The conference committee finds “marriage is hard”

We had expected the conference committee on House Bill 74 – Validity of marriage to present a report to the Senate and the House on Friday, saying there would be no compromise over civil unions.

But the conference report was never delivered to House Majority Leader Tom Lubnau. Members of the House conference committee were informed by Rep. Cathy Connolly (D-HD13, Laramie) that the compromise they approved last Thursday failed to include some essential wording changes.

Given the weekend, advocates and opponents alike ramped up their lobbying efforts. Rep. Edmonds lamented to the conference committee that the controversial effort to enable Wyoming to void same-sex marriages made legally in other states and countries “has been foisted on the six of us.”

The conference committee is comprised of Reps. Edmonds, Kendell Kroeker (R-HD35, Casper), and Jim Roscoe (D-HD22, Wilson) and Sens. Floyd Esquibel, (D-SD8, Cheyenne), Larry Hicks (R-SD11, Baggs) and Leslie Nutting (R-SD7, Cheyenne). Rep. Kroeker and Sens. Hicks and Nutting are co-sponsors of the bill.

Rep. Edmonds told the conference committee she decided to abandon her agreement to last week’s compromise, which stripped a House amendment to the bill and also took off a Senate amendment aimed at recognizing same-sex civil unions made in other states. Edmonds said she instead would take the position that the committee should endorse the bill in the form that it passed the House.

Sen. Leslie Nutting said that Edmonds new position “is to say the Senate has no say at all … I see that as a real problem.”

The conference committee went through a series of proposed amendments but each of them failed, leading Sen. Nutting to say, “Marriage is hard.” No doubt a legion of her constituents would agree.

The committee agreed to Sen. Nutting’s request to schedule one last meeting of this conference committee on Tuesday (March 1) at 12:15 p.m. Rep. Kroeker asked that the committee quickly call it quits if no one comes to the meeting with a proposal for a compromise.

If the committee fails to reach a compromise, the leadership of the House and the Senate could appoint a different conference committee to continue the effort to change the bill to make it acceptable to members of both chambers. The leadership also could simply decide not to appoint another conference committee and the measure would fail.

The later course is the ESPC’s preferred outcome.

Public meetings bill fails
The Senate on Monday killed HB 120 – Public meetings on third reading. The measure would have required public boards and commissions to provide 12 hours’ notice of a special meeting, announce the reason for executive sessions, and make audio recordings of executive sessions.

The ESPC supported the bill, which was part of a package of refinements to Wyoming’s Open Meetings and Public Records laws. House Bill 119 – Public records and meetings – court proceedings was killed in the House Judiciary Committee. The Senate voted down HB 121 – Public records in Committee of the whole last week.

Here’s the Feb. 28 vote on HB 120:
Ayes: Senator(s) Case, Christensen, Cooper, Dockstader, Esquibel, F., Hastert, Martin, Meier, Nutting, Perkins, Peterson, Ross, Scott and Von Flatern.
Nays: Senator(s) Anderson, Barnard, Bebout, Burns, Coe, Driskill, Emerich, Geis, Hicks, Hines, Jennings, Johnson, Landen, Nicholas P, Rothfuss and Schiffer.
Ayes 14 Nays 16 Excused 0 Absent 0 Conflicts 0 For a look at all the bills mentioned in this report, please go here.

Photo above shows the conference committee on HB 74 during its meeting Feb. 24.

Time runs out on two bad bills

Amendment discriminating against GLBT minority expires in House

Repeal of state minimum wage dies on Senate General File

Friday was the last day to hear bills on General File. Bills not brought up for discussion in Committee of the Whole in either chamber by the end of the day die for the year.

We were pleased particularly to see time run out on two measures:

1. SJ5 – Defense of marriage – constitutional amendment. This proposal would have placed a constitutional amendment on the 2012 ballot to make same-sex marriages and civil unions illegal in Wyoming.
2. HB 184 – Minimum wage statutes repeal. This bill would have eliminated laws imposing a state minimum wage and requiring wage data reporting of Wyoming businesses.

Many people worked hard to kill the proposed constitutional amendment. In committee testimony earlier this year, opponents of the anti-GLBT legislation worried that Wyoming would be subjected to a long, intense, and ugly campaign if the amendment proposal made it to the ballot. Majority Leader Tom Lubnau indicated earlier this week that supporters did not have the 40 votes needed for House passage (a proposed constitutional amendment requires a two-thirds vote from both houses).

Opponents of SJ5 drew up a slew of amendments and informed the House leadership they would push all of them to force a long and painful debate. House leaders obviously felt they had better things to do with the time.

One piece of anti-GLBT legislation remains in play. House Bill 74 – Validity of marriage, was approved by both the Senate and the House. The House refused to concur with a Senate amendment intended to give people in same-sex civil unions contracted in other states or countries access to Wyoming courts if the need arose. The amendment enabled the bill to win Senate approval by the narrowest of margins, 16-14.

In a conference committee Thursday, the Senate conferees agreed to drop the amendment. Opponents of the bill hope the change will prove unacceptable to the Senate.

The House likewise could reject the compromise, but that seems less likely. The conference version of the bill voids any existing marriage contracts or civil unions that Wyoming residents made legally in other states or countries, which was the main goal of the majority of representatives who voted for HB 74. However, the Senate also stripped a House amendment that the conference report did not restore, so some House members may switch their votes as a consequence.

If either chamber does not approve the conference committee report, the measure could be referred to a second conference committee, or legislative leaders could simply drop further efforts to achieve a compromise and let the bill die.

The ESPC continues to urge everyone to contact their legislators and urge them to vote NO on the conference committee report to stop this discriminatory legislation.

Public meetings

A bill supported by the ESPC, the Powder River Basin Resource Council, the League of Women Voters and the Wyoming Press Association got through second reading Friday, but only after approval of an amendment to delay implementation for a year.

The bill requires public boards and commissions to give 12 hours notice of a special meeting, to announce the purpose of any executive session and to make audio recordings of executive sessions. The Wyoming Association of Municipalities and the Wyoming County Commissioners Association oppose the bill.

Support for the bill is weak and it still must survive third reading Monday. Please ask your senator to vote for this bill, which establishes some reasonable requirements around the handling of the public’s business outside regularly scheduled meetings and in executive sessions.

A sister bill, HB 121 – Public documents, was killed Thursday when senators, as Sen. Michael Von Flatern said, began to hear things go bump in the night. The senators said it would be unfair to public servants to require a deadline to make requested public documents available. It was a strange debate in which the Senate lost sight of the public’s need for access to information in order to participate in the workings of government.
The Tea Party in Montana

A friend sent this list of bills under consideration in the Montana legislature this year. Several of these ideas were pushed in Wyoming as well this session.

1. Legalize hunting with hand-thrown spears (Senate Bill 112)
2. Create fully-armed militia in every town (House Bill 278)
3. Allow legislators to carry weapons in the Capitol (Senate Bill 279)
4. Create an 11 person panel with authority to nullify all federal laws (House Bill 382)
5. Allow guns in schools (House Bill 558)
6. Eliminate educational requirements for persons seeking job of State Superintendent of Schools (HB 154)
7. Lift nuclear ban for purpose of building a nuclear reactor in the Flathead Valley (House Bill 326)
8. Withdraw the United States of America from the United Nations (Senate Joint Resolution 2)
9. Omit Barack Obama's name from the 2012, ballot because his father was born outside of America (House Bill 205)(This guy was on CNN this week.)
10. Compulsory marriage counseling for people seeking a divorce (House Bill 438) (Had this one in Wyoming.)
11. Give sheriffs authority over the federal government in terror investigations (Senate Bill 114) (Similar proposal was floated in the Wyoming Senate Labor Committee.)
12. Legalize hunting with silencers (House Bill 174)
13. Lift the prohibition on carrying concealed weapons in bars, churches and banks (House Bill 384)
14. Eliminate law that requires landlords to install carbon monoxide detectors (House Bill 354)
15. Require the federal government to prove in court that the National Parks were lawfully acquired. (House Bill 506)
16. Officially designate the "Code of the West" as the "Code of Montana" (Senate Bill 216)

Photo above shows two House pages responding to a request from Rep. Cathy Connolly of Laramie.

Equality with an asterisk?

The conference committee offers its “compromise” on equality

The conference committee on House Bill 74 – Validity of marriage will present a report to the Senate and the House on Friday that says there will be no compromise over civil unions.
Same-sex unions, regardless of whether they are legal in their state of origin, will NOT be recognized in Wyoming if the committee’s report is adopted.

The conference committee, which included Reps. Amy Edmonds (R-HD12, Cheyenne), Kendall Kroeker (R-HD 35, Casper) and Jim Roscoe (D-HD22, Wilson) and Sens. Floyd Esquibel, (D-SD8, Cheyenne), Larry Hicks (R-SD11, Baggs) and Leslie Nutting (R-SD7, Cheyenne), voted 4-2 to strip a Senate amendment aimed at recognizing same-sex civil unions made in other states. Roscoe and Esquibel opposed the committee proposal.

"We're just digging ourselves further into a quagmire," Esquibel said to explain his opposition to what he considers a bad bill.

Instead, the conference committee will ask the House and Senate to adopt an amendment that makes clear that Wyoming will recognize any marriage or civil union between two people legally made anywhere so long as those marriages and unions are between one man and one woman.
Here’s the Senate amendment the committee stripped from the bill. It would rest under statute number 20-1-111 Out of state marriages.:

"(c) Parties to a domestic or other legal civil union lawfully entered into in another state, commonwealth, territory, district or possession of the United States or a foreign nation, which are not recognized as a marriage under the laws of Wyoming, shall be entitled to access to the courts of the state for the purposes or resolving disputes that arise out of their domestic or other legal civil union.".

The committee instead proposes this language:

“(c) Parties to a marriage or other legal civil union lawfully entered into in another state, commonwealth, territory, district or possession of the United States or a foreign nation, which is recognized as a valid marriage or other legal civil union under subsections (a) or (b) of this section, shall be entitled access to the courts of the state of Wyoming for the purposes of resolving disputes that arise out of their marriage or other legal civil union.”

Both sections (a) and (b) stipulate that marriage contracts are valid “provided that such marriage contracts are between a male and a female person.”

Neither section refers to civil unions.

Since the Senate passed the bill relying upon the idea that state law would recognize legal civil unions made outside Wyoming, the conference committee recommendation may not win majority support in that chamber.

Please act now
The ESPC urges Wyomingites to write their state senators to vote to reject the conference committee report. The bill clearly discriminates against many people who live in Wyoming who have secured legal marriage contracts or civil unions in other states or countries. Please tell your senator to vote NO against the conference report.

While you’re at it, please contact your state representative and likewise ask them to reject this discriminatory legislation.

Wyoming should live up to its motto as the Equality State.

Participate
Citizens can register their opposition to HB 74 by using the “Online Hotline” or the telephone Hotline – 1-866-966-8683 or, in Cheyenne, 777-8683.

Note on the photo
That's the committee in the photo. From left, Sen. Floyd Esquibel, Rep. Kendall Kroeker, Co-Chairman Rep. Amy Edmonds, Co-Chairman Sen. Larry Hicks, Sen. Leslie Nutting, Rep. Jim Roscoe.

Conference committee meets Thursday morning on GLBT discrimination

Wyoming’s decision on GLBT rights moves into the final stages Thursday morning when a conference committee will attempt to resolve differences between the House version of a bill voiding gay marriages made in other states and the Senate version of the bill.

The Wyoming House strongly rejected the Senate version of House Bill 74 –Validity of marriage when it voted Tuesday 7-50 to oppose concurring with Senate changes.

The bill will enable Wyoming to declare void same-sex marriages made in other states and countries. The House did not concur because supporters of the bill objected to a Senate amendment that declares the state will recognize civil unions made in other states, including same-sex civil unions.

Opponents likewise voted against concurrence, hoping ultimately to defeat the bill by demonstrating that there’s no final agreement on it.

Regardless of Senate or House amendments, HB 74 will discriminate against same-sex couples who have made valid marriage contracts in other states and countries. The ESPC believes such discrimination is contrary to the general philosophy of the Equality State that “all members of the human race are equal.”

The first conference committee will meet Thursday morning at 8:45 a.m. in Senate Room 1 to attempt to work out a deal. The committee is constrained by legislative rules that require it to work with the amendments made to the bill.

Legislative rules require that each chamber, the House and Senate, appoint three members to the conference committee. At least one member of the conference committee must have voted No on the legislation in dispute.

The House appointed Rep. Amy Edmonds (R-HD12, Cheyenne) and Rep. Kendall Kroeker (R-HD35, Casper), and an opponent, Rep. Jim Roscoe (D-HD22, Wilson) to the conference committee. Kroeker is a sponsor.

The Senate appointed sponsors Sen. Larry Hicks (R-SD11, Baggs) and Sen. Leslie Nutting (R-SD7, Cheyenne) to its committee. (Nutting is depicted in the photo above.)

The Senate leadership also appointed Sen. Floyd Esquibel (D-SD8, Cheyenne) who, like Roscoe, voted against the bill.

Speak out, please
The ESPC urges everyone to contact their legislators and ask them to vote against any proposed conference committee compromises on HB 74. Use email or telephones to record your opposition.
Citizens can register their opposition to HB 74 by using the “Online Hotline” or the telephone Hotline – 1-866-966-8683 or, in Cheyenne, 777-8683.

What’s next?
If the House or the Senate rejects the compromise proposed by the conference committee, both the House and Senate then can put together a second conference committee, know as a “free” committee. It can alter any aspects of the bill in an effort to achieve a consensus that both houses support.

Again, the ESPC opposes any effort to deny recognition of legal marriage contracts made in other states and countries. The state should extend full faith and credit to other states.

Please contact your legislator and tell them you oppose thise disciminatory legislation that will damage Wyoming's reputation and it's tourism industry.

Anti-GLBT bill goes to conference committeee

Legislature agrees to disclosure on independent expenditures in Wyoming elections
Wyoming voters will have to live with the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision that allows corporations to spend freely from their treasuries in independent expenditures to support or oppose candidates for election, but these corporations will have to meet some basic disclosure rules under a law given final approval late Tuesday.

T he U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission leaves voters and potential candidates with the prospect of corporate interests pouring money into state and national elections. It doesn’t matter if you believe that the right to free speech was meant for people who breathe and bleed. The corporations are free to buy the biggest megaphone and to purchase the most speech through independent expenditures in elections that affect their corporate interests.

Nevertheless, the state still has the authority to force disclosure of who finances that megaphone and who buys the time. In its decision in January 2010, eight members of the high court supported the idea that organizations financing independent expenditures can be required to disclose where they get their money.

Senate File 3 – Campaign finance – organizations brings Wyoming campaign finance law into compliance with the Citizens United decision by expressly allowing corporations, unions and other organizations to make “independent expenditures” directly from their corporate funds. These expenditures can be made for or against candidates or ballot measures.

Under current Wyoming law, only candidates, political parties, candidate campaign committees, and political action committees (PACs) can spend money in elections. The ESPC believes corporate speech interests have been served by the ability to form a corporate PAC. These are quite different from the corporation spending allowed by the Citizens United decision because a PAC’s money comes from identifiable and publicly reported officers, directors and shareholders of the corporation.

The 2010 Supreme Court decision means that corporations can dip into their vast treasuries, which can include money earned elsewhere on the globe, far from Wyoming. They can use these funds to make campaign expenditures independent of individual candidates’ campaigns. The independent campaigns are prohibited from coordinating their effort with any candidate committee or party.

Because SF 3 originally required only a “paid for” line on advertising that could easily be used to disguise the actual parties behind an independent expenditure campaign, the ESPC pushed for greater disclosure. The Senate approved an amendment that would have required these campaigns to print the names of their top three donors or read those names when the advertising was provided via television, radio or internet.

House members, feeling pressure from the Wyoming Broadcasters Association, stripped that amendment and instead imposed a disclosure requirement similar to those imposed on PACs and individual candidate campaign committees. The amendment requires the independent expenditure campaign to register with the Secretary of State and to report contributions in excess of $1,000 and expenditures exceeding $500.

The Senate accepted the House amendments Tuesday and adopted the amended bill on concurrence 16-13. Some no votes likely represented some senators’ opposition to the idea of opening state and local elections to direct influence from corporations.

Here’s the roll call on concurrence:
Ayes: Senator(s) Anderson, Bebout, Burns, Case, Christensen, Coe, Cooper, Driskill, Geis, Hicks, Hines, Jennings, Landen, Nutting, Schiffer and Scott.
Nays: Senator(s) Barnard, Dockstader, Esquibel, F., Hastert, Johnson, Martin, Meier, Nicholas P, Perkins, Peterson, Ross, Rothfuss and Von Flatern.
Excused: Senator(s) Emerich

Is it possible HB 74 – Validity of marriage could fail passage?

The Wyoming House Tuesday voted 7-50 to oppose concurring with Senate changes to House Bill 74 –Validity of marriage. Supporters of the bill, which will enable Wyoming to void same-sex marriages made in other states and countries, objected to a Senate amendment that declares the state will recognize civil unions made in other states. Opponents likewise voted against concurrence, hoping ultimately to defeat the bill by demonstrating that there’s no final agreement on it.

A conference committee will now be appointed to attempt to work out the amended changes to the bill. Each chamber will appoint three members to serve on the committee. Rules require that each chamber appoint one member to the conference committee who opposed passage of the bill.

The House appointed two stalwart supporters of the bill, Rep. Amy Edmonds (R-HD12, Cheyenne) and Rep. Kendall Kroeker (R-HD35, Casper), and an opponent, Rep. Jim Roscoe (D-HD22, Wilson) to the conference committee. The Senate is expected to appoint its members to the conference committee Wednesday.

The ESPC’s stand
In any form, HB 74 will discriminate against same-sex couples who have made valid marriage contracts in other states and countries. The ESPC believes such discrimination is contrary to the general philosophy of the Equality State that “all members of the human race are equal.” We urge everyone to contact their legislators and ask them to vote against any proposed conference committee compromises on HB 74.

Interim studies on the agenda

Several House and Senate standing committees met jointly at noon Tuesday to consider possible topics for study during the interim period between the end of the general session and the 2012 budget session. The legislature’s Management Council will meet next week to review and make a final determination on which topics it will authorize for study.
The Joint Corporations, Elections, and Political Subdivisions Committee will study reapportionment – the re-drawing of House and Senate district boundaries to keep those districts as nearly equal in population as possible.

Committee Co-Chairmen Sen. Cale Case and Rep. Pete Illoway announced their plans for a “two-track” process that calls for holding 10 or 11 information-gathering meetings around the state, beginning sometime in April after the committee has new population numbers from the 2010 Census.

All committee members will not be expected to attend all those meetings. But the committee also plans three or four two-day meetings at which it will discuss the reapportionment on one day, then deal with other committee interim topics on the second day.

Rep. John Patton (R-HD29, Sheridan) asked the committee to avoid imposing constraints on the public discussion of the redistricting options. He said that suggestions from the chairmen that the Legislature retain the same number of House and Senate seats (60 and 30 respectively), continue to “nest” two House districts within each Senate district, and to presume that districts will be single-member districts are inappropriate constraints on public discussion.
“It makes it convenient for us,” he said. “Let them (the public) speak first.”

Illoway told Patton and the committee that while a decision to end “nesting” is possible, physical constraints, such as the size of the House and Senate chambers, must be recognized. “It’s very difficult to put more people in this Capitol,” he said. (That's a photo of the Senate chambers above.)

Appointments
New Gov. Matt Mead released his list of proposed appointments to state boards and commissions Tuesday. The Senate has five days to approve or reject Gov. Mead’s chosen appointees.

Participate
Citizens can register their opinions on specific legislation by using the “Online Hotline” or the telephone Hotline – 1-866-966-8683 or, in Cheyenne, 777-8683.

Looking ahead on equality

Take action – Urge legislators to vote NO on concurrence on HB 74

With House Bill 74 – Validity of marriage through the Senate by the slimmest of third-reading margins, advocates of equality now must turn their attention to concurrence with the House – and there is hope that changes to this legislation mean no one is happy with it and it can be defeated.

The ESPC and its allies in the GLBT and legal communities urge everyone to send an email to the legislator who represents them and others they know or have a relationship with. Urge them to vote No on concurrence.

If the House refuses to concur with the Senate changes to the bill, then a conference committee will be appointed to attempt to work out differences between the Senate and the House. Urge your legislators to vote No on any compromise produced in conference committee, too.

The dispute centers around amendments made to the original bill. The House adopted an amendment that sponsor Sen. Curt Meier (R-SD3, LaGrange) declared was “circular in nature” and would have unintended effects on other legal arrangements that GLBT couples make to protect their personal and property interests. (That is Sen. Meier at right in the photograph above. He is conferring over the engrossed copy of HB 74 with Sen. Phil Nicholas of Laramie.)

At Meier’s urging, the Senate removed the amendment. The senators ultimately attached a new amendment aimed at recognizing civil unions made in other states.

That amendment, proposed by Sen. Ogden Driskill (R-SD1, Devils Tower), is being attacked by anti-GLBT forces. They have launched a weekend email messaging campaign urging members of the House to resist concurrence in order to avoid, as they clearly state in their message, “… succumbing to the Homosexual Agenda.”

“We are asking/pleading with you that you DO NOT concur with the Senate version of HB0074. If the Senate version is allowed, you are allowing Wyoming to start down the ugly and eroding path that Civil Unions will have (and has [sic] had on other states that have allowed this) on not only our generation, but our children and grandchildren,” the advocates of discriminating against GLBT people assert. (Boldface type in original.)

They go on to attack the morality of the many friends and neighbors we have who happen to be homosexuals:

“We ask that you stick to your guns, and continue to uphold Wyoming in the moral fabric that founded this country and state,” the email says. (Boldface type in original.)

This session has resounded with people claiming certain religious views for the “founders” that enables them to provide a narrow idea of the American “moral fabric.”

Do they refer to the founding “moral fabric” that safely stitched slavery into the Constitution and prohibited anyone without property from voting? Do they mean the moral fabric that forbade interracial marriage? What about founder Thomas Jefferson’s sexual relationship with his enslaved housekeeper Sally Hemmings?

These advocates of discrimination against GLBT folk insist on a moral fabric in which they choose the pattern and color that the rest of us must live with or face penalty of law.

At best, they are denying the understanding that scientific observation produced in the 20th century that human sexuality is complex with many variations, not simply a dichotomy separating men from women. The world might be an easier place to navigate if Nature was so definitive. It is not.

Again, the ESPC asks everyone to email legislators and urge them to oppose concurrence in the House – obviously, for difference reasons than the anti-GLBT crowd – and then to oppose any compromises produced in subsequent conference committees in order to kill the bill.

Still looking waaay back: Nullification

The Senate Labor, Health and Social Services Committee provided an opportunity to reach back to the speech that Mississippi’s Jefferson Davis gave when he resigned from the U.S. Senate.

House Bill 35 – Health Care Choice and Protection Act declares that the new federal health care reform law known as the Affordable Care Act is “not authorized by the constitution of the United States and violate its meaning, intent and principles as given by the ratifiers [there are those founders again] … “ and “shall be considered null and void and of no effect in this state; …”

The theory of nullification and interposition, first used by the Jeffersonian Republican party to oppose the Alien and Sedition Acts in 1798, was fully developed by Sen. John C. Calhoun of South Carolina in the 1820s in opposition to high import duties imposed by the federal government.

The South Carolinians also feared that the greater federal authority asserted to impose the high tariff ultimately could be turned against the institution of slavery.1

When Davis resigned from the U.S. Senate in 1861, he made clear that when nullification fails, secession is the next step. (Editor's note: When Davis mentions "the agent," he means the federal government.)

“Nullification is a remedy which it is sought to apply with the Union, against the agent of the States. It is only to be justified when the agent has violated his constitutional obligations, and a State, assuming to judge for itself, denies the right of the agent thus to act, and appeals to the other states of the Union for a decision; but when the States themselves and when the people of the States have so acted as to convince us that they will not regard our constitutional rights, then, and then for the first time, arises the doctrine of secession in its practical application.”2

Taylor Haynes, a write-in candidate for governor in 2010, supported HB 35 and told the committee the Wyoming legislature has the authority “to protect us” from the federal government. “They run over us,” Haynes said. “They steal from us.”

Tim Summers, lobbyist for AARP, told the committee that some difficult questions would need to be answered if the bill passes. He noted that the ACA provides funding for a state program to inform seniors of their options regarding health insurance. Summers asked if passage of House Bill 35 would mean a state employee would violate the law if he or she gave out such information.

Time ran out on the committee hearing Friday. Chairman Charles Scott (R-SD30, Casper) laid the bill back and said he would discuss with committee members what they want to do next with the bill.

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1 Paul S. Boyer, editor in chief, “The Oxford Companion to United States History” 2001.
2 Jefferson Davis’s Farewell to the U.S. Senate, Jan. 21, 1861; sunsite.utk.edu/civil-war/davisexit.html
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Protesting the benefits of bigotry

Wyomingites stand up for equal rights

Shred marriage licenses in statement of solidarity with Wyoming's gays and lesbians

As the state Senate prepared to open the debate of House Bill 74 - Equality of marriage, Equality State advocates rallied in front of the Capitol under a bright sun and in a brisk Wyoming wind to declare their support for their gay and lesbian neighbors' right to expect equal treatment under the law.

Rodger McDaniel, a former legislator, state official, and local pastor, told the crowd that a local Jewish rabbi recently discussed the human propensity to discriminate against fellow humans in order to lift their own self esteem. Quoting the Biblical story of Moses and Pharoah, the rabbi noted that discrimination is a natural behavior because it makes people feel better about themselves and superior to others.

McDaniel termed this effect "the benefit of bigotry." With the state planning to void same-sex marriage contracts from other states that it now recognizes by passing HB 74, McDaniel and his wife Pat produced their own heterosexual marriage contract that provides them many legal and social benefits. It gives them benefits the state wants to deny same-sex marriages.

As the material symbol of the benefits the state will give heterosexual couples and, by discriminating, deny to same-sex couples, McDaniel and his wife said they would shred their contract.

"We don't intend to quietly accept the benefits of bigotry," he said.

Speaking in front of the statue of Esther Hobart Morris which memorializes Wyoming as the Equality State for being the first government in the world to recognize women's right to vote, McDaniel and other speakers, including state Reps. Joe Barbuto, Stan Blake, Cathy Connolly and Sen. Cale Case urged the crowd to keep up their fight to defeat HB 74.

"We can do this," Case said, though he warned the enthusiastic crowd that a vote to kill the bill was unlikely Wednesday. He predicted the bill can be killed if people work hard to convince wavering senators that Wyoming people want them to honor its constitution that guarantees equal treatment of all.

He was right. The Senate engaged in a lively debate in which Sen. Phil Nicholas challenged proponents to explain what the bill will really do and Sen. Floyd Esquibel asked them to explain how the state benefits by passage of the bill. The bill was approved in a standing vote of 17-12 with the chairman not voting.

The bill will be considered again on second reading today. An amendment to modify the bill's outright ban of civil unions is expected to be offered.

The ESPC opposes HB 74 and urges everyone to ask their senator to vote NO to stop its passage.

Video and still photography courtesy Ron Sniffin.

Protest today on Capitol steps

Full Senate ready to take up bill voiding same-sex marriage contracts

Majority Leader Tony Ross is ready to bring to the Senate floor the debate to determine whether the state will move to void existing same-sex marriage contracts in Wyoming.

House Bill 74 – Validity of marriage will bring Wyoming under the federal Defense of Marriage Act, which allows states to ignore valid marriage contracts made in other states and countries if those marriages are not between a man and a woman. The bill also bars same sex civil unions.

Ross told Wyoming Public Radio yesterday that an amendment may be needed to open the possibility of same sex civil unions.

"The question would be should there be an amendment to the bill to at least adjudicate or allow access to our courts so that those who may have a civil union from another state and not force them to go back to another state to have their rights adjudicated," Ross told WNPR,

Opponents of the bill have been working tirelessly to move senators to oppose the bill. They’re focusing on the bill’s essential discrimination against homosexual people and have pointed out that much of the impetus for the bills is coming from fundamentalist churches pushing their religious views on all Wyoming residents.

Here’s an excerpt from an email Wyoming Equality President Joe Corrigan sent to one senator:

HOuse Bill 74 " ... is not about fairness. It gives rights to one group that it denies to another. The groups promoting this bill construe scripture to inflict a narrow view of God on the rest of us. Then they narrow the view even more by not only denying marriage, but also denying civil unions. It is wrong to use scripture to divide God’s people, and it is wrong to use the law to create an unfair playing field. The groups promoting this bill are trying to use the law to practice exclusion, intolerance, and discrimination.

“I have always felt strongly in separation of church and state. If we take a few churches out of this argument, one sees no reason to pass this bill. On the other hand if we insist on keeping churches in the argument, why are we ignoring churches like the Episcopalians, The United Church of Christ, The Unitarian Universalists, and many Lutherans? These churches are the religious communities of this state working to stop this bill?”

A protest has been organized today by Rodger McDaniel, a former agency head under retired Gov. Dave Freudenthal, a pastor, and a former state legislator. Here are the details:

* * * SUPPORT MARRIAGE EQUALITY! * * *
Demonstration by hetero-married couples on the Capitol steps
in Cheyenne -- 1pm, Wednesday, Feb. 16. Bring a copy of your
marriage certificate to burn. ALL ARE INVITED to show
support for basic decency & equality.

For more info: http://blowinginthewyomingwind.blogspot.com/

We hope to see you there.

Public meetings
The Senate Travel Recreation and Wildlife Committee on Tuesday morning approved HB 120 – Public meetings. The bill will require the more than 500 state, local, and special district elected and appointed boards to handle their meetings to assure the public’s ability to track and participate in them as appropriate. The boards must:

1. Give at least 12 hours notice of any special meeting;
2. Announce the purpose of all executive sessions;
3. Make and retain audio recordings of executive sessions.
   

Holly Dabb, publisher of the Rock Springs Rocket-Miner, told the committee that the Sweetwater County Commission last year conducted more than 60 special meetings giving only 10 minutes notice of their plans to convene. The public simply had no opportunity to participate and observe as significant decisions were made.

The committee approved the bill on a 4-1 vote with only Chairman Bruce Burns (R-SD21, Sheridan) opposed. Sens. Leland Christensen (R-SD17, Alta), Dan Dockstader (R-SD16, Afton), Ogden Driskill (R-SD1, Devils Tower) and Floyd Esquibel (D-SD8, Cheyenne) voted AYE on the bill.

A look at death penalty issues sponsored by ACLU and UW law students

People in southeast Wyoming may want to attend public screening of a documentary film about a death penalty case involving a young woman who aged out of foster care. The film presentation is sponsored by the Wyoming Chapter of the ACLU and the Wyoming Law Students for Equal Justice. Here’s the announcement:

NO TOMORROW, A Documentary by Public Policy Productions
Who: Free showing; open to the public
When: Thursday, February 24, 2010 at 6:30 pm
Where: University of Wyoming Law School, Room 186
Moderated discussion by Tina Kerin, Appellate Counsel for the Wyoming State Public Defender
AND dessert to follow

NO TOMORROW investigates the murder of Risa Bejarano, the principal subject of the film, AGING OUT, about teenagers leaving foster care. NO TOMORROW explores how the film about Risa’s last year of life unexpectedly became the centerpiece of a chilling death penalty trial. The film covers the trial’s most dramatic moments in Judge Lance Ito’s courtroom, including a heated debate over the prosecutor’s use of AGING OUT to persuade the jury to impose the death penalty. While the trial focuses on whether Risa’s murderer deserves to die, several leading death penalty experts address the broader question of whether the state deserves to kill him.

Equality in the Equality State

House may not bring up anti-equality amendment
Medicaid studies backed by House Labor, Health committee

By Sarah Gorin
ESPC researcher and lobbyist

The House leadership reportedly is considering the option of not bringing up SJ5 - Defense of marriage – constitutional amendment, for debate. SJ 5 proposes amending the Wyoming Constitution to say that only a marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in Wyoming.

A proposed constitutional amendment requires a two-thirds vote, and apparently proponents do not have close to the 40 votes required to get the measure through the 60-member House. A debate will take hours, hours that will kill other bills waiting to be heard, and could well be futile if the votes are not there.

There are reports that the House leadership also does not want to add to the state’s fame on national television:

YouTube - Rachel Maddow- Wyoming anti-abortion bill advances

The House already has approved HB 74 – Validity of marriage, which recognizes marriage as a contract only between a male person and a female person, and not involving more than two parties. The bill also prohibits recognition of marriages or civil unions contracted in another state, if the relationship does not meet the above criteria.

HB 74 is awaiting debate in the Senate. We encourage readers to contact their Senators. Send a gentle, polite email message outlining your reasons for opposing the bill. The legislature’s Hotline enables you to leave a message asking your senator to vote no on HB 74. Be sure to leave your name and a telephone number for the senator to call you back should he or she be so inclined.

Health care still chronically ill …

ON Friday, the House Labor, Health and Social Services Committee heard and approved two bills relating to the Medicaid expansion contemplated by the federal Affordable Care Act (ACA).

Medicaid currently provides health care coverage for people in four categories, all low-income: the aged, blind and disabled; children; pregnant women; and caretaker adults. Under the ACA, Medicaid will be expanded to include everyone with incomes under 133% of the federal poverty level.

Those who already have insurance will be able to keep it. Everyone else with incomes above 133% of poverty will have the opportunity to purchase private health care coverage under state health insurance exchanges, which are supposed to provide transparency for the consumer. The federal government will provide subsidies to help pay premiums to those with incomes up to 400% of the federal poverty level.

The two bills considered and approved by the committee today look at two different aspects of the Medicaid expansion. SF 50 - Medicaid options study, will examine alternatives to Medicaid – e.g., can it be provided more cheaply in a different format?

SF 102 - Medicaid cost study, will look at the costs of the Medicaid expansion in its current form.

The committee discussion revealed a great deal of misinformation about the ACA, along with a fair amount of hostility. This seems to be spawned, at least in part, by frustration with the current Medicaid program, where costs continue to rise just like other health care costs.

The dense interconnectedness of health care costs will require some sustained attention from legislators. For example, Medicaid is undeniably a substantial source of funding to our state’s health institutions, nursing homes, county hospitals, pharmacies, and private medical providers.

While this is not justification for simply throwing money at all these entities, any significant reduction in Medicaid spending will adversely affect them and consequently the availability of medical care to Wyoming residents.

The Equality State Policy Center is a member of Consumer Advocates: Project Healthcare (CAPH), which is working to educate the public and decision-makers about the ACA and other health care proposals from the consumers’ point of view.

On February 22, CAPH will host an informational meeting for any and all interested parties about the new federal insurance pool for people with pre-existing conditions who have not been able to obtain coverage. Premiums for the Pre-existing Conditions Insurance Pool (PCIP) are significantly less than those for the state’s high-risk pool.

The meeting will be held from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Laramie County Public Library in Cheyenne.

Participate
Citizens can register their opinions on specific legislation by using the “Online Hotline” or the telephone Hotline – 1-866-966-8683 or, in Cheyenne, 777-8683.

Elections law

County commission districting bill moves forward

Legislature responds to Wind River Voting Rights Act win with potential political quarantine

By Sarah Gorin
ESPC researcher

The Week news magazine always includes a short article called “Boring but Important,” often featuring a governmental process issue that has a significant impact on policy. The ESPC advocates on many such “Boring but Important” issues, which are hard to draw attention to but can affect any area Wyomingites feel passionately about, from education to health care to today’s topic, voting.

We’ve talked previously about SF 14 - Counties – election districts. The bill was brought following a successful Voting Rights Act lawsuit against Fremont County that was filed by several Native American plaintiff.

Voting Rights Act lawsuits focus on discrimination and the reality that HOW candidates are elected can determine WHO gets elected.

The lawsuit alleged that electing county commissioners at-large from the county illegally diluted the Native American vote, making it difficult if not impossible to elect a tribal candidate. A federal district court judge agreed and ordered the county to create five county commission districts from which to elect its five county commissioners. This districting has been accomplished and the first election held on January 18. (The county’s appeal of the decision is pending in federal appellate court.)

Current Wyoming law allows county residents to vote on increasing the number of county commissioners from three to five, and also to vote on whether they want county commission districts. If voters approve districting, however, the only option is single-member districts – one commissioner per district.

Although Fremont County’s county districting was done under federal court order and ultimately resulted in single-member districts, its initial response to losing the lawsuit was to offer a districting plan with a majority Native American district to elect one commissioner, and an at-large district to elect the other four commissioners.

This “hybrid” districting proposal was aimed at preserving the status quo as much as possible, and also was described as a kind of “political quarantine” for the Native American population.

SF 14 changes current law to allow hybrid districting. The ESPC has been working against the bill due to the potential for using hybrid districting to discriminate, not only in Fremont County but in other areas of the state where there are geographical concentrations of minority populations.

SF 14 has passed the Senate and was heard Tuesday (Feb. 8) and again Thursday in the House Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Committee. The House committee adopted amendments offered by Rep. John Patton (R-H29, Sheridan) to include a multi-member district option as well, so counties could design any combination of single, multi-member, or at-large districts.

The bill passed the committee 6-3, with Chairman Pete Illoway (R-H42, Cheyenne) and Representatives Allen Jaggi (R-H18, Lyman), Kendell Kroeker (R-H35, Casper), Patton, and Tim Stubson (R-H56, Casper) voting yes. Representative Lisa Shepperson (R-H58, Casper) was not present but left a yes vote.

Representatives Gregg Blikre (R-H53, Gillette), Jim Byrd (D-H44, Cheyenne) and Jim Roscoe (D-H22, Wilson) voted no.

And now let’s look at the money …

SF 3 - Campaign finance – organizations, passed second reading in the House today and will be up for its third and final vote on Friday.

SF 3 changes Wyoming law to comply with last year’s U.S. Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. FEC, which allows corporations to make unlimited independent expenditures directly from corporate funds (as opposed to corporate political action committees, which are funded by individual contributions from corporate employees, directors and/or shareholders).

The ESPC has worked hard to keep these new independent expenditures identifiable. It would be easy to create a front organization funded by an independent expenditure from a corporation, hiding the true source of the money from voters and candidates.

The Wyoming Senate added an amendment requiring printing or announcement of the top three contributors to the organization making the independent expenditure. This approach was rejected by the House, which appears on track to adopt an amendment requiring independent expenditure organizations to file like political action committees.

The House version will go back to the Senate for “concurrence,” that is, the Senate will vote on whether to agree with the House amendment. If the Senate votes not to concur, a conference committee will be appointed to try to resolve the differences between the two houses. The conference committee will be comprised of three members from each house, two who voted for the bill and one who voted against.


Another area where process counts

Tuesday’s defeat of SF 52 -Teacher tenure, on third and final reading in the Senate was a victory for due process. It would have changed current “continuing contract” law in Wyoming to allow firing of teachers for any reason, papered over with a hearing process that did not include any basic due process rights such as the right to respond to one’s accuser or to directly confront evidence.

The Senate subsequently passed two bills with a much better approach: SF 70 - Education accountability, and SF 146 - Teacher accountability act. These bills now will move to the Wyoming House for further action.

Participate
Citizens can register their opinions on specific legislation by using the “Online Hotline” or the telephone Hotline – 1-866-966-8683 or, in Cheyenne, 777-8683.

Future wind projects will pay sales tax

House drives stake through wind taxation bill

A reconsideration vote Wednesday failed to revive HB 191 – Wind power taxation.

The House killed the bill on a tie vote on third reading Tuesday, 29-29. An effort to revive it found a definite majority in opposition when the bill was again killed 27-32.

Opponents again argued the legislation would not provide local governments with the money they need to deal with the social and infrastructure impacts of big wind farm projects.

The ESPC supported defeating the measure, which essentially put the state in the position of financing sales tax for new wind projects (existing projects enjoyed a sales tax exemption). Without HB 191, the law passed by the 2010 Legislature will stay in effect, which imposes a $1/megawatt-hour excise tax three years after the turbine begins generating electricity. Moreover, the sales tax exemption will expire, and the sales tax revenues will help local governments deal with the impacts of wind projects.

Here’s the vote on reconsideration of HB 191 – Wind power taxation:

Ayes: Representative(s) Berger, Blake, Bonner, Buchanan, Burkhart, Byrd, Childers, Eklund, Freeman, Greear, Harvey, Illoway, Kasperik, Krone, Lockhart, Loucks, Lubnau, Nicholas B, Patton, Pederson, Petroff, Stubson, Teeters, Throne, Vranish, Wallis and Zwonitzer, Dn..

Nays: Representative(s) Barbuto, Blikre, Botten, Brechtel, Brown, Campbell, Cannady, Connolly, Craft, Davison, Edmonds, Esquibel, K., Gay, Gingery, Goggles, Greene, Harshman, Hunt, Jaggi, Kroeker, Madden, McKim, McOmie, Miller, Moniz, Peasley, Petersen, Quarberg, Roscoe, Semlek, Steward and Zwonitzer, Dv..
Excused: Representative(s) Shepperson
Ayes 27 Nays 32 Excused 1 Absent 0 Conflicts 0

Campaign finance - changes to disclosure of independent disclosures

SF 3- Campaign finance – organizations cleared the House Committee of the Whole with a new amendment from Rep. John Patton (R-HD29, Sheridan). The House Corporations committee stripped a Senate amendment requiring independent expenditure campaigns to list the names of their top three contributors in print ads and to speak those names in broadcast ads.

The committee instead adopted a disclosure amendment requiring reporting of contributors, similar to the reporting now required of candidate committees and PACs. The bill will be on second reading Thursday.

Participate
Citizens can register their opinions on specific legislation by using the “Online Hotline” or the telephone Hotline – 1-866-966-8683 or, in Cheyenne, 777-8683.

Equality in the Equality State

Opponents fear gay marriage amendment will produce “ugly” media campaign in 2012 elections

With notes on campaign spending and taxing wind

The campaigning around a proposed state constitutional amendment to bar same-sex marriage in Wyoming will be a media circus that will put intolerable pressure on the state’s gay residents and harm the state’s economy, opponents of the amendment said Tuesday.

The House Judiciary Committee took testimony for about an hour Tuesday morning on SJ 5: Defense of marriage – constitutional amendment, then approved sending it to the House floor on a 6-3 vote.

Gov. Matt Mead joined the debate as well when his legislative liaison, Chris Boswell, presented a proposed amendment to the House Judiciary Committee that would involve placing two amendment propositions on the 2012 ballot. However, Boswell brought only a few copies of the proposal and these were distributed to the committee members, so we all are still in the dark about the exact wording.

Committee Chairman Kermit Brown (R-HD14, Laramie) told Boswell the Governor’s amendment should be brought on the House floor.

Proponents again argued that proposal “simply allows people to vote” on their idea that Wyoming must protect the exclusivity of marriage to one man and one woman. They contend the measure is necessary because gay marriage somehow threatens heterosexual marriage, which serves as a pillar of society, furthers procreation, and provides the optimal environment for children with both the father and mother present.

Proponents discounted assertions that the amendment takes away rights, saying that gay couples can seek other legal solutions to achieve the same protections that marriages provide. That more difficult process is fair, they contend, because homosexuality is a lifestyle choice, not an inherent part of a person’s makeup.

Opponents refuted those arguments and warned that the campaigns to urge votes for and against the amendment will flood the 2012 election with demonizations of homosexuals and others who don’t fit into society’s favored gender roles.

Laramie attorney John D. Rawls predicted that if placed on the ballot in 2012, “there will be convulsions across Wyoming” prompted by campaign advertising placed by people who do not understand the traditional “live and let live” culture of the state, and instead stirs fear and loathing among neighbors.

Joe Corrigan, president of Wyoming Equality, a nonprofit that advocates for gay and lesbian rights, predicted the amendment campaign would deteriorate to the level of what were described as “vile” email messages sent to legislators, reviling some legislators for voting to support equality this session.

Some gay and lesbian people will not be able to withstand the pressure of such a campaign and will not survive it, he said. Instead, he urged legislators to assure the equality of gays and lesbians. “I believe there is room at the table for all of us,” he said.

Rep. Mary Throne (D-HD11, Cheyenne) said she has three young sons, all who would be in their teens in 2012. She said she does not wish to see them subjected to campaign that will spread an ugly tone across the state. “That’s not good for my boys,” she said.

Throne said a 2012 campaign season focused on a gay marriage amendment could harm the state’s economy. Tourists coming to the state would encounter billboards urging them to ‘Stand up against hate’ or to ‘Support family values’ or they would see other messages, none of which would tend to promote the state and the resources that attract tourists.

Rep. Joe Barbuto (D-HD48, Rock Springs) voted against the resolution, asking, “Do we need something in our Constitution that has so much negative effect on one small part of the population?”

The third vote against the proposed amendment was cast by Rep. Matt Greene (R-HD45, Laramie) who said he sees no need for it since state statutes already declare that marriage is between a man and a woman.

Chairman Brown, citing a desire to see the measure debated on the House floor, voted for it, along with Reps. Brechtold, Cannaday, Krone, B. Nicholas and Peasley.

SF 3 – Unlimited corporate spending

As we’ve described in earlier blogs, the Citizens United v. FEC case decided in January 2010 potentially changes the face of Wyoming elections by allowing unlimited independent expenditures directly from corporate treasuries. Check out the Citizens United page on our website for detailed background information.

Wyoming law currently allows only candidates, candidate committees, political parties, and political action committees (PACs) to spend money opposing or supporting candidates or ballot measures. SF 3 changes this law to comply with Citizens United.

The ESPC respectfully disagrees with the Court’s decision holding that previous campaign finance laws restricted corporate free speech. Nonetheless, the court decision is the law of the land, so the ESPC has argued that SF 3 should include effective disclosure requirements so that Wyoming voters can identify the sources of independent expenditures.
The House Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Committee today stripped a Senate amendment requiring independent expenditure campaigns to list the names of their top three contributors in print ads and to speak those names in broadcast ads.

The committee instead unanimously adopted a disclosure amendment requiring reporting of contributors, similar to the reporting now required of candidate committees and PACs.

HB 191 – Taxing Wyoming wind

The House on today killed HB 191 – Wind power taxation on third reading, 29-29. Opponents argued the legislation would not provide local governments with the money they need to deal with the social and infrastructure impacts of big wind farm projects.

The ESPC supported defeating the measure, which essentially put the state in the position of financing sales tax for new wind projects (existing projects enjoyed a sales tax exemption). Without HB 191, the law passed by the 2010 Legislature will stay in effect, which imposes a $1/megawatt-hour excise tax three years after the turbine begins generating electricity. Moreover, the sales tax exemption will expire, and the sales tax revenues will help local governments deal with the impacts of wind projects.

At the end of business today, however, a request for reconsideration of the vote was announced, and this will be held tomorrow. It will be interesting to see if someone changes their vote - or if one of the excused legislators returns to change the House decision. Here's the vote:

Ayes: Representative(s) Berger, Blake, Blikre, Bonner, Buchanan, Burkhart, Byrd, Childers, Craft, Eklund, Freeman, Gay, Greear, Harvey, Hunt, Illoway, Kasperik, Krone, Lockhart, Loucks, Lubnau, Nicholas B, Patton, Peasley, Petroff, Stubson, Throne, Vranish and Zwonitzer, Dn..

Nays: Representative(s) Barbuto, Botten, Brechtel, Brown, Campbell, Cannady, Connolly, Davison, Edmonds, Esquibel, K., Gingery, Goggles, Greene, Harshman, Jaggi, Kroeker, Madden, McKim, McOmie, Miller, Moniz, Petersen, Quarberg, Roscoe, Semlek, Steward, Teeters, Wallis and Zwonitzer, Dv..

Excused: Representative(s) Pederson and Shepperson.

Ayes 29 Nays 29 Excused 2 Absent 0 Conflicts 0

Participate
Citizens can register their opinions on specific legislation by using the “Online Hotline” or the telephone Hotline – 1-866-966-8683 or, in Cheyenne, 777-8683.

Extended unemployment benefits? Not in Wyoming

Out of work? Too bad, pal

House flushes $38 million in federal funds, turns back on Wyoming unemployed

Wyomingites who lost their jobs in the Great Recession were told by a majority of Wyoming House members today to find work. The House rejected House Bill 244 – Unemployment insurance amendments on a 25-34 vote.

The House majority sent this message despite seven straight quarters of decline in new business formation in Wyoming. Moreover, from June 2008 to June 2010, Wyoming lost 15,200 jobs, according to Wyoming Department of Employment statistics.

The defeat of HB 244 means Wyoming will not see close to $38 million in available federal funds circulate through our economy. Instead, workers who fall into poverty when their benefits run out will be forced to turn to programs such as Medicaid and food stamps to take care of their families – programs whose growth disturbs many of the same legislators who voted against HB 244.

The bill would have brought about $24 million in extended unemployment insurance benefits for 13 weeks to workers who exhaust their ordinary unemployment benefits between March 15, 2011 and Jan. 1, 2012. Sponsor Rep. Cathy Connolly (D-HD13, Laramie) said the measure, funded fully by the federal government following Congress’ December decision to again fund extended benefits, would help 7,500 workers survive the recession after losing their jobs through no fault of their own.

Take a look at the arithmetic: $24 million divided by 7,500 workers divided by 13 weeks of extended benefits means the average check for a worker getting these benefits would be less than $250 per week, hardly a gravy train. It’s difficult to provide food and housing for a single person on that income; supporting a family of four would not be possible in Wyoming.

The bill also would have changed state unemployment insurance law to enable the state to tap another $14.2 million in American Restoration and Recovery Act funds. About $5 million of that money would have financed the expansion of the base period used to calculate eligibility for the insurance. More workers would have been eligible.

Another $9.2 million would have been available to pay for benefits to unemployed workers who enrolled in state-approved training programs that would give them the skills needed to move into other occupations where the state has projected jobs will be available in the future.

A legislator who owns a coffee shop admitted she formerly was a critic of people receiving unemployment benefits, but she now gets 100 applicants when she advertises a single position, showing that there are a lot of people out there looking for work.

But the argument that the program is “a hand up, not a hand out” for people who want to work carried no weight.

Instead, the House resounded with tales of fraud and little sympathy for the unemployed, saying that unemployment benefits reduce the incentive to look for work.

Private contractors and construction union lobbyists joined forces to advocate for the bill as a way to address unemployment in the construction sector, which is hovering near 20%, but to no avail.

Here’s the roll call vote in today’s House vote on HB 244. Take a close look:

Ayes: Representative(s) Barbuto, Berger, Blake, Blikre, Botten, Burkhart, Byrd, Campbell, Connolly, Craft, Esquibel, K., Freeman, Goggles, Greear, Greene, Harshman, Krone, McOmie, Patton, Petroff, Roscoe, Steward, Throne, Vranish and Zwonitzer, Dn..

Nays: Representative(s) Bonner, Brechtel, Brown, Buchanan, Cannady, Childers, Davison, Edmonds, Eklund, Gay, Gingery, Harvey, Hunt, Illoway, Jaggi, Kasperik, Kroeker, Lockhart, Loucks, Lubnau, Madden, McKim, Miller, Moniz, Nicholas B, Peasley, Pederson, Petersen, Quarberg, Semlek, Stubson, Teeters, Wallis and Zwonitzer, Dv..

Excused: Representative(s) Shepperson
Ayes 25 Nays 34 Excused 1 Absent 0 Conflicts 0

Saturday roundup

Labor, industry back changes in unemployment insurance that make re-training an option

Bill taps millions in federal funding to help those seeking work

By Dan Neal and Sarah Gorin

Unemployed Wyoming workers who want training in skills that could open doors to other jobs will get a boost if a bill to extend long-term unemployment benefits becomes law. Both industry and labor support the bill.

Rep. Cathy Connolly (D-HD13, Laramie) sponsored HB 244 – Unemployment insurance amendments.
It will change state statutes to enable Wyoming to take advantage of the extension of long-term unemployment benefits approved by Congress in December. The extension will allow currently unemployed workers to qualify for 13 more weeks of benefits through January 12, 2012. Connolly thinks up to 7,500 unemployed workers could benefit from that extension.

The bill also allows the state to tap $14.2 million in federal funding authorized under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. In order to qualify, the state would change its law to allow unemployed workers in approved training programs to continue to receive their unemployment insurance checks.
It also would change the base period to allow more workers to qualify for unemployment insurance benefits.

Wyoming Contractors Association Executive Director Jonathon Downing testified in favor of the bill, calling it “a hand up, not a hand-out.” The Contractors Association offers training to people to get them into other trades. Union locals also offer training.

The training is intense, however, and unemployed workers in nearly every situation would have to forgo unemployment insurance benefits because they do not have time to look for work. The system can force a worker to choose between the benefits needed to feed and clothe his or her family or the training that could open a door to another job or career.

AFL-CIO Executive Secretary Kim Floyd said the change to allow people to receive benefits while training “is an incredible option.” He noted that while Wyoming’s overall employment rate stands at more than 6.5%, unemployment in the construction trades stands at about 21%. “We’ve got a lot of people sitting on the bench.” (Quick aside: This is one of the reasons that the unions and the contractors association have joined forces to push legislation that could mean more state work for resident contractors who hire resident workers. Most state-funded highway and capital construction contracts have gone to contractors from outside the state, Floyd says.)

Joan Evans, director of the Department of Workforce Services, noted the simple extension of benefits will help people who have not been able to find work. “There are some people in desperate situations right now,” she told the committee.

Evans noted the ARRA funds offer important help to the department because they include $1 million for reprogramming to upgrade state administrative systems to handle changes in the law, such as the change in the base period of work used to calculate benefits. When she noted the state system currently uses COBOL programming, a buzz rippled around the committee room. Downing said later it has been many years since he heard of anyone using COBOL.

Addressing committee member concerns about continuing costs to the state after the ARRA funds are used, Downing said the legislature might have to repeal the changes later. Connolly asked the committee to consider the bill as a “pilot project” that will enable the state to use federal funds to evaluate the value of the changes.

The House Minerals, Business and Economic Development Committee amended the bill to delete several pages, including a section that would have allowed payment of benefits when a worker loses a job because his or her spouse’s job requires a change in location. At the urging of Rep. Dan Zwonitzer (R-HD43, Cheyenne) the committee also approved an amendment requiring the department to report on the costs and effects of the changes in by Nov. 15.

“That way we can fix our computer system and see if we want to change the law back,” Zwonitzer said.

House leadership referred the bill to be heard by the House Appropriations Committee Monday. The bill must be heard in the House Committee of the Whole by the end of the day Monday or it dies for the year. If that happens, the state loses the opportunity to tap the ARRA funds. States have until Aug. 22, 2011 to submit their applications to the U.S. Department of Labor to certify that they comply with the specific provisions of the ARRA’s incentive funding program.

“Validity” of Marriage

HB 74 – Validity of marriage was heard by the Senate Agriculture, State and Public Lands and Cultural Resources Committee. Opponents argued that the bill violates Equal Protection rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution, voids legal contracts, and puts in doubt the status of legally married same-sex couples and their children.

House Majority Floor Leader Tom Lubnau pooh-poohed the criticism of the bill so loudly heard while it made its way through the House. “I don’t see this as a monumental civil rights battle,” he said.

Kiefer Partridge, a UW student and member of the WyWatch Political Action Committee, supported the bill, saying that state law should be biblically sound. According to Partridge, the concept of separation of church and state was meant to protect churches from the state, not to exclude churches from advocating for religiously-derived policy.

That’s a long stretch from the idea that separation of church and state prevents the adherents of one church or religion from using the state to impose their credo on the faithful of another belief or on people who follow no religion.

Tax on Wind Power Whirling Around
HB 191 – Wind power taxation narrowly passed Committee of the Whole, 28-24. Opponents said it takes too long – 20 years – to phase-in the $3 per megawatt hour (MWH) tax on power generated by wind farms already constructed in the state. They also claimed the bill is not ready, since sponsors said they would have to bring major amendments in subsequent readings.

The ESPC supports the existing wind tax structure, which imposes both sales tax and a MWH tax (although the MWH tax could be higher!). HB 191 “finances” sales tax via a higher MWH tax, which places some risk on the state if anticipated wind power development does not actually happen. Moreover, the sloooowwww phase-in of the MWH tax on existing projects is unjustified, as these projects never paid sales tax due to an exemption that expired at the end of 2010.

Data Not Needed

The bill extending an existing sales and use tax exemption for purchases of manufacturing equipment, HB 143 - Manufacturing tax exemption, passed the Senate Revenue Committee 4-1 last Thursday.

As in the House, economic development organizations and manufacturers lined up to say how much they like the tax exemption, and asserted that new taxes generated by development make up for the loss in sales and use tax collections: $53 million and growing since the exemption was enacted six years ago.

The ESPC, which opposed the tax exemption from the beginning and advocated successfully for the first follow-up reporting on a tax exemption, went through this year’s report on the exemption. It shows that the percentage of manufacturing jobs in Wyoming has gone down slightly since the tax exemption began, and that the absolute number of manufacturing jobs went up only slightly, but went down with the recession.

The report also shows while manufacturing wages are higher than in other economic sectors, part-time employees in manufacturing receive fewer benefits than part-time employees in other sectors.

Finally, the report notes that most of the benefit of the tax exemption has gone to a handful of manufacturers, principally the state’s two major refineries, Frontier Refining in Cheyenne and the Sinclair refinery. The ESPC collected data from the Laramie and Carbon county assessors to show that property tax data did not support the assertion that the sales tax exemption was made up for by increases in other tax revenues.

Senator Case asked most of the proponents why manufacturing should get a sales and use tax exemption but not other types of businesses. This question was raised in the ESPC’s testimony as well, a particularly pertinent one given the complete absence of any concrete documentation of the exemption’s benefits.

Chairman John Hines (R-S23, Gillette) and Senators Paul Barnard (R-S15, Evanston), Fred Emerich (R-S5, Cheyenne) and Drew Perkins (S-29, Casper) voted for the bill; Senator Cale Case (R-S25, Lander) cast the dissenting vote.

Participate
Citizens can register their opinions on specific legislation by using the “Online Hotline” or the telephone Hotline – 1-866-966-8683 or, in Cheyenne, 777-8683.

Child care and the state

Wyoming people want basic regulation of child care

State oversight of home child care providers protects children, more than a dozen child care providers and the people who need their services told the House Labor Health and Social Services Committee hearing Wednesday evening.

The witnesses, including child care providers from Cheyenne, Douglas, and Powell, opposed a proposed bill that would have exempted some home child care providers from state certification.

The legislation, House Bill 239 – Child caring facilities-certification, exempted home child care operations from state certification requirements if they do not accept any state subsidies for providing the care. Sponsor Rep. Lorraine Quarberg (R-HD28, Thermpolis) said she introduced the measure after a Big Horn basin family violated state law that says home care providers can not care for more than two unrelated children unless their business is certified by the state.

Quarberg said there are trustworthy people who can provide such care without certification by the state.

But advocates of child care regulation said the state certification and licensing processes assure parents that at least minimal safety rules would be met. Opponents argued that providers who choose to operate unlicensed would not have central registry background checks or criminal history background checks.

Those background checks are performed by the state Department of Family Services. Several witnesses at the hearing noted that most parents do not have access to the tools needed to check the background of a potential care giver for their children. Mike McGrady, a Cheyenne attorney, said he had access to investigatory tools as he considered child care providers. “But I didn’t know what questions to ask,” he said. Home care providers are “still a business,” he said, and it makes sense to require them to meet basic standards.

Committee member Rep. Frank Peasley (R-HD3, Douglas) asked several opponents if there is any statistical proof that regulation has reduced problems surrounding child care.

“Did abuse go down?” he asked. It seems, he said, that “the more we regulate, the more problems we have.”

He noted his wife put him through school by “baby sitting” and she did so before the state licensed care.

When Cheyenne police detective Joe Hickerson said background checks would keep people clearly unsuited because of a record of violence against children out of the child care business, Rep. Peasley asked him, “Do you want the state more involved in parenting?”

“Common sense would tell you,” Hickerson replied, that basic background checks will protect children.

“If people have a loophole to go through,” Hickerson told Peasley, “… they will take advantage of that.”

Other providers noted the ease of going through the full licensing process in Wyoming. Licensing, one noted, is a breeze compared to the challenges and difficulties of caring for children.

In her closing comments, HB 239 sponsor Quarberg said she was pleased to hear that licensing is not difficult for people who want to operate a child care business. She said people should be more trusting of neighbors who want to offer care to children.

“We can do background checks, but we can’t check for violent tendencies,” she said. Once regulations are adopted, she said, “It is difficult to go backwards. It’s difficult to say we’re not all monsters.”

The committee voted to kill the bill 3-6.

Nay votes were cast by Reps. Joe Barbuto (D-HD48, Rock Springs), Rep. Bernadine Craft (D-HD17, Rock Springs), Gerald Gay (R-HD36, Casper), Keith Gingery (R-HD23, Jackson), Matt Greene (R-HD45, Laramie), and Hans Hunt (R-HD2, Newcastle).

Chairman Elaine Harvey (R-HD26, Lovell) joined Reps. David Miller (R-HD55, Riverton) and Peasley in voting YES for the bill.

Taxing the wind power industry

Taxing the wind power industry to assure that the industry pays it way and that counties have the resources needed to deal with the impacts of wind farm industrialization was considered by the House Revenue Committee Wednesday morning and again in the afternoon.

Rep. Tim Stubson (R-HD56, Casper) and Sen. Drew Perkins (R-SD29, Casper) offered a taxing scheme that would permanently exempt wind projects from the sales tax but impose a $3 per mega-watt-hour tax on power generated by wind turbines. As they presented HB 191 – Wind power taxation, the sponsors suggested a major amendment substantially changing the scheme to finance an impact fund as it generates revenues for the state and counties. Their plan , they said, eliminates potential state sales tax revenues now but ultimately generates greater revenues to the state.

That prospect provided little solace for Carbon County Commissioners Terry Weikum and Jerry Paxton. They said the county’s quality of life has been harmed by wind projects there that have been built recently under state laws that exempt those projects from the sales tax. Without the tax, the county does not have the resources needed to deal with damages to roads, demands for more law enforcement, and increased drug problems in rural communities like Medicine Bow, according to Paxton and Weikum.

The commissioners said existing law, which will lift the sales tax exemption on wind farm construction Jan. 1, 2012 and impose a $1 per mwh power generation tax, would provide resources to deal with the expected impacts of projects now on the drawing boards. The projects would be subject to local-option sales taxes. They worry that the Stubson-Perkins proposal may not leave them in as good a position to deal with new wind power construction projects.

The ESPC noted that other energy industries pay property, sales and severance taxes. The wind power industry should pay property, sales and MWH taxes.

The vote:

The committee approved HB191, as amended with regard to distribution of the tax revenues.
Ayes: Chairman Pat Childers (R-H50, Cody); Representatives Greg Blikre (R-H53, Gillette), Patrick Goggles (D-H33, Ethete), Owen Petersen (R-H19, Mountain View), Clarence Vranish (R-H49, Evanston).
Noes: Representatives Rita Campbell (R-H34, Shoshoni), David Miller (R-H55, Riverton), Mark Semlek (R-H1, Moorcroft)
Excused: Rep. Mike Madden (R-H40, Buffalo)

Elsewhere Wednesday

The House Labor Committee also approved a bill that advocates contend will require the Workers’ Compensation Division to use a guide to rating physical impairments that is more fair to injured workers than the guide now used by the division. (House Bill 232 – Workers’ Compensation impairment ratings)

In Committee of the Whole, the House killed HB131 – Tip sharing. Opponents said the bill unfairly required employees to surrender tips to a pool that then could be used by employers to meet the legal requirement to bring other tipped employees up to the federally required minimum wage of $7.25 hour from the tipped minimum wage of $2.13/hr.

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Gay anti-discrimination bill fails

Apparently it’s the “Equality” part of “Equality State” that many representatives don't understand

By Sarah Gorin and Dan Neal
ESPC lobbyists

Last week, we asked “What part of ‘Equality State’ don’t legislators understand?”
After today’s vote on House Bill 142 - Discrimination, we think it must be the “Equality” part.

HB 142 simply added “sexual orientation or gender identity” to several places in Wyoming statutes that already prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, color, creed, national identity, religion/religious belief, sex, age, economic status, pregnancy, political affiliation, disability, ethnic background, ancestry, or inability to pay.

This bill provided an opportunity for those voting against recognition of gay marriages to leave that issue behind and go on record as opposing discrimination in such areas as employment, choosing juries, schools, and public accommodations (doesn’t that ring a bell, baby boomers?).

It’s little wonder that stories continue to emerge about students bullying their GLBT peers in schools and cyberspace, when their adult role models are so clearly sending the message that sexual orientation is adequate cause for demoting individuals to second-class status.

Please thank the representatives who voted for HB 142, and question the ones who didn’t.

Ayes: Representatives Barbuto, Blake, Bonner, Brown, Byrd, Campbell, Childers, Connolly, Craft, Esquibel (Ken), Freeman, Gingery, Goggles, Greene, Illoway, Kasperik, McOmie, Petroff, Roscoe, Shepperson, Steward, Throne, Wallis, Zwonitzer (Dan), Zwonitzer (Dave)

Nays: Representatives: Berger, Blikre, Botten, Brechtel, Buchanan, Burkhart, Cannady, Davison, Edmonds, Eklund, Gay, Greear, Harshman, Harvey, Hunt, Jaggi, Kroeker, Krone, Loucks, Lubnau, Madden, McKim, Miller, Moniz, Nicholas (Bob), Patton, Peasley, Petersen, Quarberg, Semlek, Stubson, Teeters, Vranish

Excused: Representative(s): Lockhart, Pedersen

For some funny and pointed observations on this subject, click on the link below to Mary Kettl’s column in the January 30 Casper Star-Tribune.

"The things we conceal and carry" by Mary Kettl


And While We’re Back in Time ….

Remember when southern politicians invoked “nullification” to preserve segregation in the face of federal civil rights laws? We’re back in time again, bringing “nullification” to bear on federal health care reforms.

Tomorrow, SJ 2 and HB 35 will be on final reading in the Senate and House, respectively. SJ 2 proposes to amend the Wyoming Constitution to say that Wyoming residents cannot be compelled to participate in any particular health care system or penalized for refusing to participate.

HB 35 began by criminalizing activity by any public servant to implement the Affordable Care Act, but now has been amended to a political tirade. It offers nothing in the way of health care.

While no one would argue that the Affordable Care Act is a perfect piece of legislation, it at least attempts to find solutions to the critical problems of uncompensated care, massive cost-shifting, cost containment, and the lack of transparency and accountability on the part of insurers.

Its initial implementation already has brought better health care to many Wyomingites, such as the previously uninsured who now can obtain affordable coverage through the federal high-risk pool, for young adults who can be covered on their parents’ policies, and to small businesses which are looking into utilizing the tax credit to purchase coverage for their employees.

The sponsors of these bills have not offered any ideas on how to keep our hospitals and nursing homes afloat or keep medical providers in our communities. Please use the HOTLINE information below to let your legislators know that it’s time to dump the politics and focus on actual health care.

Tipped workers

Two bills heard in committees Monday aimed to make changes in laws regulating pay for tipped workers.

HB131 – Tip sharing allows employers to require tipped employees to contribute to a pool shared by other tipped workers. Federal law limits the sharing to 15% of tips earned above the federal minimum wage of $7.25/hour. Advocates say it enables a fairer distribution of tips among all of a businesses tipped workers.

The measure was approved unanimously by the House Minerals, Business & Economic Development Committee after it adopted an amendment that makes plain that the employer cannot be paid from the pool.

Late Friday evening Rep. Cathy Connolly (D-HD13, Laramie) presented HB181 – Wage rates – penalties to the House Labor, Health and Social Services Committee as a “small step” needed to make sure that tipped workers, particularly those working in restaurants, are paid the federal minimum wage of $7.25/hour for each hour worked. The bill provided tipped workers an opportunity to request a confidential investigation by the state Department of Employment if they could show that an employer was not paying the “tip offset.”

Tipped workers can be paid a minimum wage of just $2.13 per hour. If they don’t make the equivalent of $5.12 in tips for each hour worked in a week, the employer must make up the difference. Connolly’s bill also provided that if an employer failed to pay the difference, the employee could file a civil action to recover three times the amount due or $100, whichever was greater.

The committee defeated the bill, however, amid concerns from Rep. Keith Gingery (R-HD23, Jackson) that it did not provide for an appeal process for employers. Connolly tried to counter that worry with a promise to bring a floor amendment but the committee voted 4-5 to kill the bill.

League of Women Voters Lobbyist Marguerite Herman said the committee could address all its worries simply by dropping the exemption that allows employers to pay tipped workers a direct wage of just $2.13 per hour.

Herman's proposal is the real solution to the whole problem for tipped workers.Removing the exemption eliminate all the bookkeeping required to make certain a workers wages and tips bring the worker to $7.25 an hour.

But the legislature has refused to consider raising the tipped minimum and that's why Rep. Connolly offered this much smaller step address some of the issues surrounding the system. Many workers fear to complain when they're cheated out of wages, fearing retribution that could cost them their job.

Chairman Elaine Harvey, Rep. Joe Barbuto (D-HD48, Rock Springs), Rep. Bernadine Craft (D-HD17, Rock Springs) and co-sponsor Rep. Matt Greene (R-HD45-Laramie) voted for the bill.

Reps. Gerald Gay (R-HD36, Casper), Gingery, Hans Hunt (R-HD2, Newcastle), David Miller (R-HD55, Riverton) and Frank Peasley (R-HD3, Douglas) voted Nay and killed the bill.

Editor's note: As we post this, the LSO server is busy and we cannot provide the links to these bills. We will update the blog later with those links.


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Citizens can register their opinions on specific legislation by using the “Online Hotline” or the telephone Hotline – 1-866-966-8683 or, in Cheyenne, 777-8683.