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New laws pass the governor's desk

Supplemental budget includes over $430 million in cuts

As the 2021 General Session reached its final days, Governor Mark Gordon signed numerous bills over the last week, including a supplemental budget that includes more than $430 million in cuts.

“Despite an epic decline in revenue we were able to maintain some crucial programs while making some modest but integral one-time investments,” the Governor wrote in his budget letter.

“The budget does set our state back by eliminating valuable programs and services, and some of the impacts of the cuts we have had to make will be felt by those who are already struggling; but it is our constitutional duty to right-size our government based on revenues.”

According to a press release from the governor, the original proposal was for more than $500 million in cuts but the revenue forecast improved in January. The new budget eliminates 324 state positions, reducing the size of government to its smallest level since the beginning of the millennium.

Some funding was increased rather than cut, however. Wyoming Department of Health programs for seniors, low income residents, the disabled and people requiring mental health services were modestly restored, while the University of Wyoming and community college saw $8 million put back into the budget for Gordon’s Wyoming Innovation Network initiative.

“We are not adding debt for future generations with this budget. However, we cannot rest assured our troubles are over since revenues were already in decline before the global pandemic arrived,” the governor wrote in his budget letter.

“I believe we all agree that some of the programs considered for elimination this year, but spared, may need to end next year. Unhappily, some of these services will weigh heavily on the elderly and the disabled.”

As revenues continue to decline, the governor said it will be necessary to continue to evaluate the role of government and what Wyoming can afford.

“Those decisions will affect the level of services the public has come to expect and remind us all of the fact we are fortunate that we can continue to pay very low taxes thanks to the disproportionate share we levy on our mineral industries,” he wrote.

The governor exercised several line item vetoes to the supplemental budget, which could potentially be reconsidered by the Legislature.

A number bills have been signed into law over the last week, including House Bill 122, which increases conservation stamp fees from $12 to $21 with the intention of giving the Wyoming Game and Fish Department a reliable source of income. Of that revenue, at least 85% must be used to purchase access easements and make agreements to provide public access to private land for hunting and fishing.

House Bill 115 meanwhile lowers the minimum age at which a person may harvest a big or trophy game animal. Now, instead of being 12 years old, the person may be 11 years old if they will reach the age of 12 by the end of the year.

Senate File 23 provides government with an additional reason to hold an executive session that is not open to the public. Governing bodies may retire into private session to consider “safety and security planning that, if disclosed, would pose a threat to the safety of life or property.”

House Bill 52, the “Wyoming school protein enhancement project,” will provide grants to school districts to increase the amount of Wyoming meat to be used in school meals. The financial assistance will be provided for processing costs and will be a one-to-one dollar match for every $1 contributed by school districts for these costs, contingent on available funding.

House Bill 118 expands on Wyoming’s Food Freedom Act, allowing local producers to sell eggs and loosening the regulations on the sale of homemade edible products. The latest expansion to the Food Freedom laws championed by ex-Representative Tyler Lindholm ensure that homemade foods can be sold “to the maximum extent permitted by federal law.”

In an effort to support Wyoming’s meat industry, House Bill 54 directs the Wyoming Business Council to support producers by maintaining a strategy to create small, regionally located meat processing plants; market Wyoming-produced products outside the state; and provide loans or grants to fund infrastructure for meat processing plants. The bill also directs the council to coordinate strategies to improve meat processing facilities and capabilities in Wyoming.

House Bill 10 creates the Large Business Relief program, an effort through the Wyoming Business Council to support businesses impacted by the pandemic or the required closures. Senate File 50 went into law without the governor’s signature and will provide funding for grants that will be administered to agricultural businesses impacted by COVID-19 through CARES Act or similar federal funding.

Senate File 155 limits the ability of state officials to close firearms facilities during emergencies.

House Bill 109 amends the requirements for local health officers, now specifying that they must have a degree of doctor of medicine or be an advanced practice registered nurse or physician assistant.

House Bill 33 creates criminal offenses related to interfering with public contracts for goods and services. This was included in Wyoming’s criminal law on the basis that “the cost to the public is increased and the quality of goods, services and construction paid with public funds is decreased” when contracts are obtained through means other than a bidding process.

For example, “bid rigging” is defined as a person knowingly conspiring with a competitor to ensure that their own actions result in the contract being awarded to someone else. This is now a felony with a penalty of up to five years in jail or $10,000.

Until House Bill 46 was signed into law, Wyoming was one of only a few states that did not have a law specifically prohibiting the act of bestiality. In response to a case last summer in Sweetwater County, the bill defines the act of bestiality and makes it a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail, a $1000 fine or both.

House Bill 85 creates another crime: the unlawful dissemination of intimate images. Anyone who shares or sells a photograph of another person that shows them engaged in a sexual act, whether or not their intimate parts are visible, faces a misdemeanor charge carrying a sentence of one year in jail, a $5000 fine or both.

Senate File 88 establishes ownership of fossils and artifacts discovered in the state, specifying that they belong to the owner of the surface land (unless otherwise governed by the existing statute for archaeological human burial sites.)

House Bill 58 gives the Wyoming Department of State Parks and Cultural Resources flexibility to use more of their fees to offset budget reductions and provides the agency with the ability to fund park maintenance and hire seasonal staff to improve the visitor experience. According to the governor, Senate File 116 is aimed at helping the Wyoming Business Council Board of Directors to operate more efficiently and increase engagement, which it does by reducing the board from 15 to 13 members.

House Bill 91 establishes a procedure to remove unenforceable, restrictive covenants on property “encumbering or otherwise affecting the transfer or sale of, or any interest in, real property.”

House Bill 111 protects the rights of Wyomingites with disabilities by prohibiting discrimination when it comes to organ transplants and related medical procedures. No health insurer may deny coverage for such a procedure “solely on the basis of the person’s disability” or deny their request to enroll in or renew their health insurance coverage solely to avoid the requirements of the new law.

House Bill 20 is reported to have been put forward in response to the pandemic, which made clear that the current rules for driver’s license applications needed to be modified to allow a little more flexibility. Previously, it was required by Wyoming law that a person provides written evidence of their visual acuity from an eye doctor or takes an in-person vision test in order to extend their license.

Now, however, the DMV can establish its own rules for an applicant to establish their visual acuity. This will allow for greater flexibility and for rules to be adjusted due to either need or advances in technology.

County commissioners in Wyoming are now required to provide for the burial or cremation of indigent persons, in an amount not to exceed $1500. Counties may then request reimbursement for this amount from the Department of Family Services, according to House Bill 29.

House Bill 57 allows military personnel who are transferring to Wyoming to register their child with a school district electronically in advance.