BETTER WYOMING

With a windfall of tax revenue from high gas prices, the Wyoming Legislature increased state employee and teacher pay and funded some economic development. But lawmakers failed to meaningfully address the state’s growing housing crisis, and they still would rather invest billions in Wall Street than our own local communities.

Four transgender students participate in Wyoming high school sports. For a decade, a policy governing trans student eligibility in athletics has gone unused, because local communities have handled situations on a case-by-case basis. But the so-called Freedom Caucus shares the national media’s obsession with transgender people. So, confronting this trendiest of boogeymen became a priority during the 2023 session, while other issues that affect tens of thousands of Wyoming residents went ignored.

Religious fundamentalists in the Wyoming Freedom Caucus and the Wyoming State GOP fought tooth and nail for the “freedom” to continue marrying children. Fortunately, this was one of many fights that they lost in 2023, as the Legislature passed its first law prohibiting marriage for children under 16.

Proposals brought by the so-called "Freedom Caucus" to divert public money to private and religious schools and to criminalize librarians for "obscene" books have all failed this session.