Wyoming legislative leaders reduce committee meeting days to heighten focus, save money

Yahoo

10-04-2025

CHEYENNE — Wyoming's legislative leaders shook up the interim topic process during their meeting Tuesday by reducing the number of days for interim committees to meet from six to four.
The motion was brought by Senate Majority Floor Leader Tara Nethercott, R-Cheyenne, to boost 'efficiency' in the legislative process, she later told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle.
Lawmakers spend the off-season, formally known as the interim, broken up into 12 different joint committees, comprised of both senators and representatives. At the beginning of each interim season, the chairpersons of each committee present a list of topics to the Management Council — made up of legislative leaders from both chambers — for approval to study during the interim.
Members also serve on a variety of select committees and task forces during the interim.
Bills are carefully crafted during the interim and are sponsored by committees during the legislative session. However, the trend of committee-sponsored bills passing the Legislature has declined over the last two sessions.
Nethercott said she questioned if legislative committees are taking on too many topics during the interim.
By reducing the number of days to meet during the interim, the Cheyenne senator said she hopes this will force committee members to narrow down their laundry list of topics to those most important to Wyoming.
Sen. Tara Nethercott, R-Cheyenne (2025)
Sen. Tara Nethercott, R-Cheyenne
'We have been on this increasing trend of more and more legislator and staff time, resulting in more (committee) bills, of which half of them fail,' Nethercott said. 'We really need to re-evaluate and retool our priorities, and how we're doing business in the interim.'
A post-session Legislative Service Office (LSO) report found that less than half of committee-sponsored bills passed the Legislature this year. During the 2024 budget session, where non-budget bills needed a two-thirds introductory vote to be considered, a record-low 69% of committee bills had successfully been introduced, according to a 2024 LSO report. The second-lowest recorded passage rate was 83% in 2008.
'Historically and traditionally, committee bills should be given a high level of deference,' Nethercott told the WTE. 'As a result of a bill being worked on, having stakeholder feedback, having the support of a majority of a committee — that should indicate a high passage rate and support.'
However, she also acknowledged something Rep. John Bear, R-Gillette, pointed out during the meeting — there's been a 'major ideological shift' between the previous 67th and current 68th Legislature. Following the general election in November, the Wyoming Freedom Caucus, a group of hard-line Republicans, took control of the state's House of Representatives.
Rep. John Bear, R-Gillette (2025)
Rep. John Bear, R-Gillette
'We saw some considerable changes, and that affects bills that came out of a previous Legislature as committee bills,' said Bear, who voted against the motion. 'This committee and our current chairmen will be selecting topics that are more ideologically aligned with the body now, so I think their chances of passage are going to go up.'
Nethercott's motion also gives leeway for committee chairpersons to choose their own interim topics without needing Management Council's approval. If the chairperson decided they needed the full six days, Nethercott's motion permitted them to petition legislative leadership for the extra two days.
House Minority Floor Leader Mike Yin, D-Jackson, and a majority of the legislative leaders who make up the Management Council, supported the motion. Yin said the duty of the Management Council is to manage the legislative budget and LSO.
Rep. Mike Yin, D-Jackson (2025)
Rep. Mike Yin, D-Jackson
'The interim topic process that we have in place is kind of a little silly,' Yin said, adding that he's brought up the issue to the Management Council before.
He told the WTE — and Nethercott mentioned during the meeting — that committees often violated Wyoming statute by working on topics outside of the Management Council's approval.
'It's a two-fold thing,' Yin said. 'It's one, to make sure we're not wasting time on bills that are just gonna die anyways. And then, two, make sure that our committees are more efficient with their time, make sure the topics that they're working on are the highest priority.'
Stress on LSO staff
Nethercott made her motion following a brief presentation from LSO Director Matt Obrecht, who explained the high amount of stress additional committee meetings have on his staff.
The number of staff days has increased by 261.3% since 2002, when staff days first started being recorded, according to an LSO report. In addition, a record 802 bills were requested this legislative session, more than any other session in recent memory by at least 100.
The responsibility of LSO staff members includes drafting committee bills and overseeing committee meetings. Since COVID-19, staff are also responsible for operating YouTube livestreams and Zoom meetings, and sometimes traveling with technical equipment to meetings held outside of Cheyenne.
'Just keep that in mind as you work today on these interim topics,' Obrecht said. 'Select committees or task forces (have) a real effect, not only on staff, but on members' ability to serve and to get their other work done.'
Obrecht said LSO needs more staff to operate the IT component of legislative meetings. LSO research and evaluation administrator Matt Petry, who was hired last year, is already training a new staff member.
The average cost of an interim committee meeting is about $8,500 a day, Obrecht said, but 'there's wild fluctuations, depending on the makeup of the committee' and 'where committee members are from.'
Although the Management Council passed Nethercott's motion, Obrecht said he feared committees will still try to push through all of their priority topics by forming working groups or subcommittees, 'which has the same impact on staff, and actually more so.'
'(These groups) have been seriously overused for the last few years, where committees won't make a decision on a topic and instead create a subcommittee,' Obrecht said. 'Then the subcommittee comes back with a solution that the majority of the committee doesn't like. … Chairmen just have to really be cautious about using that tool.'
Pushback from committee chairs
Sen. Stephan Pappas, R-Cheyenne, who co-chairs the Joint Transportation, Highways and Military Affairs Committee, said the reduction in interim days is 'short-sighted.'
Sen. Stephan Pappas, R-Cheyenne (2025)
Sen. Stephan Pappas, R-Cheyenne
'The days we spend in committee, joint committee, in the interim are educational days,' Pappas said. 'And I have a committee that has numerous new members, and in order to bring them to speed in four days, is going to be difficult.'
While Pappas assured the council his committee would abide by the four days, several other committee chairmen already began to request back the two extra days, citing concerns with time to educate new members and the 'heavy lift' of their interim topics.
Rep. Chris Knapp, R-Gillette, who co-chairs the Joint Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Committee, asked for the two-extra days and, jokingly, a 'working slumber party.'
The interim period is simultaneously spent crafting legislation and educating lawmakers on interim topics. With a historically large freshman class and several committees gaining first-time members, chairmen said it will be difficult to balance catching new members up to speed while studying complicated issues.
Nethercott told the WTE new lawmakers should absolutely spend committee time learning about the process. She also outlined considerations in approving, or denying, requests for two extra days.
'If they spend a great deal of time just touring facilities or getting information, probably not,' Nethercott said. She doesn't want to take from this part of the legislative process, she added, but wants committees to fully consider what issues they should prioritize.
'When a chairman comes to us and asks for more time, I'll be evaluating what work they have done already, and what work they intend to do moving forward,' she said.