A day at the legislative races

Arizona copy cat bill fails

Minerals committee refuses to move ALEC-motivated measure


In a session dominated by discriminatory legislation, justice advocates registered a significant victory Monday when the House Minerals Committee refused to put a troubling immigration bill up for discussion.

Members of the House Minerals, Business and Economic Development Committee killed a bill modeled after Arizona’s controversial SB1070 by simply refusing even to offer a motion for passage. There was significant Establishment opposition to the bill, House Bill 94 – Illegal Immigration, including from the Wyoming Lodging and Restaurant Lodging Association.

The ESPC and its allies believed the bill would lead to racial profiling, split up families that include documented and undocumented people living in the state, would hamper police, who would have to devote resources to enforcing federal immigration law, and could spawn national protests that would adversely affect Wyoming’s tourism industry.

The bill was modeled closely on Arizona's SB1070. Reports by National Public Radio last fall tied the bill to the American Legislative Exchange Congress (ALEC) and the private prison industry in the U.S.

Chesie Lee, the lobbyist for ESPC-member group the Wyoming Association of Churches celebrated the victory with this message:

“Good News! ... After a lengthy hearing before the House Minerals Committee with many raising significant problems with HB 94 for Wyoming from diverse points of view, no one on the House Minerals Committee was willing to move the bill, so it died in committee being indefinitely postponed following some discussion.
“I believe the voice of the Wyoming Association of Churches on this issue was good and made a difference. … The room was packed with many having to stand in the hallway. Only a couple other than sponsors spoke in favor of the bill, but no one representing any organization spoke for it.”

Lee notes that some students plan a rally for 11:30 am on Thursday at the State Capitol to celebrate.
This is a great victory, especially considering the socially conservative tenor of this legislature. We all winced Monday when House Bill 74 – Validity of Marriage passed the House. The measure makes gay and lesbian marriage illegal in Wyoming, including existing marriages made legally in other states.

Advocates managed to narrow the number of representatives who favored the measure in earlier votes, but in the end fell still needed to swing three more legislators when the House voted 32-27 to pass the bill. (House Minority Leader Patrick Goggles was excused from the vote. Goggles is working his way through some significant family matters.)

Meanwhile, the House Judiciary Committee killed one of three bills aimed at refining Wyoming’s Open Meetings and Public Records laws. The committee amended but approved a bill, House Bill 120 – Public meetings, requiring public entities to inform interested media outlets and others 24 hours in advance of special meetings. Those entities, such as city councils, boards, commissions, and conservation districts, still could schedule emergency meetings without the 24-hour notice when circumstances demand immediate action.

A provision that would have required audio recordings of all executive sessions held by public boards and entities was stripped from the bill via an amendment proposed by Rep. Bob Nicholas (R-HD 8, Cheyenne). Supporters, including the Wyoming Coalition for Open Government, the Wyoming Press Association, the League of Women Voters, and the ESPC hope to see that provision restored.

Reps. Sam Krone (R-HD24, Cody) joined Rep. Nicholas in voting against the measure.

The Judiciary Committee also approved HB 121, which seeks to impose a deadline, initially within three days, to ensure fulfillment of a request for public documents. Opposition from the Wyoming Association of Municipalities and the Wyoming County Commissioners Association led the committee to adopt an amendment aimed at giving a public board or agency more time to respond to complicated requests or requests for voluminous amounts of material.

The proponents had hoped to limit severely the ability of public agencies to charge exorbitant amounts for producing and providing copies of public documents, noting that taxpayers already pay for the initial creation of the documents.

Again, agencies opposing the measure convinced the committee they need the ability to recover costs of obeying state public records law intended to assure public access to government records. The committee stripped out a clause prohibiting charging labor costs associated with producing a public document. They also successfully amended the bill to allow agencies to charge for the costs of redacting information from documents that could jeopardize a police investigation or expose other information that is entitled to protection.

Proponents said such charges represent a “hidden tax” on members of the public.

Meanwhile, the committee killed HB119 – Public records and meetings – court proceedings. Committee member objected to provisions that made challenges of denial of access to meetings and public records the top priority in Wyoming courts. Supporters said the priority designation was essential to ensuring timely access to information essential to the public as it considers public policy decision-making by its elected and appointed leaders.

Quicker hits

Marriage law: The House Labor, Health and Social Service Committee narrowly defeated HB65 - Marital counseling and approved HB39 – Health Litigation Fund. The first bill would have required couples seeking to get married or divorced to get three hours of counseling before a marriage license or a divorce could be obtained.

Suing the feds: The ESPC opposed HB 39, which appropriates $2 million to support litigation to challenge the new federal health care reform law, suggested the funds could be better spent to train doctors, dentists, physicians assistants and/or other providers who deliver care in Wyoming communities that lack practitioners.

Chairman Elaine Harvey (HD26, Lovell) said the funding will support state efforts to challenge what many see as the federal government acting unconstitutionally and usurping states rights. The litigation fund will demonstrate to the federal government that “we’re … prepared to do what we need to do to push back on this legislation.”

Rep. Frank Peasley (HD3, Douglas) reiterated the states rights argument. “Our pushback has more to do with general states rights. If they can do this to us,” he said of the Affordable Care Act, “they can do anything to us.” Peasley conceded Rep. Keith Gingery’s point that potential travel costs laid out in the bill are exorbitant if the state simply intends to file friend-of-the-court briefs as it joins lawsuits conducted by other states against the new law.

Reps. Gerald Gay (HD36, Casper), Matt Greene (R-HD45, Laramie), Hans Hunt (HD2, Newcastle), David Miller (HD55, Riverton) joined Peasley and Harvey in supporting the bill.

Reps. Craft, Barbuto and Gingery opposed the measure, which passed on a 6-3 vote.

Campaign finance: The Senate on Monday defeated on a 15-15 tie vote an effort to strip disclosure amendments made to Senate File 3 – Campaign Finance – organizations. This is the bill that will change state law to comply with the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. FEC, which allows corporations to funnel unlimited amounts of money into independent expenditure campaigns to support or oppose candidates for election. The measure ultimately won final passage by the Senate on a 28-2 vote.

Speaking of the Affordable Care Act ...

House Labor rehabilitates HB 35

The House Labor, Health and Social Services Committee worked hard – and late – on a nullification act that challenges the Affordable Care Act. It is sponsored by Rep. Bob Brechtel R-HD38, Casper) and a dozen other legislators, at least a few of them itching to prove their anti-federalism credentials.

House Bill 35 – Health care choice and protection act proclaims the ACA unconstitutional and thus null and void in Wyoming. As drafted, the bill imposed a $5,000 fine and a felony conviction on any state employee, official, or public servant found to be enforcing the ACA.

But the sponsors ran into a storm of criticism from a wide variety of interest groups. Wyoming Public Employees Association lobbyist Bob Kuchera expressed worries that the bill puts state employees at risk of committing a felony if they simply went about their work of implementing the new federal law.

Sheila Bush of the Wyoming Medical Society said her members are divided in their opinion of the ACA. Nevertheless, she noted that some doctors in the state are making significant investments in health information technology with the assistance of incentives in the ACA.

“What does it say to our providers … if we say they are breaking the law by doing so?” Bush asked.

Lobbyist Tom Jones of the Wyoming Health Care Association said he believed the bill as proposed could make it legal for a Wyoming resident to refuse to pay taxes that fund Medicaid. And he said the legislative assertion in the bill that the ACA is unconstitutional is meaningless. He noted the Supreme Court reserved the right to rule on the constitutionality of all laws in the early 19th century.

The legislature’s opinion of the ACA “ … doesn’t matter in the end,” Jones said.

Lobbyists for the American Heart Association and the American Cancer Society noted the ACA brings many health benefits to people. Jason Mincer of the ACS asked, “What is (HB35)’s intent toward cancer survivors?”

Proponents said the act mirrored the Firearms Freedom Act approved last year. Rep. Keith Gingery, (R-HD 23, Jackson) pushed the committee to amend the bill to more closely mirror that bill. He offered successful amendments to change the felony crime to a misdemeanor carrying a $2,000 fine and made a number of other significant changes.

Rep. Frank Peasley (R-HD 3, Douglas) called the objections to the bill, especially fears of prosecution, “a lot of hooey.”

“We need to make a stand or we don’t make a stand,” he said. When it became clear there was no consensus on the committee over the meaning of some of its sections, Peasley later commented, “I guess we have to pass this bill before we know what’s in it.”

That remark sparked a few guffaws in the committee room and a retort from Chairman Elaine Harvey, who said Congress passes bills it does not understand, not the Wyoming legislature.

“I read this bill as the state is not going to go out and participate,” co-sponsor Rep. Lorraine Quarberg, (R-HD28, Thermopolis) said, and would refuse to allow state employees to enforce the bill. She argued that it does not say doctors cannot take grant money available because of the ACA without committing a crime.

That comment prompted Harvey (R-HD26, Lovell) to note that the state also cannot stop the IRS from impounding property to enforce the IRS code. Quarberg replied that the state needs to stand up to the federal government.

“This is a gutsy move,” replied Quarberg. “You dig down deep.”

Gingery pushed his amendments through, including one that pared down the list of those specifically in position to be accused of a felony. He trimmed wording that said “Any official, agent, employee or public servant of the state of Wyoming” would be found guilty of a felony if they attempted to enforce compliance with “this article.”

As the bill left the committee it said simply “Any public servant” who tried to enforce compliance with the ACA as defined in HB35 would be guilty of a misdemeanor.

Though he took some heat, Peasley may be right that at least some of the committee members did not understand the effect of what they did until they review the amendment on the House floor.

The bill was narrowly approved on a 5-4 vote. Rep Gerald Gay (R-HD36, Casper), Rep. Matt Green (R-HD45, Laramie) and Rep. Hans Hunt (R-HD2, Newcastle) joined Peasley and Gingery in supporting the bill.

Rep. Joe Barbuto (D-HD48, Green River), Rep. Bernadine Craft (D-HD17, Rock Springs), and Rep. David Miller (R-HD55, Riverton), joined Harvey in opposing the bill.

Quick notes on Wednesday action on bills of interest –

Senate File 3 – Campaign finance – organizations was approved in the Senate’s Committee of the Whole with a disclosure amendment that will require corporations and other organizations engaging in independent expenditure campaigns to name their top three donors in the advertisements they buy. The Senate seemed a little uneasy about how it will work, so we’re watching for amendments that might ease disclosure needed to keep elections honest.

Senate File 14 – Counties – election districts likewise made it through first reading. We still have fears that the “flexibility” in the bill allows counties to establish a combination of at-large and single-member districts is subject to mischief. At worst, in counties with a substantial minority population, it could lead to a “political quarantine” of the minority group. Sen. Wayne Johnson, R-SD 6, Cheyenne, mentioned similar concerns in comments on the floor.

Health Care Freedom resolutions – The legislature is determined to send a message to Washington, D.C. and the rest of the country that it intends to resist the Affordable Care Act passed by Congress last year. The Senate Judiciary Committee approved a heavily amended version of SJ 2 which would place a constitutional amendment on the 2012 ballot that asserts the federal government has never been granted the power to make decisions regarding lawful healthcare services. That power is reserved to the state of Wyoming and its people, the amended version says. It says the attorney general may assist any state resident in litigation to protect the right to make those decisions. The committee included several sections lifted from SJ 3, a similar but less strident proposal. Those sections denote the Legislature’s intention to continue its own authority to mandate care under Workers’ Compensation, at the state’s prisons, and at other institutions.

Contract validity?

The Senate Judiciary Committee heard more than an hour of testimony on SJF 5 – Defense of Marriage – constitutional amendment. Proponents argued the amendment is necessary to somehow protect the institution of marriage from gays, lesbians, and transgendered people. Opponents said they’re merely seeking the same legal protections that society extends to heterosexual couples.

Jason Marsden of the Matthew Shepard Foundation said the proposal will void valid existing contracts, something the Legislature simply would not allow to happen to existing business contracts.