Latest News
The Community Compass
Select a category
House upholds Mead’s veto of pipeline protest bill, killing it for good (until next year)
The Legislature needed a two-thirds vote from each chamber to override Mead’s veto. The Senate mustered the votes, but the House did not.
House amendments might scuttle a consensus vote on pipeline protest bill
The Senate left the bill much as ALEC wrote it. But amendments in the House to address free speech and landowner concerns imight make it difficult to reconcile the two versions before the 2018 session closes.
Rumors of a budget deal suggest no deep cuts to public schools this year
This session that saw threats of public school funding cuts as large as $80 million a year. But as a final deal nears, only a small fraction of those cuts remain, which education advocates are scoring as a win.
Debate continues over controversial pipeline protest bill
The saga of Senate File 74 is not over yet. The controversial ALEC-written bill to severely punish pipeline protestors like […]
Education advocates reluctantly root for the lesser evil in the Senate
The Senate is considering a bill that would cut roughly $15 million a year from Wyoming public schools—but it’s far better than the Senate budget proposal, which would annually cut about $80 million.
Medicaid work requirements bill, aimed at Wyoming’s “poorest of the poor,” dies in House committee
Sen. Larry Hicks, the bill’s sponsor, said obtaining social services “is not a destination, but a journey.”
Wyoming GOP committeeman Charles Curley under fire for allegedly assaulting female colleague
The alleged assault took place after the Laramie County Republican’s Lincoln Day Dinner nearly two weeks ago. Despite being widely witnessed and discussed, the GOP has kept quiet about the incident and Curley has refused to resign.
Oil lobbyists force House committee to re-vote on pipeline protest bill
Even in a state where it’s common for lawmakers to roll over and beg for the oil and gas industry, this demonstration of submissiveness by Wyoming’s “leaders” was deeply disturbing.
House Revenue Committee kills oil and gas tax break
The proposal was sponsored by Eli Bebout, who’s the president of both the Wyoming State Senate and Nucor Oil and Gas, LLC.
Senate works to nab pot brownie dealers before they strike again
The Senate is diligently working to confront a dangerous threat to Wyoming.
While the Senate looks to slash education, a House proposal would modernize revenue streams to put less toward savings and more toward schools
The two chambers will meet next week to negotiate a solution. At stake is whether Wyoming will take a more modern approach that saves public schools, or whether it will stubbornly keep pouring money into savings and decimate education.
Senate passes oil and gas tax break while Wyoming faces a budget crisis
The Senate’s cuts to education are apparently their way of paying for tax breaks for oil and gas companies.
The Legislature’s education funding debate is on track for public school disaster
Conflicting egos, draconian cuts, and a staunch refusal to raise new revenues spell disaster for Wyoming education.
Public outcry and dissent from the medical community help kill Boner’s Bill
Boner’s Bill to give “nonviable birth certificates” to women who miscarry pregnancies died in the Senate on Tuesday. Lawmakers lost heart after hearing from so many outraged citizens.
Medicaid expansion dies a quiet, shameful death for the fifth year
The Legislature yet again refused to accept hundreds of millions of federal dollars because they would go toward helping poor people get healthcare.