Legislative Update from the Speaker's desk

After two weeks in Cheyenne, we are already a quarter of the way through the 2025 General Legislative Session. Much has happened since the Wyoming Legislature gaveled in on January 14.

This letter is to serve as an update for you, the people of northeast Wyoming, from the horse’s mouth.

It is a blessing and an honor to serve as the Speaker of the House. In this role, I am tasked with introducing and referring legislation to committees to be worked and vetted.

After communicating with the people of Wyoming all summer and fall, my colleagues and I formulated a plan to act deliberately on the issues that matter most. Pursuant to that plan, I introduced dozens of pieces of priority legislation within the first few days at the Capitol – the vast majority of them having been heard and debated over the last two or three years in Cheyenne.

The Wyoming House got right to work on these bills, including those within the Five and Dime Plan, all of which have passed out of the House and are on to the Senate.

The first pair of priority bills address election integrity. House Bills 156 and 157 together would require Wyoming voters to prove their Wyoming residency and US citizenship when registering to vote, and passed on votes of 51-8 and 53-6 respectively.

A bill mirroring President Trump’s recent Executive Order banning discriminatory DEI would do the same at the state level. This bill passed the Wyoming House 51-8.

As countless big corporations have dumped their ESG investing policies and 14 states have banned ESG investing of tax dollars, another priority bill that passed the House seeks to do the same in Wyoming. This bill received considerable press attention based on crystal ball conjecture from some of our state’s money managers, who alleged that if Wyoming were to stop woke investing, the state would lose $5 billion dollars.

What the press didn’t mention is that House Bill 80 seeks to codify existing investment rules already in place, which, after a year and a half, have not caused catastrophic losses. Instead, our returns have been stellar. This bill passed the House 44-16.

Another priority bill that passed the House on 45-15 will help Wyoming to partner with President Trump’s border security agenda by invalidating driver licenses issued to illegal aliens from blue states.

Perhaps the highest priority of Wyomingites is property tax relief. A bill to provide a temporary residential property tax exemption of 50% passed the House 40-20.

Collectively over 24 hours of committee time and floor debate was spent on these five items– and the House was still able to pass other important bills, including measures to bolster homeschool freedom, to protect girls and women and to guarantee your Second Amendment rights in public spaces.

As the Legislature continues its work in Cheyenne, I look forward to hearing from you.