Lawmakers defeat a slew of proposals to limit Wyoming voting rights—2019 Legislative recap
High drama, backroom tactics, zombie bills, and thwarted agendas all accompanied failed efforts to chip away at voting rights in Wyoming.
High drama, backroom tactics, zombie bills, and thwarted agendas all accompanied failed efforts to chip away at voting rights in Wyoming.
Three proposals, dealing with medical cannabis and sentencing reform, lived short lives this session before dying at the hands of short-sighted lawmakers.
After three consecutive years of deep cuts to the Wyoming public education budget, the Legislature relented this session. But without stable sources of revenue, more school cuts are likely on the way.
A proposal to ban workplace discrimination died at the same time a Senator’s anti-LGBTQ remarks brought national attention to Wyoming. Meanwhile, homophobic incidents continue to demonstrate the need for nondiscrimination policy.
You got a tax bill? The Legislature has a bullet. Along with the “big box” tax, lawmakers killed proposals to “modernize” Wyoming’s sales tax structure, tax tourism to promote the tourism industry, increase cigarette taxes, and every other tax-related bill this year.
Efforts to raise Wyoming’s minimum wage, provide tax relief to very poor elderly and disabled people, and help fund food pantries all died this session.
Gov. Mark Gordon allowed the bill to become law today without signing it. The debate over what Gordon called “flawed” legislation pitted “school choice” advocates against defenders of local control.
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It was the third law passed in three years in Wyoming to attack women’s reproductive rights. Prior to 2017, an anti-abortion law had not passed here in nearly 30 years. Three other anti-choice bills proposed in 2019 were defeated.
Capital punishment is expensive, violates the sanctity of life, gives government too much power, and has grave consequences when it’s misapplied. For these and other reasons—put forth mainly by young conservatives—the Wyoming Legislature came very close to ending the death penalty this year.
Proposals to expand Medicaid, to study Medicaid expansion, and to impose work requirements on Medicaid recipients all died this session.