Continuing the Crook County News Since 1884
The final bills of the 2022 Wyoming Legislative Session crossed the desk of Governor Mark Gordon last week, but not all of them received his approval. The governor exercised his veto power on three, while two others – including the bill that addressed redistricting – will become law without his signature.
In Gordon’s letter addressing the redistricting bill (HB-100/HEA-62), he noted that the Joint Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions committee put in “an immense amount of work” to develop the legislation, including 20 meetings and listening sessions across the state and the involvement of hundreds of citizens and “countless hours” of work from county clerks.
“The final legislation was amended in the waning hours of the legislation to a version that apparently establishes some districts that appear to exceed presumptively acceptable deviation limits,” Gordon wrote.
The eventual plan that was approved by the legislature adds a senator and two representatives, bringing the state legislature to a total of 93, but not every district falls under the population guidelines to achieve a “one man, one vote” ratio in Wyoming.
However, Gordon chose not to veto the bill for the sake of the upcoming elections.
“Redistricting is an inherently legislative process and, therefore, I must assume this final product represents the ‘best effort’ of this Legislature,” he wrote. “Thus, for this reason as well as a desire to see our elections have their best chance to proceed in an orderly and proper way, I am allowing HEA-62 to become law without my signature.”
Two of the bills vetoed by the governor concerned cryptocurrency. Gordon chose to veto SF-106, the “Wyoming Stable Token Act”, despite noting that Wyoming has been “on the cutting edge” of legislation to regulate cryptocurrencies and should continue to do so.
However, he wrote, “The Wyoming Treasurer’s Office is struggling to keep current with its other obligations to the state, and despite assurances that the processes described in this bill are simple and straightforward, I remain unconvinced that this camel can carry even one more straw.”
Gordon also expressed concern that “not all stakeholders” were consulted about the bill.
The second, “Insurance Sandbox”, would have allowed an “innovative insurance product or service” to be made available to consumers for a sandbox period through a waiver of statutory and rule requirements. While recognizing that “regulation can present a barrier to entry” for new businesses and “innovation needs to be encouraged by a free marketplace,” Gordon took issue with the particulars of the bill, in particular the low filing fee that he felt would not cover the costs of review.
Gordon also exercised his veto power on HB-137, which would have required public notice for any proposed exchange of state lands. Saying the proposed changes would create a “rigid application process,” the governor said “a more fluid one is oftentimes appropriate”.
“This legislation could also require public notice harmfully early in the exchange process when no facts have been confirmed, information is still changing and the price of a parcel could be affected by outside influence,” he wrote.
HB-96 will also become law without Gordon’s signature. The governor said he was “not excited” about the bill to increase the salaries of the top five elected officials in the state.
“None of us asked for it,” he wrote. “In fact, over the past two years, I have donated all of my statutorily directed salary to address food insecurity – a cause which you have also supported. Nevertheless, as a former Treasurer, I am compelled to consider not just my situation and current position, but also that of other elected officials and future administrations as the steward of these matters.”
Gordon wrote that he was allowing the legislation to become law on the basis that the salaries of the governor, state treasurer, state auditor, state superintendent of public instruction and secretary of state have not increased since 2002 and that the increase will not come into effect for the current slate of elected officials.
The governor did sign two bills, both of which address salaries for elected officials. HB-63 increases salaries for county and district attorneys, while HB-91 increases salaries for county officers.
Earlier in the week, Gordon signed SF-86, which requires firefighters to notify the notification center as soon as possible about emergency evacuations during a wildfire, as well as HB-02, which requires written documentation from the state engineer or state board of control regarding disposition of water rights when subdividing land, and SF-09 authorizing the Wyoming Business Council to issue revenue bonds for agriculture processing projects.