We’re building a

BETTER WYOMING

Good Ol’ Boy’s Club politics and a ‘free ride’ from the fossil fuel industries won’t cut it for our state any longer. That’s why we’re educating, organizing, and mobilizing Wyoming residents on behalf of statewide change. We’re the generation that must build a Better Wyoming.

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Latest News

Let's just stay the course with coal, shall we?

Gordon’s proposed budget will keep Wyoming shackled to the fossil fuel industries

January 14, 2022

State tax revenue has recovered from last year’s bust, and Wyoming is receiving substantial federal pandemic funds. But instead of investing in education, infrastructure, and healthcare—things Wyoming residents need right now and that could help develop our economy in the long term—Gov. Gordon wants to pad the state’s savings account and prop up coal.

Cheyenne is gerrymandered along partisan and racial lines.

Cheyenne is a gerrymandered mess

October 29, 2021

Lawmakers have drawn voting district lines in Laramie County so that a large bloc of Democrat-leaning neighborhoods are split between five House districts, resulting in an all-GOP Cheyenne delegation. There is also racial gerrymandering splitting the Latino vote.

Send in the clowns.

The Wyo Legislature’s “emergency” session to fight vaccines is political theater at its worst

October 21, 2021

The special session starting Tuesday in response to new federal COVID-19 directives gives politicians the chance to bluster and beat their chests. But it does little to help normal Wyomingites, even as the state faces multiple crises that have nothing to do with vaccines.

Legislators might cast the votes when it comes to redrawing Wyoming's voter district lines. But county clerks pull the strings.

County clerks: The puppetmasters of Wyoming redistricting

September 10, 2021

A key part of redrawing Wyoming's voting districts is determining where "communities of interest" exist. No one plays a bigger role in that process than your local county clerk.

RIP Mike Enzi. You got far better treatment than most of us could hope for.

What Mike Enzi’s death says about Wyoming’s healthcare system

August 13, 2021

The medical treatment the former U.S. Senator received after his recent accident starkly contrasts the Wyoming healthcare system most of us are stuck with—counties that can’t afford ambulances, hospitals that can’t treat patients, and people for whom a trip to the ER means massive medical debt.

Even rich and well-connected people sometimes do time for "straw man" election crimes.

Why Susan Gore might go to prison

July 29, 2021

The Wyoming Liberty Group founder described allegations that she funded an elaborate spy operation as a “nothingburger.” But that burger might come with a side of prison time if it turns out she’s guilty of serious election crimes. Now that one of the project’s masterminds has been located in Wyoming and subpoenaed, more light might come to the case for investigators.

Gov. Gordon, who has overseen hundreds of millions of dollars in cuts to women-dominated healthcare and education industries, mugs with a miner in an image from his campaign website.

Wyo. lawmakers bend over backwards to support male-dominated industries. Those that employ women? Not so much.

July 23, 2021

With one hand, Wyoming lawmakers throw support behind the declining coal, oil, and gas industries, providing public investment and political support. With the other hand, they gut sectors where women work like healthcare, education, and retail. No wonder we have the nation’s worst gender wage gap.

Welcome to the wild and weird world of legislative redistricting.

Redistricting is a boring, bonkers, sometimes corrupt process in Wyoming you need to know about

July 15, 2021

Every 10 years the Wyoming Legislature redraws the voting map that determines which lawmakers represent which people. On its face, “redistricting” is dull. But it’s a critically important process that often invites creativity—as well as creativity’s relatives, corruption and abuse.

"It remains to be seen if Ms. Gore has broken any laws. Common sense says she probably has." - Sven Larson on Susan Gore's spying plot

Ex Wyo Liberty Group staffer “disgusted” by Susan Gore’s spying scheme

June 29, 2021

Political economist Sven Larson worked 10 years for Gore's Wyoming Liberty Group. In a new statement, he condemns Gore's plot and states she has "wiped out whatever credibility she had."

One of the spies, Sofia LaRocca, enrolled in the Better Wyoming Grassroots Institute.

Right-wing spies target Better Wyoming

June 25, 2021

Political spies with ties to the Wyoming Liberty Group, Project Veritas, and Blackwater founder Erik Prince targeted Better Wyoming as part of a yearlong operation to gather intel and make secret recordings to weaponize against the organization.

Medicaid expansion typically benefits state budgets and improves residents' health.

Wyoming lawmakers eye funding options for Medicaid upgrade

May 8, 2021

The Legislature’s Joint Revenue Committee will take up Medicaid expansion this week, with a focus on translating some of the $1.4 billion Wyoming will receive from the American Rescue Plan into sustainable healthcare funding for low-income residents.

Ninety percent of the Department of Health's budget funds community health centers.

Public health cuts hit communities across Wyoming

April 30, 2021

The Legislature cut more than $100 million from the Wyoming Department of Health’s budget this session, including tens of millions from mental health and substance abuse programs while the state is experiencing a suicide crisis.

Online registration has increased youth voter turnout up to 20 percent in other states.

The silver lining of Wyoming’s new voter ID law: A path to online registration

April 23, 2021

Wyoming’s new voter ID law will suppress turnout, as similar laws have in other states. But by forcing Wyoming residents to show IDs at the polls, the new law also eliminates the main argument against Wyoming adopting online voter registration, which increases youth voter turnout.

Sometimes good things happen when adults screw up!

Wyo Senate scuttles education funding bill, sparing school cuts

April 10, 2021

In a last-day legislative surprise, lawmakers from the Wyoming House and Senate failed to agree on the details of a bill that would have dramatically cut public education funding. As a result of legislators’ failure to govern, K-12 schools will be spared budget cuts for now. But the structural problem of our education funding model remains.

Bigger classes and less one-on-one attention are among the drawbacks of decreased school funding.

Wyo Legislature looks to end fifth straight session with deep education cuts

April 6, 2021

The House and Senate have come up with two different versions of an education funding bill: One that cuts public school budgets, and another that cuts them even more. Lawmakers will end the session tomorrow debating which version will prevail.

HELP SAVE WYOMING HEALTHCARE

Wyoming lawmakers are blocking nearly 30,000 workers from getting health insurance by refusing to expand Medicaid.

Our rural hospitals are struggling, the cost of health insurance is so high that businesses hesitate to locate here, and mental illness is rampant while treatment is scarce.

Better Wyoming is building a statewide grassroots movement to make healthcare reform an issue Wyoming lawmakers can’t ignore. Join us.

SUPPORT OUR CLEAN POWER ECONOMY

Renewable energy development will be a critical part of Wyoming’s economic future. But some folks are desperate to cling to the past.

Join us to support a wind project in Albany County that will bring jobs and tax revenue to a struggling economy, but that’s under threat by an anti-renewables campaign.

THE BETTER WYOMING GRASSROOTS INSTITUTE

Our free, multi-week advocacy leadership training courses prepare Wyoming residents to work on behalf of real change in the Cowboy State.

Areas of focus vary each course, but all Grassroots Institute graduates:

Understand key issues facing Wyoming
Learn strategies to turn out voters and organize their communities
Employ a broad set of advocacy skills
Connect with a statewide progressive network

Learn more and stay tuned for GRI news!

Together, we can build a better Wyoming

Join thousands of people just like you to build the kind of Wyoming that works for everyone

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