House Bill 74 dies in Senate

Senate kills discriminatory anti-GLBT marriage bill

The Wyoming Senate Wednesday took a stand for equality and turned back a bill that would have voided the legal same-sex marriages of Wyoming residents.

The Wednesday vote culminated weeks of debate on the measure during the legislature’s General Session, which ends Thursday. In a last ditch effort to block a vote they knew would be very close, Senate opponents of the measure – House Bill 74 – Validity of marriages – raised procedural objections. Those attempts failed after the Rules Committee retreated behind closed doors to consider each of the objections and returned to the chambers to overrule them.

The clerk then called out each senator’s name to hear and record their votes. Sen. John Hines and Sen. Bill Landen, both of whom previously supported the bill, changed their votes. The result was one vote more than was needed to kill the bill, 14-16.

"Equality of all. In their inherent right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, all members of the human race are equal." - Wyoming Constitution

In the gallery, Jeran Artery of Wyoming Equality broke out a big smile. Supporters from Wyoming Watch, the Focus-on-the-Family clone intent on imposing its fundamentalist Christian views on Wyoming’s secular laws, reacted stoically. A few minutes later Becky Vanderberghe of Wyoming Watch was telling reporters that her group was pleased to have the roll call vote and intends to “go after” the senators who opposed them, presumably a reference to the 2012 elections.

“They did the right thing,” Sen. Cale Case(R-SD25, Lander) said of his Senate colleagues. Case worked hard to defeat the bill, which he considers an affront to the Wyoming constitution.

The Senate action followed a House vote to approve the conference committee report on the bill. That vote similarly was very close with the minimum number of representatives – 31 – supporting the “compromise” reached by the House and Senate conference committees on Tuesday. And that majority was sealed only after Rep. Steve Harshman (R-HD37, Casper) changed his No vote to Aye.

The conference committee met four times to come up with a proposal they thought might be accepted. The committee proposal rejected a Senate amendment aimed at recognizing legal same-sex civil unions and took off a House amendment. The conference committee also narrowed the bill to add two new sub-paragraphs to existing law. Each of them said that marriages legally contracted in other states and countries “… are valid in this state, provided that such marriage contracts are between a male and a female person.”

Before the House vote, opponents of the conference report pointed to the Wyoming Constitution to argue against adopting such a discriminatory law. Rep. Pete Illoway, (R-HD42, Cheyenne) quoted Article 1, Section 2.

“Equality of all. In their inherent right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, all members of the human race are equal,” he read.

“People are equal whether you agree with their lifestyle or not,” Illoway said.

Other opponents trooped to the microphones in the House. Rep. Pat Childers (R-HD50) noted that in his childhood, “I was told we need to separate church and state.’’

“This isn’t right,” Childers said of HB 74. “We have to do the right thing for our constitution.”

Proponents made their appeals, too.

“There is no argument (whether) all are created equal,” said co-sponsor Bob Brechtel (R-HD38, Casper). “What we’re talking about here is a policy statement.” The statement simply affirms the idea that marriage is between a man and a woman for the purpose of bearing and raising children, Brechtel said.

House conference committee chairwoman Rep. Amy Edmonds (R-HD12, Cheyenne) said she would vote for the bill because doing so would “speak the will of the people.” Supporters have argued for years that the majority of Wyoming residents oppose same-sex marriages. A proposal to put a constitutional amendment barring same-sex marriages and civil unions on the 2012 election ballot failed this session.

The Senate offered no high oratory. The senators did not discuss the bill beyond the procedural challenges offered by Sen. Bruce Burns (R-SD21, Sheridan) and Sen. Chris Rothfuss (D-SD9, Laramie).

After the vote to reject the conference committee report, Senate President Jim Anderson, SD 2, R-Glenrock told legislators he would not appoint a second conference committee to attempt to rework the bill. That decision killed the bill and ended weeks of emotional and sometimes heated debate.

The failure of the bill means that Wyoming’s courts are likely next to speak on the matter. A lesbian couple from Lusk has asked to the Wyoming Supreme Court to recognize their right to turn to state courts to hear their petition for divorce since they were legally married in Canada.

Here’s the Senate vote on the Joint conference committee version of the bill:
Ayes: Senator(s) Anderson, Barnard, Bebout, Cooper, Dockstader, Geis, Hicks, Jennings, Johnson, Meier, Nutting, Perkins, Peterson and Ross.

Nays: Senator(s) Burns, Case, Christensen, Coe, Driskill, Emerich, Esquibel, F., Hastert, Hines, Landen, Martin, Nicholas P, Rothfuss, Schiffer, Scott and Von Flatern.

Ayes 14 Nays 16 Excused 0 Absent 0 Conflicts 0

Here’s the House vote passing the conference committee version:

Ayes: Representative(s) Blikre, Botten, Brechtel, Buchanan, Burkhart, Campbell, Cannady, Davison, Edmonds, Eklund, Gay, Greear, Harshman, Harvey, Hunt, Jaggi, Kroeker, Krone, Lockhart, Loucks, Lubnau, Madden, McKim, Miller, Peasley, Petersen, Quarberg, Semlek, Shepperson, Stubson and Teeters.

Nays: Representative(s) Barbuto, Berger, Blake, Bonner, Brown, Byrd, Childers, Connolly, Craft, Esquibel, K., Freeman, Gingery, Goggles, Greene, Illoway, Kasperik, McOmie, Moniz, Nicholas B, Patton, Petroff, Roscoe, Steward, Throne, Vranish, Wallis, Zwonitzer, Dn. and Zwonitzer, Dv..

Excused: Representative(s) Pederson
Ayes 31 Nays 28 Excused 1 Absent 0 Conflicts 0

Photo: Wyoming Equality's Jeran Artery celebrates defeat of HB 74 with Sen. Cale Case.

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.

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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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.

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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.

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

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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.

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House Education panel passes DOMA bill

Back of the bus for Equality State gays

The House Education Committee Monday night approved a bill that would clear the way for Wyoming to deny the validity of same-sex marriages legally made in other states or countries.

The committee voted 7-2 to send the bill to the House floor with a do-pass recommendation after opponents of the measure noted the irony of approving legislation limiting the legal rights of the state's gay residents on Martin Luther King Wyoming Equality Day.

Earlier in the day Gov. Matt Mead had addressed celebrants who honored Dr. King's memory by marching to the Capitol at noon.

“In his acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize, King spoke of his audacious belief that peoples everywhere could have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds," the new governor said, "And dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits.”

“Food for the body, mind and soul are not things to be taken for granted. Not everyone has enough of it and we must continue to strive to provide it for all of our citizens. The work is not done,” the governor said.

But the Education Committee did not get the message. Advocates for the bill stayed on message, asserting that the legislation, House Bill 74 - Validity of marriage will protect the integrity of marriage. The law declares that marriages "other than of a male and a female person are void."

How gay relationships threaten heterosexual marriage was not made clear.

Lead sponsor Rep. Owen Petersen, R-HD19, Mountain View, (pictured above) said legislators must protect traditional heterosexual marriage as one of the key building blocks of society. The federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) allows states to void legal marriage contracts made in other jurisdictions even though the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution generally requires states to recognize legal contracts made in others.

Jason Marsden, formerly a lobbyist for Wyoming Conservation Voters and now executive director of the Matthew Shepard Foundation in Denver, attended the hearing to remind legislators that they really do not know the people the legislation will affect both legally and economically. He said later that most legislators certainly would go out of their way to understand how a change in water policy would affect a few irrigators or a small community.

They don't bring that same concern to members of the gay and lesbian community, he noted.

Rep. Cathy Connolly, D-HD13, Laramie, laid out a long list of arguments against the bill. She warned that adopting the bill threatens economic development by making the state less attractive to skilled professional couples who happen to be gay. But she also noted the personal affront to her as a lesbian who raised a son in a deeply committed relationship.

Connolly and Rep. John Freeman, D-HD60, Green River, cast the two no votes against HB 74.

Reps. Bob Brechtel, R-HD38, Casper, Donald Burkhart, R-HD15, Rawlins, Rep. Kendell Kroeker, R-HD35, Casper, Sam Krone, R-HD24. Cody, Carl "Bunky" Loucks, R-HD59, Casper, and Michael Madden, R-HD40, Buffalo, and Chairman Matt Teeters, R-HD5, Lingle, voted to pass the bill.

Short takes

• The Senate Judiciary Committee heard testimony for two hours on SJ2 - Health Care Freedom and SJ3 - Health Care Freedom (2). Both challenge the Affordable Care Act. SJ2 is a nullification bill likely in violation of the Supremacy Clause of the U.S.Constitution. That has not stopped its advocates who include lead sponsor Sen. Leslie Nutting, R-SD 7, Cheyenne, and the Wyoming Liberty Group. Testimony resumes Wednesday at 7 a.m.
  
• The Senate Corporations Committee Tuesday morning will consider SF3 - Campaign finance - organizations. The proposed bill brings state campaign finance law into compliance with the U.S. Supreme Court's 2010 decision that corporations can spend directly and freely through independent expenditure campaigns attacking or supporting specific candidates. The ESPC is advocating comprehensive disclosure laws so Wyoming voters can identify the sources of funding for those independent expenditures.
• Senate File 14 - Counties - election districts also will be heard by Senate Corporations. The bill allows a county to set up commission voting district that would allow some commissioners to be elected at-large in part of a county and by district in others. The ESPC fears the state is simply erecting another racist structure in the wake of federal court's dismantling of an existing one. Last spring, U.S. Distrct Court Judge Alan Johnson ordered Fremont County to end its system of at-large commission elections because they diluted the Native American vote. That dilution made it virtually impossible for a member of that large minority group to win a commission election.
  

What's next for Wyoming?

GOP landslide brings questions about future course

The GOP landslide on election day leaves observers wondering how major issues facing the state will be addressed. Wyoming Republicans pushed Democrats to the lowest point in years in the state legislature and swept all five statewide offices, including, as expected, the governorship.

Governor-elect Matt Mead, the former U.S. attorney for Wyoming under President George W. Bush, won the open seat with 72% of the vote.

Mead has promised to join the states suing to overturn the Affordable Care Act. On the campaign trail, he referred to a state pilot program as Wyoming’s answer to questions about covering the uninsured and holding down costs – even though the pilot (which is a health care plan, not health insurance) has yet to be implemented, much less evaluated. Wyoming residents will be looking for Mead’s ideas on keeping community hospitals and nursing homes solvent, meeting the state’s need for primary care providers and addressing rising premiums for Wyomingites fortunate enough to have insurance.

Mead has said he will resist increases in the state’s minimum wage, which stands now at just $5.15 per hour for workers not covered by the federal minimum wage. He has expressed support for sealing the border to stop illegal immigration, while also stating that legal immigration makes our country better. At the state budget level, it is unclear how Mead’s administration will address funding for infrastructure needs in communities around the state, or deal with fluctuations in state revenues.

Republicans captured 50 of 60 seats in the Wyoming House, taking nine seats that had been held by Democrats the past two years. In the Wyoming Senate, the GOP won 13 of 15 seats, reducing the number of Democrats to four out of 30 members. Senate Minority Leader Katherine Sessions was defeated by Leslie Nutting, an opponent of health care reform and reproductive rights. Nutting will be the only woman in the Senate. The small number of Democrats raises questions about committee assignments.

Although Wyoming legislators perennially campaign against over-regulation, past efforts to overhaul or “streamline” regulations have resulted in only minor tweaks as lawmakers and citizens come to realize how regulations protect the state’s communities and natural resource base as the mineral industries boom and bust. With new developments such as the near-disappearance of the mule deer herd on the Pinedale Anticline and possible contamination of groundwater near Pavillion by fracking, Wyoming residents probably will be cautious about giving energy extractors a freer hand.

Historically, Wyomingites also have been reticent to intrude into each other’s private lives, as evidenced by the defeat of a ballot initiative banning abortions and, more recently, the defeat of efforts to amend the Wyoming Constitution to prohibit gay marriage or civil unions. Bills on these topics may be offered in the 2011 session, even though they seem at odds with conservative views on keeping government out of private decisions.

The election results point toward opportunities to test reality against rhetoric. Just as support for the Affordable Care Act has gone up as people begin to experience its benefits, it may well be that support for budget cuts or intrusive legislation will go down as people see such proposals play out.