Latest news with #R-Hulett
Yahoo
01-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Governor lets gun-free zones repeal become law without his signature
CHEYENNE — Gov. Mark Gordon announced late Thursday that he will let House Bill 172, 'Repeal gun free zones and preemption amendments,' go into law without his signature, while calling it a 'legislative power grab.' In a letter to House Speaker Chip Neiman, R-Hulett, the governor reiterated his support for the repeal of gun-free zones in Wyoming, but expressed frustration that 'Gun-free zones are not repealed — they are now determined exclusively by the legislature.' 'Elections are impactful, and I recognize the overwhelming majority of this legislature opted to drop a political bomb,' Gordon wrote in his letter. 'The final outcome of this legislation is not in doubt. It will become law.' He also reminded Neiman that he vetoed a 'remarkably similar bill' at the end of last year's budget session. As he did so, he noted that he believes each government entity should get to decide whether to allow firearms in their public spaces. 'Reflecting this legislature's lackadaisical effort to openly debate and work on this legislation before sending it to my desk, it is tempting to copy and return the same veto letter,' Gordon wrote. 'Compare that effort to the work done locally from the time of my veto letter, when only four school districts had firearm carry policies, to today, when 60% of school districts (according to the Wyoming Association of School Administrators), every single community college, and the University of Wyoming heeded my call to action and took up the debate.' He noted that a handful of legislators tried to pass amendments to HB 172, recognizing that local process and grandfathering in those local decisions. 'Such a lack of regard for the principle of 'government closest to the people' so fundamental to our Republic is stunning,' Gordon wrote. He later added, 'I am left to imagine this legislative session was never about 'self-defense' or a common-sense effort to extend carry rights. More to the point, it was always about the legislature grabbing power.' Gordon signed several bills into law Thursday, including House Bill 42, 'Regulation of surgical abortions,' which 'adds additional safety requirements to surgical abortion facilities in Wyoming while the state's abortion prohibition is being considered by the Wyoming Supreme Court,' according to a news release from his office. He also signed Senate File 114, 'Missing persons-reporting requirement,' which he said provides better guidance and support to law enforcement when responding to missing adults. The bill also clarifies the process of reporting someone missing, and ensures that the state's missing persons database is updated in a timely manner, increasing the likelihood of better outcomes for missing persons, according to the news release. He allowed two other bills to become law without his signature — SF 168, 'Budget reserve account-repeal,' and SF 77, 'Compelled speech is not free speech.' In his letter to Senate President Bo Biteman, R-Ranchester, about the latter, he said it was 'a solution in search of a problem.' Sponsored by Sen. Lynn Hutchings, R-Cheyenne, the bill prohibits the state and other government entities from compelling employees to refer to their colleagues by their preferred pronouns. 'Given that these issues are not prevalent in Wyoming government, I must conclude that this bill, rather than addressing an urgent policy concern, is instead meant to convey a public perspective on gender and the use of preferred pronouns,' Gordon wrote, later adding, 'Law making should be a serious endeavor, not just a means of making political statements.'
Yahoo
26-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Bill requiring a transvaginal ultrasound before taking an abortion pill clears Senate
CHEYENNE – Senators overwhelmingly supported a House bill Tuesday afternoon that requires women to undergo a transvaginal ultrasound no more than 48 hours before taking an abortion pill. House Bill 64, 'Chemical abortion-ultrasound requirement,' will now go back to the House of Representatives for a concurrence vote on the Senate amendments. If House members concur, the bill heads to the governor's desk. If representatives fail to concur, three appointed members from each chamber will meet to debate the bill in a joint conference committee. Wyoming Freedom Caucus member and House Speaker Chip Neiman, R-Hulett, the bill's primary sponsor, has called HB 64 'compassionate legislation.' The 48-hour waiting period, which is not based on scientific or medical fact, is a time window for women to reflect on the decision before terminating their pregnancy, Neiman said. The House speaker at first denied this as anti-abortion legislation, running on the premise that it's geared toward protecting women. On the House floor, however, Neiman admitted his intent behind the legislation is to discourage pregnant women from seeking an abortion. 'I definitely want to try everything that I possibly can to provide the opportunity for life to exist and have that chance,' Neiman said during the bill's second reading in the House. Constitutional arguments In the Senate, a bipartisan handful of lawmakers spoke against the bill, arguing it violated a Wyoming constitutional provision that allows competent adults to make their own health care decisions. Sen. Chris Rothfuss, D-Laramie, said this bill 'is the poster child' of what that provision 'obligates (the Legislature) to protect against.' He also pointed to another section of that provision, which requires the state 'to preserve these rights from undue governmental infringement.' Sen. Chris Rothfuss, D-Laramie (2025) Sen. Chris Rothfuss, D-Laramie 'Mr. President, that's our job,' Rothfuss said. 'We're the government that is supposed to be there for the people, to preserve these rights from undue governmental infringement. And yet here we are bringing legislation that is unreasonable, irrational and medically unjustified, undue infringement.' Sen. Cale Case, R-Lander, who voted against HB 64, said the state government is wrongly inserting itself into the state Constitution. The Lander senator also referred to Article 1, section 7 of the Wyoming Constitution, which prohibits 'absolute, arbitrary power.' Sen. Cale Case, R-Lander (2025) Sen. Cale Case, R-Lander 'This is the Senate, the Wyoming Legislature, exercising absolute power, going against professional boards that we've established, going against licensing procedures, going against a constitutional amendment that guarantees persons the right to make their own health care decisions,' Case said. 'If you don't like what the Constitution says, you have the right to change it.' Sen. Lynn Hutchings, R-Cheyenne, said the Wyoming Constitution also allows the Legislature to 'determine reasonable and necessary restrictions … to protect the health and general welfare of the people or to accomplish the other purposes set forth in the Wyoming Constitution.' Sen. Lynn Hutchings, R-Cheyenne (2025) Sen. Lynn Hutchings, R-Cheyenne 'I think it's our right and desire to try to do everything we can to either stop it or make it as safe as possible,' Hutchings said. Sen. Charles Scott, R-Casper, who voted against HB 64, said this bill exacerbated Wyoming's health care crisis. Sen. Charles Scott, R-Casper (2025) Sen. Charles Scott, R-Casper 'We're having a shortage of doctors in Wyoming in obstetrics gynecology,' Scott said. 'This is … exacerbating our problem.' Senate amendments Sen. Gary Crum, R-Laramie, tried to add an amendment that removed the requirement for the transvaginal ultrasound, based on public testimony arguing this is an extremely invasive procedure. He visited with several medical providers who told him a topical ultrasound would be able to tell the viability of a fetus. Sen. Gary Crum, R-Laramie (2025) Sen. Gary Crum, R-Laramie 'I think this bill is to check the viability of life and protect the life of an unborn child,' Crum said, 'not to hurt or embarrass someone.' However, several Republican senators argued this ultrasound would fail to detect how far along the woman is in the pregnancy, and his amendment failed in a voice vote. Sen. Evie Brennan, R-Cheyenne (2025) Sen. Evie Brennan, R-Cheyenne Sen. Evie Brennan, R-Cheyenne, successfully brought an amendment to the bill that reduces the felony penalty to a misdemeanor. Instead of a sentence of up to five years in prison, up to a $20,000 fine or both, Brennan's amendment reduced it to a maximum of six months imprisonment, up to a $9,000 fine or both. Other Senate amendments adopted in the bill altered some definitions to align with medical terminology or other legislation.
Yahoo
26-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
UW students stage 'die-in' outside Governor's office
CHEYENNE — Humming 'Amazing Grace' and lying on the floor outside Gov. Mark Gordon's office, a group of University of Wyoming students hoped to send the chief executive a direct message: Do not repeal Wyoming's gun-free zones. Staged as a 'die-in' protest, students wore white T-shirts splattered with red paint and held signs that read 'I'd rather not be a target,' 'Books > Bullets' and 'I don't feel safe in school.' House Bill 172, 'Repeal gun free zones and preemption amendments,' passed on third reading Friday in the state Senate. On Monday, Senate President Bo Biteman, R-Ranchester, and Speaker of the House Chip Neiman, R-Hulett, signed the bill, which is now House Enrolled Act 24, heading to Gordon's desk. Students have repeatedly spoken at legislative committee meetings this session about their opposition to HB 172, which would affect the university, as well as Wyoming's K-12 schools and other state-owned facilities. Still, students say they feel they've been largely ignored in the process. 'I was pretty disappointed to see (HB 172) pass with so little debate, with so little consideration for any amendments or the safeguards we'd been asking for,' Associated Students of the University of Wyoming Director of Community and Governmental Affairs Sophia Gomelsky told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle Monday afternoon. 'The fact that it flew through the House so fast is pretty representative of the fact that lawmakers are not listening,' she said. Lying on the floor outside Gordon's office was perhaps their last-ditch effort to be heard. 'We're hoping to snap (lawmakers) back to reality to make them realize they have constituents they took an oath to serve. When we aren't being listened to, we can't just go on as usual, with legislation that is actively putting us in danger,' Gomelsky said. Gordon vetoed a bill very similar to HB 172 in 2024, and many similar measures have failed to become state law over the years. Michael Pearlman, communications director for the governor's office, told the WTE in an email Monday afternoon that Gordon had 'thanked Sophia for exercising her First Amendment rights, and said he would take her comments into consideration.' Gordon is still considering the bill and has until Thursday to act on it, Pearlman said. Gomelsky said the governor did come out of his office Monday to speak with her. 'We have talked about issues that affect students quite a few times, and we talked about the implications of this bill,' she said. 'We are asking for a veto. He vetoed the bill last year. It was a bad idea last year, it is a bad idea this year. It has hardly changed.' UW undergrad Liz Pearson attended the protest, she said, because she believes adding more guns will only increase violence on campus, whether through misfires, suicides or other violence that could become a direct threat to the student body. 'I have actually heard students from where I graduated (Riverton High School) saying they are not going to want to come to UW if this passes. They don't want to come to school where they feel unsafe,' Pearson said. Jaycee Myrtle, a graduate student at UW, said not only does HB 172 threaten students, but many other pieces of legislation moving through the state Capitol has dampened morale at the university. A protest flier for the Monday event included reference to 'legislation that will harm students, including allowing guns in schools and anti-LGBTQ+ bills targeting trans students.' 'I'm hoping that we're heard and listened to, because we are out here being vulnerable … and with DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion programming) being taken away, it just feels so unsafe,' Myrtle said. UW trustees voted not to allow concealed carry; lawmakers discuss making theirs an elected office Last November, the University of Wyoming Board of Trustees met several times, and held a series of public meetings to discuss allowing concealed carry firearms on campus. Ultimately that board, which is appointed by the governor, voted 6-5 on Nov. 22 against allowing concealed carry permit holders to take firearms into campus facilities. Trustee Macey Moore said at the time that the entire process felt like a 'giant disruption' to the university's mission. Concealed carry permit holders are currently allowed to carry on university open space like Prexy's Pasture, but not inside facilities, classrooms and faculty offices. Monday morning, Rep. Rachel Rodriguez Williams, R-Cody, who leads the House Freedom Caucus, a group of hardline Republican lawmakers, presented House Bill 148, 'University of Wyoming governance-elected trustees,' to the Senate Education Committee. Her bill would allow for seven elected UW trustees, which she said would 'provide accountability without upending' the existing trustee structure. 'There is nothing that unifies Wyomingites like our university, regardless of disagreements on politics, religion and or the litany of other things that divide us today. We all love our Wyoming Cowboys,' Rodriguez-Williams told the committee. However, she continued that many in her area are concerned about the leadership at UW and would like a say in how trustees are selected. Sen. Charles Scott, R-Casper, pointed out that the Wyoming Constitution clearly states that university trustees 'shall be appointed by the governor.' Gordon's chief of staff, Drew Perkins, said in committee that his office agrees the constitution is 'pretty clear' on the fact that that board shall be appointed. 'How can you construe that language as allowing for elected trustees?' Scott asked. Rodriguez-Williams responded that she had vetted her bill through staff attorneys, who had no concerns, but that other lawmakers were 'entitled to their opinion.' Scott also pointed out that in recent years, the university has 'steadily been getting better and better' at educating undergraduates and in its research areas. Sen. Wendy Schuler, R-Evanston, asked if the bill was brought forward by constituents. 'This was not a constituent bill … I would say it is more district-wide,' Rodriguez-Williams said. 'I can tell you that being a parent of a high school student, and knowing many other parents in my district that provide input to their children as to where they should consider attending college, there is (discussion) of what experience other students have had' on campus that could steer parents away from UW. 'This bill allows for residents of Wyoming from across the state to elect representation on the UW Board of Trustees. It increases representation of the people and provides an opportunity for citizens of Wyoming to have a say in leadership of our beloved university,' she said. But students on Monday said they're the ones living on campus, directly feeling the impact of legislation this session. 'Parents across Wyoming, they're not the ones on campus. It's common for parents to say that university radicalizes kids, but I would not say that is the way it goes. Anyway, we're the ones living there,' Katie Wilford, a UW undergraduate, told the WTE. Pearson said she spoke last fall at least twice before the UW Board of Trustees about a campus-wide gun-free zones repeal, and felt heard in that process. Later, Pearson lay on the marble floor at the Capitol, quietly humming alongside fellow protesters. Gomelsky said there was talk about 'why there was not a permit for' the protest, but that she tried to obtain one and was told by the State Building Commission they do not issue permits for the Capitol lobby during the session. 'I do think the trustees listened to us,' Pearson said. 'I think that we got through to them, and I am really hoping we can get through to (lawmakers) today. But we have realized that doing what we did with the UW trustees was not appealing to (lawmakers), so we are going to try something a little different.' HB 148 passed in a 3-2 vote with a 'do not pass' recommendation out of committee for debate on the Senate floor. Despite a majority of lawmakers saying they did not favor the bill, its fate will be left to the entire body to debate. The fate of the gun-free zones repeal, however, is in the governor's hands. 'It's our lives at stake here,' first-year UW student Illyas Kahn said Monday.
