Wyoming Legislature update – March 26, 2021
by Albert Sommers, House District #20 Representative
March 28, 2021
3-26-2021
Hello Sublette County, this is Albert Sommers reporting to you from Cheyenne on March 26, 2021. Today, the House passed several interim committee bills on 3rd Reading that I supported, including SF0023, Public meetings - executive sessions for security plans, that allows the governing body of local government to hold executive sessions to discuss safety and security planning that, if disclosed, would pose a threat to the safety of life or property.
The House debated thirteen Senate files in Committee of the Whole (COW). Those that I supported included SF0106 and SF0
107. These two bills were brought to clean up some language in the transportation statutes and provided no major policy decisions. Much of our legislative work involves mundane tweaks to statute. SF0096, Homicide amendments, would charge a person for two homicides if the perpetrator had killed a mother and her unborn child. SF0115, Education - pupil teacher contact time, would require the State Board of Education to establish minimum pupil-teacher contact times. In the evolving world of virtual education, we need to provide more flexibility than current law allows to define what constitutes proper pupil-teacher contact time. SF0124, Defending Wyoming business - trade and commerce amendments, allows the Wyoming Attorney General to initiate an investigation whenever probable cause exists that any person, firm, or corporation, whether foreign or domestic, is engaged in a violation of any federal antitrust law. I co-sponsored this bill, because our state needs to be able to protect our businesses from large monopolies that conspire to manipulate our markets. These bills which I supported passed Committee of the Whole.
The week of March 29 will be our last full work week of the General Session for the 66th Legislature. We will vote early in the week on a budget compromise, and we will see the last days for Committee of the Whole. My bill, HB0039, Optometrist practice act amendments, passed the Senate and is headed to the Governor for his signature. I have two more bills in the Senate winding their way through the process. Hopefully they will reach the finish line.
More information about these bills and many more can be found at https://wyoleg.gov/Legislation/2021
I can be reached at albert@albertsommers.com with questions or comments.
Thank you.
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