|
ACTION ALERT
Make Your Voices Heard
It’s the eighth day of the Wyoming Legislative 2020 Wyoming budget session and it's a whirlwind! Some bills have been eliminated and others are moving through the process. Don't wait until it's too late to voice your opinion! Click on a bill title in list below to view the text of the bill, the status, the fiscal note, the votes, and more.
We're updating the status of bills we covered in the 2/11 Action Alert and alerting you to others that showed up before the deadline last Friday. In the list below bills are organized by topic, making it easy to quickly find what you’re interested in. Votes from Representatives Sandy Newsome, Dan Laursen, David Northrup and Senators Hank Coe and R.J. Kost are noted. You can track voting on any bill as it moves through the process by clicking on the “Vote” tab. Be sure and thank your legislators or let them know you disagree with their vote.
To learn more about the process and how to contact your legislators use our online GUIDE TO THE 2020 WYOMING LEGISLATIVE SESSION
If a bill is in committee--even if your legislator(s) is not on the committee--it can be effective to contact committee members: List of Committees
|
|
REVENUE-GENERATING BILLS
HB 134 Wyoming Tourism Account Funding passed the House on Monday. Governor Gordon supports this bill along with most representatives of Wyoming tourism industry. The five percent tax on hotel stays would generate roughly $19 million a year and 85 percent of that would come from out-of-state visitors. Last year a similar bill failed in the Senate; let’s keep that from happening again!
|
|
|
|
Other revenue-generating bills failed including HB 64 National Corporate Tax Recapture. Potential revenue from this tax on large corporations was estimated at $23,000,000 a year. The bill was not considered for an introduction vote even though it was sponsored and vetted by the Joint Interim Revenue Committee.
|
|
MIGRATION CORRIDORS
Good news on the migration-related bills!
SF135 Migration Corridor and HB 215 Designated Migration Corridors-Limit failed introduction votes. Coe and Kost voted NO on SF135. Newsome voted NO, Laursen and Northrup voted YES on HB215.
Gov. Gordon signed an executive order on the 14th protecting wildlife migration routes.
The three bills that are measures to increase donations to the Wildlife Conservation Fund are all doing well, with little opposition. However, there are always surprises, so do let your legislators know how you’d like them to vote.
|
|
Bill is slated for House Revenue Committee discussion today. Check the status here. If it passes out of committee write your representatives. Newsome, Laursen, and Northrup all voted YES on the introduction vote. They need to hear from us!
SF 125, Electricity production standard
Another bill that propped up coal and punished renewables. Fortunately it failed the introduction vote although both Senators Coe and Kost voted YES.
|
|
ABORTION
Three abortion bills are making their way through the legislature.
HB197: Abortion: 48 hour waiting period
Referred to House Judiciary Committee. A similar bill failed in the Senate in 2019 after being passed by the House. Rep. Laursen is a cosponsor of this bill. On the introductory vote: Newsome voted NO, Laursen and Northrup YES
SF131 Heartbeat Bill
Referred to Senate Labor Committee. On introductory vote: Coe and Kost voted NO.
SF97: Born Alive Infant-Means of Care
Referred to Senate Labor committee. On introductory vote: Coe voted NO, Kost voted YES.
|
|
Wyoming Rising welcomes calendar items, guest editorials, and news articles on local issues. Written contributions should align with Wyoming Rising’s mission:
As Wyoming citizens, we advocate for civil liberties, quality public education, affordable health care, protection of the environment, and participation in government.
Submission guidelines
|
|
|
|
|
|
