Wyoming Legislature update – Feb. 15, 2019
by Albert Sommers, House District #20 Representative
February 16, 2019
2/15/2019
Hello Sublette County,
This is Albert Sommers in Cheyenne on Friday the 15th. Today represents the last day of the 6th week of the 65th General Session. We will not be in session on Monday in honor of the President’s Day Holiday. Once we gavel back in on Tuesday, we will have only 7 working days left in the session.
We passed 11 bills on 2nd reading today, including:
SF 41 – County Fair Endowments
SF 68 – Meat from harvested livestock or poultry
SF 72 – Sexual assault biological evidence reporting. This bill will utilize the Wyoming Victim Service Fund to pay for the cost of any examination required due to a sexual assault.
SF 85 – Wyoming Medicaid Fraud Control Act
SF0131 - Spending policy amendments. This file was laid back yesterday for further consideration. We passed it on 2nd reading today after several amendments were brought.
The House passed two bills on 3rd reading. I voted against both bills, but they passed:
SF0080 - Passing stopped school bus-recorded images. School buses currently have cameras, and they do take photos of cars that pass them illegally. Currently, law enforcement can initiate a criminal case against someone in those photos, which follows due process. I did not like the idea of someone receiving a civil fine for their vehicle illegally passing a bus, and not proceeding through a criminal case. I believe that violates due process.
SF0151 – Judicial salary increases. Judges work hard, but we gave a raise to some of the judges two years ago, and so I did not support this bill.
The House considered one bill on general file. Senate File 64 – School safety and security. The bill failed on a vote of 13-43-4. In 2014, Governor Mead created a school security task force, and through the Office of Homeland Security school districts were given assistance to develop security plans. This important work is an on-going part of every district’s agenda today, and this bill was just another layer of paperwork. The bill was well intentioned, but unnecessary, so I voted against the bill.
For details and status of all 2019 bills, see https://www.wyoleg.gov/Legislation/2019
Please follow my Facebook page for up to date information and email me at albert@albertsommers.com with questions or concerns.
Thank you
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