Critics of the bill argue that the tax break won’t increase oil production, which is driven by global oil prices. But it would benefit the lawmaker who brought it, Eli Bebout, who owns an oil company.
Concerns about disenfranchising the elderly, tribal people, and overseas military personnel contributed to the bill’s defeat.
The proposals were both sold as bills that have nothing to do with the abortion debate. This line of argument worked well for one bill, and not so well for the other.
Since it died as the result of a procedural deadline, the proposal to protect LGBTQ workers in Wyoming received neither a hearing nor a vote in the House.
Supporters said that higher tobacco taxes discourage kids from starting to smoke, and that non-smokers end up paying for smokers’ healthcare costs.
Both proposals were watered-down versions of previous years’ bills. But lawmakers stood firm in allowing no policies that would improve the lives of Wyoming’s working poor.
The proposal received the blessing of the Wyoming Restaurant and Lodging Association, even before the committee removed a provision from it that would have slowly raised the wage even more over the next few years.
Senate File 128 is what’s called a “fetal personhood” bill—a cookie-cutter proposal from the anti-abortion camp that increases the legal rights of fetuses—while attorneys say the bill removes protections from pregnant women.
The proposal is narrowly tailored to only prevent job-related discrimination. This is an effort to bypass opposition that has killed similar—but more wide-ranging—bills each of the past five years.
Similar measures have failed for each of the past six years, depriving Wyoming of hundreds of millions of dollars and denying low-income residents access to healthcare.
The proposals would create “waiting periods” before a woman can receive an abortion, penalize doctors for not reporting the procedure in detail, and give human rights to clumps of fetal tissue.
Spoiler alert: The bill is also co-sponsored by Eli Bebout. Who says a Wyoming State Legislator can’t get a little something for himself?
