Latest news with #WyomingConstitution
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Wyoming state senator proposes eliminating property taxes
CHEYENNE, Wyoming () — It's been a busy week for the . They spent hours listening to dozens of testimonies from county assessors to homeowners alike; many addressed the confusion and issues surrounding existing property tax laws, including three newly implemented tax breaks. During one of the meetings, Sen. Bob Ide (R-Casper) proposed getting rid of property taxes altogether. 'It's not fair. It's the wrong system,' Sen. Ide said while discussing the hidden costs Americans pay for lawmakers' decisions in Washington D.C. However, that isn't the only system he said needs to see change. 'We've got caps, we've got refunds, we've got sunsets, we've got primary residences, we've got minimum eight months, we've got camas system, we've got business and personal property, we've got pollution control, we've got fire control exemptions,' stated Ide to highlight the complexities of the Wyoming property tax system. 'For the common person to understand what their property taxes are you'd have to hire teachers to bring them in there,' Ide added. Brigham City Peach Days vendors now free to sell beverages, Coca-Cola partnership is ended For Crook County Assessor Dan Thomas, confusion surrounding property taxes is all too common. He told ABC4 that one of the biggest things that needs to happen is the dissemination of information to property owners 'to understand the entire process and understand that they're not singled out, and how everybody else has the same valuation method.' Part of the confusion likely comes from the different types of tax breaks. Three of those are new this year. One of the new laws provides a tax break on single-family homes based on their fair market value of up to one million dollars. Another gives a tax break to people over 65 who've paid tax in Wyoming for at least 25 years. However, it expires in 2025. The third caps year-to-year residential property tax increases at . This is in conjunction with a law that went into effect last year capping property tax increases at four percent for residences. All three of the laws have additional requirements not listed in this article. During one of the committee meetings, Sen. Ide offered a solution. He proposed to draft a bill 'to eliminate, repeal, section 15' of the Wyoming Constitution in order to get rid of property taxes. 'It should be up to the legislature to look at a consumption tax, a sales tax,' He added. 'It's the only way we're going to muck out all of this layered minutia of property tax.' Meals on Wheels needs volunteers to help feed Davis County seniors Sen. Ide's proposal passed the committee. However, not all legislatures voted in favor. 'Consumption taxes are regressive,' stated Sen. Case Cale R-Lander. 'They hit poor people harder because they spend more of their income.' Cale suggested studying the effects of implementing a consumption tax before drafting a bill to amend the constitution. 'Property taxes have been a basis of local government taxation for well more than 100 years,' he added. 'They have their wrinkles, but we've done a pretty good job at implementing them.' Regardless of what direction lawmakers decide to go regarding property taxes, making any changes to the tax code is far from an easy task. 'When it comes to tax reformation there's always some question as to why or how we are going to end up with a fair and equitable system to keep taxation equal and equitable throughout the whole state,' explained Thomas. Thomas told ABC4 that those who are confused about their property taxes can reach out to their county assessor. He said the assessor can help explain and break down the tax laws that are already in place. Chrysler at 100: Plans for a bold comeback Wyoming state senator proposes eliminating property taxes More heavy rain, rumbles for southern & central Utah Thursday evening MAP: Boil water advisory issued for some WaterPro customers in Draper Dillon Jones enjoying ride to the NBA Finals Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
There's a Surprising New Tool to Challenge State Abortion Bans
Sign up for the Slatest to get the most insightful analysis, criticism, and advice out there, delivered to your inbox daily. State constitutional litigation over reproductive rights is nothing new, but a case that will soon be decided in Wyoming will have major implications well beyond the nation's least populated state. It's the first time we'll see a state Supreme Court decide whether a right to health care governs abortion access—and perhaps who gets to decide when life begins, and what the beginning of life means in law. The case involves two Wyoming abortion bans, one criminalizing virtually all procedures from the moment of conception and another focusing on abortion pills. A group of plaintiffs that includes prospective patients, physicians, and nonprofits in the state has challenged the constitutionality of the bans. The plaintiffs made a wide variety of arguments that we haven't seen as much since the fall of Roe v. Wade, contending, for example, that Wyoming's law violated the state's establishment and religious liberty clauses by inscribing certain religious views in the law. Perhaps the most central argument involved one of the most recent amendments to the Wyoming Constitution, one passed in the wake of conservative backlash to Obamacare. Conservatives insisted that the Affordable Care Act would in fact strip Americans of the right to choose their provider and otherwise undermine the quality of their care. Wyoming and some other conservative states responded by creating state constitutional rights to health care access. That's where the plaintiffs started their case: They claimed that this right required any abortion ban to survive the most demanding standard of review, strict scrutiny, and that the state's abortion bans fell short of meeting that bar. Abortion is health care, and the state doesn't have a compelling interest in protecting fetal life, the plaintiffs reason, especially when a pregnancy would never lead to the birth of a healthy child, and when the state certainly doesn't use the least restrictive means of pursuing that interest. The state's response in part is to argue that abortion isn't health care. Wyoming explains that nothing can be health care unless it is intended to treat an illness or injury, and pregnancy qualifies as neither one. What's more, Wyoming says, abortion can't be health care because it impacts the pregnant woman and the unborn child—and because the state has already chosen to criminalize it. The debate about the relationship between abortion and health care is obviously much bigger than anything that happens Wyoming. Arguments that abortion isn't health care have underwritten attacks on the Food and Drug Administration's approval of mifepristone, a drug used in more than half of all abortions. Those justifying the narrowness of abortion exceptions claim they are unnecessary because life-saving procedures don't qualify as abortions. This is the first time a state court will weigh in on whether abortion counts as health care, but it likely won't be the last. Other states with abortion bans have 'right to health care' amendments. Provisions designed to make the Affordable Care Act look bad could be a surprising new tool to challenge abortion bans, and could reinforce the argument that abortion is a form of medical treatment. But the case could matter beyond the definition of health care. Wyoming argues that even if there is a right to health care access, the state can act to protect fetal life. The plaintiffs answer that there is no secular way to justify the state's definition of when life begins, and that if anyone should settle the question of when life or rights begin, it must be the individual. Thus, they argue, defining fetal life this way would be a violation of religious liberty. Arguments about the role of religion in fights over abortion have been present from the very beginning. In the 1960s and 1970s, when the anti-abortion movement was heavily Catholic, abortion-rights lawyers claimed that abortion bans imposed sectarian ideology in violation of the establishment clause. The anti-abortion movement has changed since then, with conservative Protestants among the most numerous and vocal members of the movement. And the U.S. Supreme Court shut down establishment arguments in 1980 in a case called Harris v. McRae, reasoning that there were secular, moral reasons for opposing abortion. It's certainly possible that the Wyoming Supreme Court will just repeat the arguments made in McRae. But the Wyoming Legislature was quite open about the role of faith in its deliberations. The anti-abortion movement more broadly has more openly discussed its cause as a Christian one, particularly as prominent groups in the conservative Christian legal movement, like the Alliance Defending Freedom, have gained influence. And those with religious beliefs requiring some forms of abortion access have been more vocal too, filing lawsuits in state and federal court. At oral argument last week, the Wyoming Supreme Court seemed interested in tackling whether the state could constitutionally decide when life began—or who got to decide such a fraught question. It's easy to ignore developments in a state like Wyoming, which has a population of less than 600,000, and likely won't serve as a regional hub for access given that Americans in the Mountain West could already travel to other places, like Montana or Colorado, that protect the procedure. But states have been where to date some of the most important fights over reproductive rights have been waged, and where the arguments that will eventually come to federal court are refined. That's why it's worth watching what comes next in Wyoming, where the state Supreme Court has to issue a decision by August. The court's ruling will shape debates about the role of religion in abortion bans—and whether abortion counts as health care after all.
CNN
21-04-2025
- Health
- CNN
A Wyoming judge suspends abortion clinic regulations while a lawsuit proceeds
Wyoming's only abortion clinic can resume providing surgical abortions after a judge on Monday suspended two state laws. District Judge Thomas Campbell issued the ruling in a lawsuit filed by Wellspring Health Access and others to challenge the laws. One law requires clinics providing surgical abortions to be licensed as outpatient surgical centers and the other requires women to get an ultrasound before a medication abortion. Wellspring Health Access stopped providing abortions February 28, the day after Republican Gov. Mark Gordon signed the licensing requirement into law. The clinic has continued to provide hormone replacement therapy for transgender patients. Gordon vetoed the requirement for an ultrasound at least 48 hours before a pill abortion, calling it onerous in cases of abuse, rape, or when a woman's health is at risk. State lawmakers voted to override the veto March 5. Opponents call laws like Wyoming's requirements 'targeted restrictions on abortion providers' because they can regulate clinics and abortion access out of existence even if abortion remains legal. The surgical center licensing requirement would require costly renovations to make Wellspring Health Access compliant, the clinic said in its lawsuit. The ultrasound requirement did not significantly affect clinic operations but Wellspring Health Access also suspended offering pill abortions to avoid legal complications. The clinic opened in 2023, almost a year late after heavy damage from an arson attack. Abortion has remained legal in Wyoming while the same groups and women challenge state abortion bans passed since 2022 that include the first explicit ban on abortion pills in the U.S. Arguments before the state Supreme Court in that case were made April 16 in Cheyenne. A state district court judge ruled in November that the bans violated the Wyoming Constitution, specifically a 2012 amendment that says competent adults have the right to make their own health care decisions.
The Independent
21-04-2025
- Health
- The Independent
A Wyoming judge suspends abortion clinic regulations while a lawsuit proceeds
Wyoming's only abortion clinic can resume providing surgical abortions after a judge on Monday suspended two state laws. District Judge Thomas Campbell issued the ruling in a lawsuit filed by Wellspring Health Access and others to challenge the laws. One law requires clinics providing surgical abortions to be licensed as outpatient surgical centers and the other requires women to get an ultrasound before a medication abortion. Wellspring Health Access stopped providing abortions Feb. 28, the day after Republican Gov. Mark Gordon signed the licensing requirement into law. The clinic has continued to provide hormone replacement therapy for transgender patients. Gordon vetoed the requirement for an ultrasound at least 48 hours before a pill abortion, calling it onerous in cases of abuse, rape, or when a woman's health is at risk. State lawmakers voted to override the veto March 5. Opponents call laws like Wyoming's requirements 'targeted restrictions on abortion providers' because they can regulate clinics and abortion access out of existence even if abortion remains legal. The surgical center licensing requirement would require costly renovations to make Wellspring Health Access compliant, the clinic said in its lawsuit. The ultrasound requirement did not significantly affect clinic operations but Wellspring Health Access also suspended offering pill abortions to avoid legal complications. The clinic opened in 2023, almost a year late after heavy damage from an arson attack. Abortion has remained legal in Wyoming while the same groups and women challenge state abortion bans passed since 2022 that include the first explicit ban on abortion pills in the U.S. Arguments before the state Supreme Court in that case were made April 16 in Cheyenne. A state district court judge ruled in November that the bans violated the Wyoming Constitution, specifically a 2012 amendment that says competent adults have the right to make their own health care decisions.
Associated Press
21-04-2025
- Health
- Associated Press
A Wyoming judge suspends abortion clinic regulations while a lawsuit proceeds
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Wyoming's only abortion clinic can resume providing surgical abortions after a judge on Monday suspended two state laws. District Judge Thomas Campbell issued the ruling in a lawsuit filed by Wellspring Health Access and others to challenge the laws. One law requires clinics providing surgical abortions to be licensed as outpatient surgical centers and the other requires women to get an ultrasound before a medication abortion. Wellspring Health Access stopped providing abortions Feb. 28, the day after Republican Gov. Mark Gordon signed the licensing requirement into law. The clinic has continued to provide hormone replacement therapy for transgender patients. Gordon vetoed the requirement for an ultrasound at least 48 hours before a pill abortion, calling it onerous in cases of abuse, rape, or when a woman's health is at risk. State lawmakers voted to override the veto March 5. Opponents call laws like Wyoming's requirements 'targeted restrictions on abortion providers' because they can regulate clinics and abortion access out of existence even if abortion remains legal. The surgical center licensing requirement would require costly renovations to make Wellspring Health Access compliant, the clinic said in its lawsuit. The ultrasound requirement did not significantly affect clinic operations but Wellspring Health Access also suspended offering pill abortions to avoid legal complications. The clinic opened in 2023, almost a year late after heavy damage from an arson attack. Abortion has remained legal in Wyoming while the same groups and women challenge state abortion bans passed since 2022 that include the first explicit ban on abortion pills in the U.S. Arguments before the state Supreme Court in that case were made April 16 in Cheyenne. A state district court judge ruled in November that the bans violated the Wyoming Constitution, specifically a 2012 amendment that says competent adults have the right to make their own health care decisions.
