Governor signs new laws

The 2019 session of the Wyoming Legislature drew to a close in the early hours of Thursday morning, finalizing the list of bills that would be presented for Governor Mark Gordon’s signature. Some of the noteworthy changes to Wyoming’s law include:

SEA-58, effective immediately, launches a study into high Wyoming hospital costs and “discrimination” by the federal Medicare program against Wyoming residents and health care providers, as well as the impacts of that discrimination. The study will also look at the loss of medical services in Wyoming and the use of out-of-state providers.

SEA-65 amends the alcohol concentration levels at which a person is no longer allowed to operate a watercraft. At concentration of 0.08 percent or greater (rather than 0.10 percent), no person may operate or be in control of a motorboat.

Wyoming driver’s license holders will now only need to renew every five years, according to HEA-108, rather than every four.

According to HEA-82, communications companies will now have the same right as public utilities to construct and operate fixtures and facilities along any of the public roads, streets and waters of Wyoming, so long as they do not inconvenience the public. The company should first attempt to obtain consent from the city council in accordance with applicable law or permission from the state transportation commission or county commissioners if the fixture is to be placed along a state highway or county road.

Wyoming Game & Fish is now authorized to established a process through which to issue resident lifetime fishing licenses and conservation stamps at no cost to residents who are permanently and totally disabled.

HEA-95 designates the third week of September as Wyoming Cowboy and Cowgirl Legacy Week, recognizing the pioneering men and women who were integral to the founding and development of this state and still an important part of the economy today.

HEA-104 establishes a skilled nursing facility in Buffalo for qualifying veterans and their spouses to provide skilled nursing benefits across multiple levels of need and provide community living and care and treatment. This law becomes effective immediately.

Enrolled Joint Resolution 3 designates Medal of Honor cities and communities in Wyoming to honor the medal recipients connected with them. Markers will be placed in the communities that have been called home by Wyoming’s 17 medal recipients, including Casper, Greybull, Cheyenne, Laramie, Powder River, Rock Springs and unincorporated areas Platte River, Elkhorn Creek and Bluff Station.

Effective immediately, Enrolled Joint Resolution 4 designates the first full week of May as Tardive Dyskinesia Awareness Week, recognizing a condition characterized by random, involuntary and uncontrolled movements of different muscles.

SEA-57 authorizes the secretary of state to adopt regulations that allow ballots to be counted at a central counting center at the request of a county clerk. This act becomes effective on January 1, 2020.

SEA-66 requires the boards that regulate health care practitioners to require license-holding practitioners such as pharmacists, podiatrists and optometrists to undergo three hours of continuing education every two years on the responsible prescribing of controlled substances or treatment of substance abuse disorders.

SEA-68 meanwhile places a limit on prescriptions for opioids. Practitioners may only prescribe or dispense a seven-day supply in a seven-day period of any opioid or combination of opioids for acute pain to a patient who has not had an active opioid prescription within the last 45 days (with reasonable exceptions such as cancer treatment and chronic pain).

Unless otherwise stated, all new laws will come into effect on July 1.