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Yahoo
21-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Gordon shoots down SAPA amendments in first public veto
CHEYENNE — In his first-ever public veto of a bill, Gov. Mark Gordon shot down Senate File 196 on Tuesday afternoon. He said he held a public session because he believed it is an important enough issue that the people of Wyoming care deeply about. SF 196 would have amended the Second Amendment Protection Act (SAPA), which Gordon signed into law three years ago. SAPA requires a county prosecutor to file charges against an individual police officer if the officer violates the Second Amendment rights of a gun owner. Proposed amendments under SF 196 would have said law enforcement could not legally aid the federal government in enforcing federal gun laws and would have allowed citizens to sue institutions responsible for violating the act through civil penalties. Gordon said that, while he supports the Second Amendment, the proposed SAPA amendments would have restricted Wyoming law enforcement's ability to assist with a federal task force or enforce any federal laws, something he said he believes goes 'too far.' He likened the legislation to 'Defund the Police' efforts across the country, and said it is not in line with the 'Back the Blue' Wyoming values he grew up with. Particularly, Gordon expressed concerns with how the bill would impact the Trump administration's policies to enforce violations of federal human trafficking and undocumented immigration laws by not being able to cooperate with the federal government. 'Wyoming, I believe, supports the Trump administration's efforts. We feel greatly about our law and order. I think this bill would, at best, hinder and, at worst, prevent our local police departments, sheriff's offices and Highway Patrol from participating in the federal task forces that address these very issues,' he said. The bill also would have prohibited any local agency from hiring former U.S. government employees who had ever enforced any type of federal firearms regulation. This would include people like the U.S. Marshals guarding federal courthouses and National Guard members who may be staffing the gate at Camp Guernsey. Gordon said law enforcement agencies could be fined $50,000 for hiring veterans who had that experience if he didn't veto this legislation. Col. Timothy Cameron, administrator of the Wyoming Highway Patrol, expressed concern with how SF 196 would have impacted his department's ability to do its job. 'Specifically, not allowing us to participate in state federal task forces, limiting or eliminating our ability to participate with Bureau of Indian Affairs on our reservations, and finally, our ability to hire anyone after July 1 that participated in the enforcement of federal gun laws,' Cameron said. Additionally, critics of the bill said it would have made it more difficult for local and state law enforcement to aid in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations. Park County Sheriff Darrell Steward expanded on Cameron's concerns about collaboration with the federal government. 'I see several possible pitfalls of working with our federal partners when we need those types of resources available for the crimes we're working on,' he said. 'I've actually experienced a couple of cases in the last couple of years that we relied heavily on the FBI to assist us. And with their federal enforcement, we were able to get these cases charged through the federal government, where we could not have done it through state government.' Gordon provided an example of how the amendments may clash with federal law. He said that someone convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence cannot possess a firearm, but only under federal law. No such state law exists, meaning law enforcement would be criminally and civilly liable if they removed a firearm from someone convicted. 'The 68th Legislature made a point to make the Second Amendment a political litmus test,' Gordon said. 'We've had Second Amendment bills in every legislative session for a number of years. The Legislature itself (this year) killed nine Second Amendment bills on their own. They did pass two pieces of legislation, and, as you know, I've had problems with the two that came through.' In addition to SF 196, Gordon was also referencing House Bill 172, which repealed gun-free zones in state-run buildings, public schools and public meeting spaces. Gordon vetoed a similar bill last year. Although Gordon said SF 196 'crossed the line,' he let HB 172 go into law without his signature. '(SF 196) crossed the line for the reasons I said, this impedes people's ability to do their jobs. You'll remember a year ago (when I vetoed the gun-free zones bill), I had said, 'Give us time. We'll work the policy.'' Gordon said the original SAPA he signed into law in 2022 still included many protections under the amendments in SF 196 and added that the law has not been used in the past three years. SF 196 was supported by 29 of 31 members of the Senate and 53 of 62 representatives in the House. The House and Senate can no longer override the veto, as March 6 was the final day of the session. When the session ended, House and Senate leaders published a news release supporting the legislation. 'Both the House and the Senate are committed to adopting SF 196 exactly as passed this year,' the release reads. 'If the Governor sees fit to veto SF 196, as is his prerogative, then the Legislature will take this issue up immediately as we convene for the 2026 session and send it to the Governor first.' Following his veto, the governor issued a statement about his decision. 'The 68th Legislature showed again its penchant to throw reason out the window, to forget practicality, and to ignore common sense when it comes to any piece of legislation with the words 'Second Amendment' attached to it,' he wrote. Other actions Gordon also signed nine bills Tuesday, including legislation banning sanctuary cities in Wyoming, prohibiting the use of private funds for elections and a prohibition on ranked-choice voting. He also exercised his line-item veto authority on Senate File 169, 'Strategic investments and projects account-repeal.' He left in place $10 million for the siting, design, construction and operation of a new State Shooting Complex. However, he questioned the inclusion of the shooting complex in a bill outside the supplemental budget process, while the Legislature chose not to fund other capital construction projects, including a new veterans home, according to a press release from the governor's office. In his letter vetoing Sections 1, 2, and 3 of SF 169, Gordon wrote that he has always supported simplicity in budgeting, but the repeal of the Strategic Investments and Projects Account (SIPA) removes the ability of the governor to use investment income that should be available to any governor in recommending a budget. 'The effort seems counterintuitive and parochial, serving only the narrow focus of withholding revenue from the Executive Branch budgeting process while preserving it exclusively for the legislature's priorities,' Gordon wrote. 'Wyoming is required to balance its budget with expenditures not exceeding income. That effort has always been a joint effort. Artificially constraining income to one branch breaks with that practice and will not necessarily result in a cleaner or a leaner budget.' The governor also vetoed Section 4 in the bill, which would have terminated the Wyoming State Penitentiary Account (WSPA), a sub-account of the SIPA. The preservation of the account will enable the Department of Corrections to fund integrated security improvements, according to the release.
Yahoo
01-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Amended SAPA bill passes House Appropriations Committee
CHEYENNE — The House Appropriations Committee passed an amended version of Senate File 196, 'Second Amendment Protection Act amendments,' on Wednesday after three hours of public testimony spread over two days. If passed and allowed to become law, the bill would prohibit law enforcement from enforcing federal gun laws within the state, adding civil penalties to an existing Second Amendment Protection Act (SAPA) that was passed in 2022. One of the key adjustments made to the bill Wednesday was the addition of a severability clause. This provision allows the legislation to remain valid if some of its terms are deemed unenforceable. This provision was added to prevent courts from fully striking down the law if they find some parts unreasonable, as happened with the SAPA bill in Missouri, according to Mark Jones, a national director with Gun Owners of America (GOA). 'GOA has always supported the concept of having both criminal and civil cause of action in the Second Amendment Protection Act,' Jones said. GOA originally opposed SF 196, as the original draft of the bill removed the criminal penalty outlined in the 2022 version of SAPA. But after criminal penalties were restored to the bill earlier this month, GOA moved to support the bill. 'Many people have been surprised that we've now shifted to supporting this bill,' Jones said. 'But we're more interested in doing what's right for the citizens of Wyoming than we are playing political games, unlike a lot of people.' Jones' amendments, added to the bill by Rep. Jeremy Haroldson, R-Wheatland, adjusted some basic language and added the severability clause. While the majority of those who addressed the committee Wednesday were supporters of the bill, there were some serious concerns about how this legislation would be applied in an actual lawsuit. Casper lawyer Joshua Stensaas spoke to the committee on behalf of the county attorneys association, reiterating some of the concerns voiced to the committee on Tuesday by law enforcement. Stensaas took issue with the bill's definition of law-abiding, which he said left a lot of room for confusion in situations where police need to be able to take charge. If law enforcement responds to a domestic disturbance in which an intoxicated person is smashing up their property while in possession of a gun, that person is technically law-abiding. There are no laws that prohibit someone from being intoxicated with a gun or to stop them from doing damage to their own property, Stensaas said. 'The first thing law enforcement is going to do is ask him to set his gun down because it is a very tenuous situation and almost impossible to figure out what is going on until he sets that gun down,' Stensaas said. 'And under your definition … he's a law-abiding citizen at that point.' Similar to a Missouri SAPA law that was challenged by the Biden administration and struck down by federal courts, the bill would also impose a $50,000 penalty against violating agencies per violation. Having that fee removes the court's ability to discern a reasonable penalty, Stensaas argued. 'You're requiring the agency to pay $50,000 per violation,' Stensaas said. 'The judge couldn't say, 'Hey, we think in this case that the officer was acting appropriately, perhaps the agency should have a $500 fine.'' To address these issues, Stensaas recommended amending the language to say 'up to a $50,000 fine,' allowing for the court's discretion. Rep. Abby Angelos, R-Gillette, attempted to introduce an amendment that would have addressed Stensaas's concerns about the bill's definition of law-abiding by shifting the language from a 'law-abiding citizen' to 'acting in a law-abiding manner.' The amendment was seconded by Rep. Trey Sherwood, D-Laramie. 'Can any of us really pinpoint the exact moment that a law-abiding citizen becomes a non-law-abiding citizen?' Sherwood asked her peers. 'Is it in the courtroom when the judge says, 'Here's what I've decided'? Is it at the point that the flashing lights turn on behind you and you realize you've done something stupid?' Sherwood asked the committee to consider the gray areas in life between doing the right thing and breaking the law, saying that Angelos' amendment would allow officers to act with their best judgment. Rep. Ken Pendergraft, R-Sheridan, pushed back on the amendment, saying that 'law-abiding manner' was too broad and got into the territory of determining intent. The amendment was defeated. The amended bill passed with only Sherwood opposed.
