House pushes "Five and Dime" priorities

It’s been a busy first two weeks in the Wyoming House of Representatives, which has already sent a slate of bills across to the Senate for its consideration.

Many relate to the Freedom Caucus’s “Five and Dime” plan, which focuses on the five top priorities it has outlined for this session: election integrity, immigration accountability, standing for Wyoming’s core in-dustries, ending wokeness in higher education and tax relief.

Now enjoying a majority in the House for the first time, the caucus said its goal was to focus on key bills within ten days and said in a statement on January 23 that it has done so with every bill in its plan pass-ing with a two thirds majority or better.

While a long list of bills remains to be considered, those that have passed this halfway mark include:

Ending “Wokeness”

The “What is a Woman Act”, HB-32, flew through the House with a 50-9 vote on its third reading.

The bill specifies that a person’s biological sex at birth is to be used in situations where distinctions are made between the sexes, such as with respect to athletics, detention facilities, locker and rest rooms and domestic violence shelters.

It also requires that school districts and state agencies that collect vital statistics should identify each person as male or female consistent with their sex at birth.

Meanwhile, HB-147 would ban government entities from having diversity, equity or inclusion programs. The “Prohibition of Institutional Discrimination” bill was supported on third reading with a 51-8 vote.

The Stop ESG – State funds fiduciary duty act (HB-80), which would prevent Wyoming’s contracted fi-nanciers from investing in any “environmental, social and governance” funds. ESG is an investing princi-ple that prioritizes these issues.

The bill met with opposition from State Treasurer Curt Meier and officials from the Wyoming Retirement System, who warned that it would cause huge investment losses and lead financial firms to drop Wyo-ming as a client.

After long debate, an amendment removed the penalty that would have been applied to investors who breached the bill’s requirements and the bill passed its third reading 44-16.

The Freedom Caucus has also stated that HB-80 does not change current policy, but instead codifies ex-isting policy.

The House has also passed through a bill that would prohibit discrimination based on a person’s vac-cination, face covering or medical testing status. HB-96 was given a similarly strong 45-16 vote on third reading.

Education

The caucus’s desire to expand homeschool and charter school options has seen HB-46 pass through to the Senate. This would get rid of the requirement for homeschool programs to submit a curriculum to the local school board.

This bill received strong support, passing its third reading with a 54-6 vote.

HB-94 meanwhile increases the number of charter schools that can be authorized in Wyoming before March 15 to four and removes the limit altogether after that date.

Election Security

With election security also a priority for the Freedom Caucus, HB-116 would specify that a driver’s li-cense issued to an illegal alien in another state is not valid in Wyoming.

HB-156, which passed third reading 51-8, requires that a person be a resident of Wyoming for at least 30 days before voting in an election.

A person wishing to register as a voter would also need to provide proof of their U.S. citizenship, accord-ing to HB-157, which passed third reading 53-6.

Tax Relief

On the tax relief side of things, HB-169 excludes the first 50% of the fair market value of a residential property from being taxed. This would only apply to the first $1 million in value of the property.

HB-169 passed third reading with a 40-20 vote.

Second Amendment

Passing through the House with a 50-10 vote on third reading is HB-172, which repeals gun-free zones and creates a criminal offense for prohibiting entry to a person carrying a concealed weapon.

The bill would allow concealed carry in all governmental entity meetings, the legislature, public buildings and all education facilities.

Foreign Adversaries

On Monday, the House passed HB-69 on its third reading by 61-0. The bill would prevent foreign adver-saries from owning or controlling a Wyoming corporation and gives the Secretary of State the authority to administratively dissolve it.

HJ-02, which passed 58-3 on third reading, would prohibit foreign adversaries from owning real proper-ty, including subsurface or mineral interest.