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DERAILED: The Wyo. Legislature’s 2022 trainwreck budget session (part 1)
The Wyoming Legislature’s 2022 budget session was a prime example of how our state lawmakers ignore the real problems of Wyoming and instead focus on emotional “hot button” national issues.
As home and healthcare prices go up, the struggling fossil fuel industries fail to pay for public schools, and Wyoming can’t keep young people living here to build a future, the Legislature is transfixed on issues they repeat from national media.
This is the kind of representation we get when only 30 percent of Wyoming residents vote in the elections that count: the primaries.
DERAILED: How Wyoming’s Legislature got off track, and how to steer it back (series intro)
The Wyoming Legislature has become more concerned with squabbling over hot-button national issues than addressing the real problems of our state. In a new series, Better Wyoming looks at how this happened, and what we need to do to get back on track.
Wyoming lawmakers stand by as two more hospitals close their maternity wards
Wyomingites understand that we do not have the cutting-edge medical facilities that big cities offer. But that does not mean we should force small-town women to face stressful and even dangerous situations in order to safely give birth.
Our state can have a hospital system that serves us all. But that means we need legislators who are willing to help support it.
Wyoming’s laws invite dirty money with no benefit to state residents
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.
Wyo. Legislature finally (sort of) admits that the coal industry is dying
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.
Save the politicians, screw the people: “Redistricting” showed the bald self interest that drives the Wyoming Legislature
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.
Wyoming Legislature passes law to ban abortion if Roe v. Wade is overturned
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.
Outcry confronts bill to restrict Wyoming voting, prompting committee to kill it
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.
Wyo. House Education Committee kills school censorship bill
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.
Wyoming edges toward banning abortion
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.
Wyoming Senate scraps “redistricting” plan in a reckless power play
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.
Procedural hurdles and political calculations help trip up Wyoming Medicaid expansion
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.
Senate advances election restriction bill through Agriculture Committee and after-hours vote
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.
Bill advances to limit voting in Wyoming primary elections
A bill that would require Wyoming voters to register with a political party months in advance of a primary election passed an introduction vote in the Senate last week. Currently, thousands of Wyoming voters register on the same day or shortly in advance of elections. The new law would bar voters from participating in the 2022 primary unless they register before May 12.
Pass or Fail: Wyoming teachers union launches legislative scorecard
Sure, teachers and principals impact your kids’ education. But so do state legislators and the laws they pass. The Wyoming Education Association’s new scorecard grades state lawmakers according to their votes and informs the public about which bills shape K-12 education in the state.