Governor signs more bills into law

Working life may look a little different in Wyoming right now, but Governor Mark Gordon is still in the process of ratifying the work of our state legislators by putting his name to the bills passed at this year’s session. Last week, he signed a number of bills into existence that will impact life in Crook County.

Those who are fed up of springing forward and falling back may be pleased to hear that HEA-87 offers Wyoming a way out – but only if four other western states get rid of Mountain Standard Time too.

The new law would see the state remain on Mountain Daylight Time (the period when Mountain Standard Time is advanced by one hour) all year round and would come into effect if Congress authorized states to observe daylight saving time all year round and at least four western states pass legislation to do so.

Sponsored by Senator Ogden Driskill, Senate Joint Resolution 1 urges the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission to work with the state’s education authorities to provide hunter education as a physical education elective for Wyoming’s public schools.

HEA-50 amends the law for sex offenders, who were previously allowed to attend extracurricular school activities and academic conferences with school officials present if they were a parent or legal guardian. The new stipulation requires that the registered sex offender have the written permission of the principal, vice principal or a person with equivalent authority to do so.

According to HEA-53, it is now unlawful for an employee to be discharged, harassed or discriminated against if they file a claim for unpaid wages, make a complaint or participate in an employment-related investigation, proceeding or hearing.

HEA-64 allows expanded contract brewing in Wyoming, which allows breweries that have room to do so in their tanks to offer that capacity to smaller brewers to help them with production in times of higher demand. Meanwhile, HEA-80 specifies that a microbrewery may have more than one location without being considered multiple businesses and having to pay additional permit fees.

Rodeo is now a pari-mutuel event, according to HEA-81, which adds it to the for-profit gambling events that will be regulated by the state.

Active military personnel who hold concealed weapons permits will now be able to renew those permits throughout their time of deployment and for up to six months afterwards, according to SEA-42.

A person who is issued and purchases a wild bison license but for good reason cannot use it will be able to submit an application to reserve the same kind of license the next year. SEA-64 also stipulates that wild bison licenses may be donated to veterans or persons with disabilities.

As some Wyomingites may be beginning to consider growing hemp as a crop, in SEA-65 the legislature has set fees for inspections and disposal verification of $200 and $250 respectively.

The governor use his veto powers on several bills, including a proposed pilot project of Medicaid billing for school services, which he described as “extremely well intentioned” but not well timed considering the current circumstances and best postponed until enough money is available to fully implement it.

He also vetoed a bill that would have required physicians to use the same commonly accepted means of care that would be rendered to any other infant born alive to a viable infant aborted alive.

“It interposes the state between a parent and physician and does so indifferently,” Gordon commented, stating that the bill did not limit abortion or relieve grief, allay guilt or improve on existing law.

“Instead, it limits the decision-making of parents facing an unimaginably difficult decision – one where the state can never take the place of faith,” he wrote.

A number of bills passed into law without Gordon’s signature, including a change to the start date for kindergarten to allow students enrolled in Head Start to continue eligibility under new federal requirements, which the governor felt could cause confusion for parents and should be addressed in 2021. He also did not sign a bill that would recalibrate the model for school finance on the basis that, considering the national pandemic, it is imperative to bring in diverse perspectives and take a critical look at the “educational basket of goods”.