 - Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon has allowed a bill sponsored by Wyoming Rep. Pepper Ottman, R-Riverton, to become law without his signature.){kind=link}
(Cheyenne, WY) – Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon has decided to allow a bill sponsored by Wyoming Rep. Pepper Ottman, R-Riverton, to become law without his signature.
(The Governor reviews all bills that pass the Wyoming Legislature; if he approves of the legislation, he signs it, if he disapproves, he vetoes the bill, and if he does not respond to the bill within three days, it becomes law without his signature, according to the Citizen’s Guide to the Wyoming Legislature.)
House Bill 116 – now House Enrolled Act 33 – specifies that driver’s licenses issued by other jurisdictions to unauthorized aliens are invalid in Wyoming.
In a letter explaining his decision not to sign the legislation, Gordon said he “wholeheartedly” agrees with the “sentiment” behind the bill.
“Wyoming is united in our determination to secure our borders and protect both the United States and Wyoming from the nefarious actions of people who are in our state and country illegally,” he said. “Strict laws alongside strong enforcement are important parts ensuring only the people who have the legal right to be in our country can do so.”
However, he also pointed to the “unintended implications” the new law could have on “Wyoming’s ability to protect the traveling public” by potentially “jeopardizing Wyoming’s standing through the Non-Resident Violators Compact.”
States involved in that compact agree to “promote compliance with the laws, ordinances, and administrative rules and regulations relating to the operation of motor vehicles by their operators in each of the jurisdictions,” Gordon said, citing Wyoming Statute 31-7-201 Article I (b).
“The compact is a reciprocity agreement, which enables Wyoming and other compact states to enforce violations in the driver’s home jurisdiction on the driver’s record,” Gordon explained. “This law could impact Wyoming’s ability to work with other states in this fashion. I am hopeful this legislation will not risk our membership due to invalidating another state’s credentials.”
In addition, Gordon said, “it is not immediately clear” whether the new law “places Wyoming law enforcement in an exposed role that is much more suited for the resources, training, and system of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.”
“While law enforcement (has) access to ICE, the time for ICE to respond to our law enforcement may be minutes, hours, or even days,” Gordon said. “My hope is that Wyoming’s law enforcement resources are used to assist in illegal presence operations but not take (the) lead in determining one’s status through credentials.”
Regardless, Gordon said he decided to allow HB 116 to become law “because of the value of asserting Wyoming’s position on illegal presence.”
“My reservations will, I trust, inform the Legislature and encourage it to address the additional lawmaking necessary to ensure Wyoming’s membership and functionality within the Non-Resident Violators Compact remains intact,” he concluded.
Gun-free zones
Gordon has also allowed House Bill 172 – now House Enrolled Act 24 – to become law without his signature.
The legislation allows people with concealed carry permits in Wyoming to carry those concealed weapons at government meetings, public schools, and public colleges or universities in the state.
Gordon vetoed a “remarkably similar bill” the Legislature passed last year, he noted in his letter on HB 172, recalling his “major concerns” with the legislation’s “disregard (for) local jurisdictions” and “the infringement of our state Constitution’s intrinsic separation of powers.”
This year, however, “the overwhelming majority of this legislature opted to drop a political bomb,” Gordon said, so “the final outcome of this legislation is not in doubt. It will become law.”
“This legislative session (was) always about the legislature grabbing power,” Gordon said. “This legislature’s vote was not so much about the sanctity of Second Amendment rights as it was who got to control them. Gun free zones are not repealed – they are now determined exclusively by the legislature.”
For a complete list of bills Gordon has signed or allowed to become law without his signature this year, click here.