Four locally sponsored legislative proposals signed into law this month

(Fremont County, WY) – Out of the 18 pieces of legislation Fremont County lawmakers proposed during this year’s legislative session, only four ended up passing into law.

Posey

The first local proposal Gov. Mark Gordon signed this month came from Wyoming Rep. Ivan Posey, D-Fort Washakie, who was the main sponsor of House Bill 26 – Vehicle registration fees-tribal governments.

The new law exempts vehicles owned by tribal governments from paying county and state registration fees, and requires the Wyoming Department of Transportation to issue distinctive license plates for vehicles owned by tribal governments.

“This bill is pretty self-explanatory,” Posey said when HB 26 came up on first reading in the House last month. “It just allows for exemption (of) registration fees for tribal government vehicles, which hasn’t been on the books.”

The exemption already applies to other government entities, including the state, the counties, and even Weed and Pest districts, Posey pointed out – but for some reason, tribal vehicles weren’t previously included in the statute.

“I’m not too sure why it wasn’t caught before,” Posey told the Senate Transportation, Highways, and Military Affairs Committee last month. “(But) through some discussion that we had with tribal transportation, we realized that the registration fees are not waived for tribal government.”

Wyoming Sen. Ed Cooper, R-Ten Sleep, who is a member of the Senate Transportation Committee, guessed that “this was probably just an oversight at some point in the past.”

“This is nothing but common sense,” Cooper said. “I don’t really see why it hasn’t been done in the past.”

Wyoming Sen. Eric Barlow, R-Gillette, who also sits on the Senate Transportation Committee and was a co-sponsor of HB 26, agreed that the proposal “made sense.”

“This is a bill that came through discussions during (a Select Committee on Tribal Relations) meeting over this past interim,” Barlow – a Tribal Relations Committee member- said when HB 26 came up on first reading in the Senate. “It was pointed out to us that our tribal governments … do not have the same exemption of registration fees as do all of the others. (So) that was the request.”

Gordon signed HB 26 into law on March 5.

Salazar

The next local bill proposal Gordon signed this month came from Wyoming Sen. Tim Salazar, R-Riverton, who sponsored Senate File 88 – Sex offenders-residence near child care facilities.

The new law prohibits adults who are registered sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of a licensed child care facility.

Salazar said he proposed the legislation after a constituent approached him about a registered sex offender who lived near her child’s daycare center.

“I didn’t realize that this actually could still occur,” Salazar said when he described the bill to the Senate Judiciary Committee last month. “And I don’t know why we, as a state, would (allow) someone with that background to be able to live so close to innocent little children.”

During discussion on the bill throughout the legislative session, lawmakers identified several areas of state statute related to sex offender registry that could benefit from further deliberation – something they agreed should be addressed at a later date.

Other bills

Gordon signed two locally sponsored legislative proposals March 7: HB 69 – Department of health-land transfers, which came from Wyoming Rep. Lloyd Larsen, R-Lander, and SF 99 – Prescriptive easements for electricity delivery, which lists Cooper as its main sponsor and provides an easement for electrical transmission lines and distributions in the state.

The following bills were proposed by local lawmakers but did not make it through the legislative session: 

• HB 104 – County clerks-frivolous filings procedure, sponsored by Larsen, was not considered for introduction in the House
• HB 168 – Experience ratings-amendments, sponsored by Larsen, was not considered for introduction in the House
• HB 103 – Wyoming First Amendment Protection Act, sponsored by Wyoming Rep. Pepper Ottman, R-Riverton, passed the House but was not reported out of committee in the Senate before the cutoff date
• HB 143 – Free speech for health care providers, sponsored by Ottman, was approved by the House Labor Committee but was not considered on first reading in House
• HB 184 – Juveniles-criminal referral, sponsored by Ottman, was not considered for introduction in the House
• HB 185 – Kratom-prohibition, sponsored by Ottman, was not considered for introduction in the House
• HB 186 – Baby Olivia act-requiring human development education, sponsored by Ottman, failed introduction in the House
• HB 176 – Juvenile discipline-parental obligations, sponsored by Wyoming Rep. John Winter, R-Thermopolis, was not considered for introduction in the House
• SF 98 – Eligibility for veteran property tax exemption-amendments-2, sponsored by Cooper, was not reported out of committee in the Senate prior to the cutoff date
• Senate Joint Resolution 2 – Upholding the principles of federalism, sponsored by Cooper, failed introduction in the Senate
• SF 76 – Distribution of taxes on large electrical loads, sponsored by Wyoming Sen. Cale Case, R-Lander, failed introduction in the Senate
• SF 83 – Major political parties-state central party voting members, sponsored by Case, failed introduction in the Senate
• SF 86 – Wyoming property tax relief authority, sponsored by Case, failed introduction in the Senate
• SJ 7 – Right of health care access-separation of powers, sponsored by Salazar, failed introduction in the Senate

In addition, HB 30 – Vehicle registration fees-amendments failed introduction in the House, and HB 127 – Voter approval for recreational mill levy was not considered on first reading in the Senate, while SF 58 – Wyoming Indian Child Welfare Act sunset repeal was signed into law this month.