Russian oligarchs and other bad actors take advantage of Wyoming’s lax laws governing trusts and LLCs to hide their fortunes here. What do we get for acting as a global dirty money laundromat? Not much.
Unfortunately, state lawmakers’ responses to the industry’s decline won’t save jobs or help coal communities. They will, however, lead to less funding for public schools and higher energy costs for Wyoming residents.
Members of the public made clear their wishes for better representation during the Wyoming Legislature’s 2022 “redistricting” process. But in the end, the chaotic ordeal confirmed that most lawmakers’ number one priority is protecting their own political interests.
The Equality State will become the 13th in the nation with this kind of “trigger law,” which would put a ban into effect if the U.S. Supreme Court reverses its landmark reproductive rights decision.
More than a dozen Wyoming voters showed up to ask the Wyoming House Appropriations Committee on Monday to defeat Senate File 97, which would limit who can vote in primary elections. They argued the proposal would make voting more difficult and force residents to vote blind. After more than an hour of testimony against it, the committee agreed and thumbed the bill down.
Sen. Ogden Driskill, the bill’s sponsor, argued that his proposed law would ensure historical events like the Holocaust receive more balanced treatment. Its opponents said it would amount to drawing a target on teachers’ backs.
A bill moving through the Wyoming Legislature would completely ban abortion in the state—even in cases of rape and incest—in the event that the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade. Another would immediately outlaw “abortion pills,” which can be more readily accessible for Wyoming women unable to travel great distances to end a pregnancy.
The progress of these bills demonstrates a radical shift over the past five years in the Legislature’s position on reproductive rights.
County clerks, legislators, local officials, and members of the public worked for months to reach consensus on a new statewide election district map. On Tuesday, the Wyoming Senate voted to throw that plan in the trash and start from scratch with just seven days remaining in the 2022 legislative session.
The Senate’s move is a last-ditch attempt to give outsized influence to rural areas that have lost residents over the past decade, while under-representing more urban areas like Cheyenne that have experienced population growth.
Rules governing the legislature’s “budget session” and lawmakers wary of right-wing primaries helped thwart efforts to pass Medicaid expansion this year. Meanwhile, grassroots advocates vow to mobilize around the 2022 elections.
Wyoming Senate leaders pressured members to re-assign a bill that would restrict voting in primary elections to a more favorable committee. After clearing the Agriculture Committee with a 5 – 0 vote, Senators debated the bill late Wednesday night after almost everyone had left the Capitol.
These tactics resemble past years’ efforts to ram through unpopular legislation backed by influential politicians.
