were leftover from the 2023 session.
“The very legislators who are asking for a special session created delay after delay during the budget session by asking for roll call votes, trying to resurrect zombie bills, bringing procedural motions, and filibustering debate,” leadership wrote.
In response, Bear lobbed the filibustering accusation back at leadership.
“They had this end result in mind and relied on the governor to veto bills they held their nose and voted for because it’s an election year,” Bear wrote in an email to WyoFile.
Logistics and cost
Because lawmakers adjourned sine die and without a provision to return, overriding the governor’s vetoes is not as simple as returning to Cheyenne to cast a series of votes.
Unless the rules were suspended with a two-thirds vote, the Legislature would have to use existing rules to pass bills. In other words, bills would have to go through the standard legislative process starting at square one — first passing introduction and its assigned committee before being heard on three separate days in both chambers and any differences being reconciled in a conference committee. After sending legislation to the governor, lawmakers would need to remain in session in order to override any vetoes, lest they end up in the same position as now.
For those reasons, leadership said a special session would likely require 8-10 days — or approximately half the length of a budget session.
While estimated daily costs of a special session have varied, leadership in its op-ed said it would cost $35,000 a day.
“Should we spend $350,000 of taxpayer money because we couldn’t get our job done within the calendar that we had agreed upon?,” leadership wrote. “This call for a special session appears to be political grandstanding for upcoming campaigns, not responsible governance.”
In response, Bear pointed to spending in the budget, which the Freedom Caucus voted against.
“The decision to introduce bills late in the game and vote AYE while holding their noses is the only campaign trick I see,” Bear wrote.
While the budget was introduced earlier than usual this session, Bear said leadership stalled by introducing “critical bills late in the game,” including one to ban gender-affirming care and one to create additional abortion restrictions. Gordon signed the former but vetoed the latter.
Bear also pushed back on leadership for writing in its op-ed that it was too late to effectuate additional property tax relief for this year.
Steinmetz did not respond to WyoFile’s request for comment by press time.
The Legislature’s Management Council meets next Monday to discuss and decide on topics for lawmakers to tackle in the off-season known as the interim.
I wonder if statewide adoption of ranked-choice voting would help winnow the number of kooks in the Legislature.
Well, this whole debacle makes several things abundantly clear. First, the Freedom Caucus members are by no stretch of the imagination conservatives. A true conservative wouldn’t even consider wasting hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars just because they are unable to read and understand their own rules and the legislative process. One of the first things legislators used to be taught was how the process worked, obviously that doesn’t happen anymore. They whine about others bringing bills late in the process, but you should take a read through the bills they brought that were submitted too late to allow a proper fiscal impact statements to completed. What were they trying to hide? Second, a significant portion of said caucus has come to Wyoming recently dragging their Beltway business model with them. They bemoan how things are done in D.C. and then do their best to parrot that process here. If they are so enamored of that ineffective, unproductive Congress, perhaps they should look at running for Congress rather than the Legislature.
Well said, Mark. Thanks.
The free dumb caucus votes against any money being spent except when it’s money for them, isn’t that right Mr. Bear (and others). They’re nothing but a bunch of trouble making hypocrites.
So they are worried about spending more money on a special session and meanwhile important issues that will hurt Wyoming need revisited The Governor and some legislators aren’t worried about the nonsense funding they allow. Oh well, who cares about doing the job they were voted in to do.
Thanks to both Speaker of the House Albert Sommers and Senate President Ogden Driskill for taking the right path here. Also a very much appreciated applause to our Governor Mark Gordon for doing the right thing. The bills vetoed were not well written, not well thought out, and pushed through in spite of doing the actual mandated task of passing our budget. These poorly written bills which were vetoed due to the fact that they were nothing more than political showmanship, and thus a waste of legislative time. If the representatives who drafted these bad ideas truly cared about moving them through into law, they would/should have spent more time on the writing/defining part. Seriously Freedom Caucus, you guys need to work on your legal writing skills if you actually expect any of this to hold up in court one day. Personally I hope you don’t.
So thanks to all 3 of you for understanding things for what they were and moving us all on past it. We’re a better state for it! I truly appreciate you all!
I totally agree.
“Holding their noses…” indeed. Please open the windows and air that place out.
A special session would have been about as effective as Haroldson’s combover.