Sen. Brian Boner
The Legislature's 2018 budget session is a trainwreck for Wyoming schools.

The Legislature’s education funding debate is on track for public school disaster

Conflicting egos, draconian cuts, and a staunch refusal to raise new revenues spell disaster for Wyoming education.
Dr. Rene Hinkle of the Cheyenne Regional Medical Center speaks against Boner's Bill at a meeting of the Senate Labor and Health Committee.

Public outcry and dissent from the medical community help kill Boner’s Bill

Boner's Bill to give "nonviable birth certificates" to women who miscarry pregnancies died in the Senate on Tuesday. Lawmakers lost heart after hearing from so many outraged citizens.
Proponents of expanding Medicaid in Cheyenne.

Medicaid expansion dies a quiet, shameful death for the fifth year

The Legislature yet again refused to accept hundreds of millions of federal dollars because they would go toward helping poor people get healthcare.

Senate budget proposes $130 million in cuts to Wyoming schools

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The proposed cuts, on top of the $77 million the Legislature has already cut from public education over the past two years, would be devastating to Wyoming schools and communities.
The Wyoming constitution forbids cuts of the magnitude that Charles Scott (L) and Affie Ellis (R) want to see, so they want to change the constitution to make their cuts legal.

Amendments to defund Wyoming schools pass Senate committee

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The Wyoming State Senate wants education funding cuts so big that lawmakers know the Supreme Court will reject them. So, two senators are trying to change the constitution to make their cuts to public schools legal.
Sen. President Eli Bebout on site for his oil and gas company, Nucor, LLC.

Senate panel can’t move fast enough to give oil industry a tax break

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The tax break would benefit oil company CEOs like the bill's co-sponsor, Senate President Eli Bebout.
Left to right: Sens. Baldwin, Boner, Scott, and Peterson (Bouchard was late)

Five-man Senate committee unanimously passes “Boner’s Bill”

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Women who had miscarried pregnancies came out in droves to speak against a bill that would force Wyoming doctors to offer "nonviable birth certificates." But Chairman Charlie Scott shut down discussion so the committeemen could determine what's best.

Lawmakers bury tax reform chances, while the need for tax reform remains very alive

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No bill to raise revenues survived the first week of the 2018 Legislative session. This means Wyoming will continue to suckle at the teat of the mineral industry, and lawmakers will have no tools to balance the budget other than further cuts.

Senate Education Committee backs meager measure to promote state-supported early childhood education

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Wyoming is one of the few states that doesn't fund early childhood education. A proposed bill won't change that—but it at least moves us in the right direction.
The former Senate President's shadiness earned him the nickname "Back-door Bebout"

Back-door Bebout reassigns public school defunding bill to a friendlier committee

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Senate President Eli Bebout (R-Riverton) on Monday reassigned…
Inmates at the Wyoming State Penitentiary

Two criminal justice reform bills sail through the House, as they have in years past. Will they die in the Senate, as they have in years past?

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A pair of positive, commonsense criminal justice reform proposals passed House Judiciary Committee this week. But "tough on crime" lawmakers are lurking in the senate, ready to kill any bill that doesn't keep our prisons overflowing with inmates.