Legislative Update

Greetings House District 1!

We’re heading into the home stretch here at the Wyoming State Legislature! Late on Friday, House and Senate Leadership, along with members of the Joint Appropriations Committee, agreed to a deal on the Budget Bill (the primary purpose of this session).

Members of the House and Senate will now have an opportunity to see the final bill and vote on it. Governor Mark Gordon has until Thursday to ‘veto’ any parts of the Budget he does not agree with. If he does, it will require a 2/3 majority vote in the House and Senate to override.

There was a total of 398 bills filed in the House and Senate this session. As of today, there were 122 bills passed out of the House that are now being considered by the Senate, on their way to Governor Mark Gordon, or have become law.

The Senate has passed 93 bills that the House is now working through, are on their way to the Governor for consideration or have become law. There are 80 enrolled acts, meaning they have been signed by the House Speaker or Senate President, or Governor Gordon to become law.

Some updates on three bills I am the primary sponsor of this session:

• HB0155, Animal Shares: This bill specifies requirements for distribution of meat pursuant to ownership of an animal share. “Animal share” means an ownership interest in an animal or herd of animals created by a written contract between a consumer and a farmer or rancher that includes a bill of sale to the consumer for an ownership interest in the animal or herd and a boarding provision under which the consumer boards the animal or herd with the farmer or rancher and the consumer is entitled to receive a share of meat from the animal or herd. This bill has been passed by the House (55-3, two absent), Senate Agriculture Committee (unanimously) and Committee of the Whole in the Senate on Friday.

• HB 56, Good neighbor authority: This bill would create the Wyoming state forestry good neighbor authority revolving account to support restoration efforts across private and public lands. This bill was approved unanimously by the House and unanimously by the Senate Agriculture Committee.

• HB 28, Firearm Regulation: This bill would prohibit governmental entities from operating firearm buyback programs with your tax dollars. While this bill was passed by the House of Representatives 55-4 (one absent) last week, the Senate has failed to take up the bill for consideration.

As I said earlier, there are approximately 80 bills that have been signed into law or are on their way to become law, pending Governor approval. This includes:

• HB0084 Food freedom amendments would authorize the commercial sale of certain homemade food items. (I supported.)

• SF 21, Coal fired electric generation facilities, provides authority to purchasers of retiring coal fired power plants and amend limitations on retiring facilities. (I supported.)

• HB 134, Wyoming tourism account funding, establishes a statewide lodging tax. (I opposed.)

• HB 4, Wyoming coal marketing program, creates the Wyoming coal marketing program to help promote our coal resources and promote Wyoming as ground zero for clean technology development and deployment. (I supported.)

• HB 113, Importation of prescription drugs-study would require the state Department of Health to study the feasibility of a foreign drug importation program. The bill aims to help reduce the high cost of prescription drugs and is supported by the AARP. (I supported.)

• HB 32, Resident tuition for military members and family amends provisions for resident tuition for military members, spouses and children – ensuring that our veterans, service members and their families are eligible for in-state tuition at the University of Wyoming or our community colleges. (I supported.)

• SF 17, Hathaway need-based scholarships-graduate school, authorizes need-based Hathaway scholarships for graduate school students. (I supported.)

I wanted to send a special shout out to some very important ambassadors of North East Wyoming. For the sixth year in a row, Crook and Weston County have had more legislative interns in the Capitol than any other part of the State.

That means that our youth, our future, is having a larger impact on State leaders than anyone else and I am beyond proud of them all for that fact alone. They worked long hours, at least ten a day, and put themselves in situations that they had never experienced before.

Our youth never flinched or shied away from anything set before them and carried themselves with grace and respect. We have a lot to be proud of and our future is very bright with these future leaders picking up the reins.

Be sure to give them some praise when you see them as they surely deserve it! Teagan Marchant, Teddi Marchant, Mikka Rogers, Hunter Bailey, Caeden Reeves and Jensen Kelly have made me extremely proud of our home and I am certain that I’m just keeping this seat warm in Cheyenne for one of them!

The 2020 Budget Session is scheduled to end this Thursday, March 12. I look forward to heading back home and meeting face-to-face with the local community to hear feedback on the session.

In the meantime, if you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me at 307-282-0968 or email me at [email protected]. You can also find updates about my work on my Facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/Tyler4HD1.

Sincerely,

Representative Tyler Lindholm

House District #1