CHEYENNE—It’s now up to Gov. Mark Gordon to decide whether Wyoming homeschool parents will continue to be required to submit their curriculum to the local school district after the state Legislature passed a bill to end this requirement Monday.

House Bill 46, “Homeschool Freedom Act,” passed the state Senate with bipartisan support on a 28-2 vote, with one member excused. Without any amendments added in the upper chamber, the bill will head straight to the governor’s desk for either his signature, his veto or to become law without his signature.

The bill’s primary sponsor, Rep. Tomi Strock, R-Douglas, has told both House and Senate Education Committee members that parents should have the right to homeschool their children without government interference. Several Laramie County homeschool parents have testified in support of the bill, saying the process of submitting their curriculum to the local school district is “confusing.”

Wyoming Association of School Administrators Executive Director Boyd Brown said during a recent Senate Education Committee meeting that public school superintendents also stood in support of the bill.

“We do nothing with evaluating (homeschool curriculum),” Brown said.

When the bill was heard in the Senate Education Committee, Sen. Chris Rothfuss, D-Laramie, asked whether school districts will still at least be notified of a child being homeschooled. Experts confirmed a parent would still have to tell the school of their intent when they pull the child out for homeschooling. Parents who never sent their child to public school would not be responsible for notifying the school district of their intent to homeschool, however.

Wyoming Department of Family Services Director Korin Schmidt previously testified this bill would make it difficult to investigate cases of educational neglect. The submitted curriculum to the school district is a way for investigators to confirm the child is being educated at home, she said.

“It’s a tool that will no longer be there,” Schmidt said. “But we will continue to work around it and do our investigations regardless.”

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CHEYENNE—The constitutionality of a universal school voucher bill was discussed by Wyoming lawmakers in the Senate Education Committee Wednesday morning before they advanced it in a 3-2 vote.

Committee Chairwoman Sen. Wendy Schuler, R-Evanston, and Sen. Chris Rothfuss, D-Laramie, both voted against the bill, questioning how it would hold up in court. Schuler said she supports school choice, but her “biggest hangup is universal school choice.”

She said she preferred to see how the education savings account bill passed last year would impact state funding and hold up against potential litigation before making any changes to the program.

“I probably will vote against this bill, at least now in this present form,” Schuler said. “There’s a couple more things we need to do with it, and maybe I can get on board.”

House Bill 199, “Wyoming Freedom Scholarship Act,” passed through the lower chamber and over to the Senate amid a wave of constitutional concerns from both inside and outside the Legislature. Several representatives, both Democratic and Republican, argued this bill violates the state’s constitution by using state funds to help parents send their children to private schools.

The education savings account program was created through a bill passed by lawmakers in the 2024 budget session, which would have made $6,000 a year available for all parents to spend on non-public-school education or pre-K costs. Gov. Mark Gordon partially vetoed the bill, limiting it to those at or below 150% of the federal poverty level and questioning the constitutionality of anything other than assistance to low-income residents.

However, in HB 199, Rep. Ocean Andrew, R-Laramie, proposes several significant changes to the current program, which began accepting applications earlier this year.

As currently written, HB 199 removes the family income requirement, raises the per child amount from $6,000 to $7,000 and removes pre-kindergarten schools from program eligibility. The bill also changes the funding source from the state’s general fund to federal mineral royalties, which is one of several direct revenue sources for the School Foundation Program that funds K-12 public schools.

Rothfuss said last year’s bill “had some provisions that moved it toward constitutionality” that are removed in this bill. Such provisions include assistance to the poor and early childhood education. 

“This legislation eliminates the pre-K and then eliminates any of the constitutional provisions that would have been protective, in my view, of making it unconstitutional,” Rothfuss said. 

He read out loud Article 7, Section 8 of the Wyoming Constitution, which states no “portion of any public school fund ever be used to support or assist any private school, or any school, academy, seminary, college or other institution of learning controlled by any church or sectarian organization or religious denomination whatsoever.”

“The plain reading of that is pretty clear,” Rothfuss said. “The public funds are for public education. When we break down that system and erode that system, we create challenges, both constitutional challenges, as well as for the functioning of the public education system.”

The Senate Education Committee passed the bill on a vote of 3-2, but not without adding a few amendments. Rep. Jared Olsen, R-Cheyenne, asked Andrew about the funding source issue, since federal mineral royalties are already used to fund public schools. Olsen suggested using the state’s general fund, Wyoming’s main spending account, instead.

“If you remove the funding source the furthest you possibly could from the School Foundation account, and use general fund dollars, you would have the strongest argument against the constitutionality claim,” said Olsen, who was recently involved in the creation of a local charter school, Cheyenne Classical Academy.

In response, Andrew pointed to a provision in the bill where ESA money will tip back into the School Foundation Program after the ESA fund reaches a certain threshold. Once the account has more than $130 million and more than 150% of what is needed to meet the following year’s demand, the excess funds would go back into the School Foundation Program account.

Andrew added that the use of FMRs was recommended to him by lawyers who helped draft the bill “in the most constitutional way.” The Laramie representative said the FMRs were suggested to be the “simplest, clean source of money” for the bill.

“These same people have been involved with state Supreme Court cases and national Supreme Court cases on this legislation the whole way, so I trusted what they said,” Andrew said.

However, Wyoming Education Association spokesperson Tate Mullen said the bill remained unconstitutional, no matter where the funding came from. The state is constitutionally obligated to fully fund its public schools, and this obligation has yet to be fulfilled, Mullen said.

Earlier this session, legislative appropriators voted to reduce the recommended external cost adjustment to K-12 public schools by $17.5 million. The original $66.3 million, passed by former appropriators in the 67th Legislature and Gov. Gordon, was the recommended amount to get the state back on track to fully funding its public schools.

“You have the ability to fully fund a cost-based model of education, whether using whatever account you want to use, but we haven’t done it,” Mullen said. “We’re failing to meet our original obligation, yet we’re funding this.”

Olsen said he considered bringing an amendment to change the source of revenue to the state’s general fund, but is holding off for the time being. Sen. Charles Scott, R-Casper, said he wasn’t sure if this provision would make the bill constitutionally defensible.

“I don’t think you’re going to be able to tell until you actually get a court case,” Scott said.

Testing, certification

The original HB 199 removed the certification process for a private school that receives ESA funds. However, Rep. J.D. Williams, R-Lusk, managed to reinsert this language through an amendment during the bill’s second reading in the House.

Sen. Evie Brennan, R-Cheyenne, successfully added an amendment to “tighten up” the certification requirement. Her amendment expanded this language, specifying this process “shall ensure ESA students attending qualified schools receive instruction in reading, writing, mathematics, civics, history, literature and science throughout their kindergarten through grade 12 tenure.”

Wyoming senators also reinserted language for a nationally normed or statewide assessment requirement. HB 199 originally removed the testing requirement, and several attempts were made in the House to put it back in. Williams managed to successfully add an amendment during the bill’s third and final reading in the House that requires ESA students to be “assessed on their academic progress.”

Olsen proposed putting the original ESA language back in, but modifying it to give recipients the option to take either a nationally normed or statewide exam, to give the bill more “accountability.”

“I strongly believe that we need to put strong accountability back into the bill,” Olsen said.

Other amendments were added to the bill, including one that changed the name from the “Wyoming Freedom Scholarship Act” to the “Steamboat Legacy Scholarship Act.” Olsen said this new name is “a little more Wyoming.”

“We wanted to find a way to put the buck and rider on this bill, and so ‘Steamboat’ jumped out,” Olsen said.

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Bill to cut property taxes in half sails through House committee

CHEYENNE—A bill creating a two-year, 50% reduction in property taxes for Wyoming homeowners flew through the House Appropriations Committee Thursday morning.

Senate File 69, “Homeowner property tax exemption,” passed unamended in a 6-1 vote, just two days after passing the full Senate. Lawmakers have said that by passing SF 69, they’re listening to what their constituents want. 

The reduction in tax revenue collected by the state, which is in turn sent back to counties, school districts and special districts, is anticipated to be $225 million per year, according to Committee Chairman Rep. John Bear, R-Gillette. The bill in its current form does not include any backfill, or use of state savings, to pay counties back for revenue lost as a result of the tax cut.

“This is a good bill, and I want to emphasize that the sky is not falling,” bill co-sponsor Sen. Troy McKeown, R-Gillette, told the House committee Thursday. “They are not going to shut down police departments or fire departments with this.”

The anticipated amount of annual revenue lost to Laramie County, if the bill is passed in its current version — not including cuts to education, special districts and municipalities — is estimated at more than $7.3 million, according to Wyoming County Commissioners Association Executive Director Jerimiah Rieman. The total reduction in revenue for all taxing beneficiaries in Laramie County is estimated at $43 million a year.

Rieman told the committee Thursday that his organization understands families across Wyoming are having difficult conversations about rising property taxes.

“I also would share and suggest to you that those residents aren’t calling for a reduction in services, whether that be for emergency services, their roads and the other important things that [county commissioners] provide,” Rieman said.

The anticipated annual reduction in county commission budgets across Wyoming, Rieman said, include $2.5 million to Albany County, $2.1 million to Campbell County, $650,000 to Goshen County, $4.7 million to Natrona County and $3.4 million to Sheridan County.

Those estimates do not include revenue cuts to education funding, special districts and municipalities, he said.

“Those are going to result in reduction in services, unless there is some sort of mechanism to offset those [costs],” Rieman said.

Ben Moritz, executive director of the Wyoming Community College Commission, said that the anticipated annual revenue lost to community colleges across the state will be $11 million. Smaller institutions like Sheridan College and Eastern Wyoming Community College would have a higher proportional cut than others, Moritz said. Colleges have a statutory cap on what they can hold in reserve, so most do not have the savings to draw upon if SF 69 is passed without backfill.

Wyoming’s community colleges are the workforce training centers for the state, Moritz continued, and career and technical education courses often have the highest costs. With revenue losses projected under SF 69, coursework will be difficult to maintain, as will colleges’ “ability to employ people,” Moritz said.

Josh Van Vlack, division chief for the Laramie County Fire Authority, told the committee that special fire districts operate “on a shoestring budget as it is” and that any reduction in property tax revenue will directly result in a reduction in services.

“Every dollar does matter in our response, and our ability to assist those in our jurisdictions,” Van Vlack said.

Most districts have some funding in reserve, but it’s restricted, he said. Laramie County Fire Authority’s reserve funds are earmarked for replacement of an apparatus, for example.

“A new fire truck right now is running $1.1-1.2 million. That would wipe out our reserves,” Van Vlack said.

There are around 230,000 single-family residential homes in Wyoming, according to Brenda Henson, director of the Wyoming Department of Revenue. Senate File 69 would apply an exemption to single-family structures, as well as the associated land, up to $1 million in fair market value.

People who are eligible to receive the long-term homeowner credit created in 2024 will not be able to also claim exemption under SF 69, Henson said. In 2024, lawmakers also implemented a 4% cap on residential property tax collection, which extends into 2025.

“This is the first time ever that we have had multiple exemptions that are applicable to the exact same property,” Henson said.

Bear said that he may offer an amendment on the House floor to provide backfill to “hardship” communities, which include Bighorn, Campbell, Carbon, Fremont, Hot Springs, Johnson, Sweetwater and Uinta counties. Those counties collect less in property taxes today than they did in 2015.

“I am bringing an amendment — several different options for backfill — for those eight most hardship counties, and some of the special districts,” Bear said.

If the state must tap into its own reserves to backfill cuts to those counties, he’d like to know which counties have reserves, and which are assessing all allowable mill levies available to them.

Rieman said that 21 of 23 counties assess the maximum allowable mill levies. The two that do not are Campbell and Teton counties. Five counties, according to Henson, have offered their own property tax refund program in the two years since the Legislature gave counties that option. Those are Albany, Converse, Sublette, Lincoln and Teton counties.

“The county commissioners, out of their money, put in the budget, set aside an amount that can be available to refund to taxpayers that apply,” Henson said.

Only Rep. Trey Sherwood, D-Laramie, voted against SF 69 in committee, saying that she believes each county should be allowed to craft its own property tax refund program. Calling SF 69 an “affront to local control,” Sherwood said a top-down state decision would be “heavy-handed.”

“I believe that our counties are the best ones to determine what our refund program should look like,” Sherwood said. “They know what their reserves look like. They know what their budget is, and they know what kind of relief they can provide.” 

The bill now awaits debate in the full House.

Another ‘arrow in the quiver’: House committee passes 50% tax break on homes up to $200,000 

CHEYENNE—As representatives deliberated a bill that proposes one of the largest property tax cuts in Wyoming history on Thursday, another bill offering similar, yet smaller relief also advanced out of committee.

Rep. Scott Heiner, R-Green River, introduced a bill similar to Senate File 69 with his own House Bill 130, “Homeowner tax exemption-amendments,” in the House Revenue Committee.

Heiner told committee members he hoped to approach this property tax relief with a “win-win” mindset. House Bill 130 creates a 50% tax exemption for all homeowners up to $200,000 of the residential structure’s fair market value. Lowering the ceiling to $200,000 would lower the overall cost to both the state and local communities, Heiner said. The bill’s fiscal impact is a revenue loss of approximately $83 million per year, according to the Legislative Service Office.

Qualified homeowners must live in the home for eight months of the year, and the bill excludes residential land from the tax exemption. The bill is effective immediately and has a two-year sunset date, ending in the 2027 tax season.

“We’re putting a bunch of arrows in the quiver, and as we start going to the archery range, we’re going to see which arrow is closest to the mark,” Heiner said. “I know it’s difficult with all these different ideas. Some of them are similar, some of them are kind of radical, but that’s part of the act of legislation is finding the best fit.”

The bill also includes a $176 million backfill out of the state’s general fund. Heiner originally included funding part of this backfill from unencumbered energy matching and large energy matching funds. Wyoming Energy Authority Executive Director Rob Creager told lawmakers there’s currently $46 million left in energy matching funds and $100 million left in large energy matching funds.

These funds are pulled out of the state’s general fund. Heiner proposed using these monies as state backfill, and funding the remaining $30 million directly out of the state’s general fund. However, Petroleum Association of Wyoming President Pete Obermueller said this section of the bill is a “double whammy” on Wyoming’s fossil fuel industries.

“As this bill is written, it’s nothing but lose for oil and gas,” Obermueller said.

The severance tax paid by oil and natural gas companies is a major source of funding for the state’s general fund. Not only does HB 130 shift the burden to oil and gas, Obermueller said, but it also claws back an investment in industrial projects. So far, $98 million in energy matching funds have been used to fund projects, 75% of which are fossil fuel projects.

“This bill claws back an investment in projects that my members leverage to help us advance what we do, to provide more revenue to the state, provide more jobs and to ride to your rescue,” Obermueller said.

Committee members later removed this provision of the bill through an amendment, so the energy matching funds would not be touched to backfill lost property tax revenue to local communities and school districts.

Wyoming Farm Bureau Federation policy advocacy director Kelly Carpenter said her organization supported this bill, “as it is more targeted support for those truly needing relief.” She said more and more wealthy absentee landowners are acquiring large lots of land, and it’s been noted the agricultural industry pays the lowest amount toward the state’s general fund.

“It’s very reasonable to assume that agricultural land may very well be the next place to look to raise taxes sometime in the future, leaving a larger burden for those legacy ag operations that remain,” Carpenter said.

Converse County Assessor Dixie Huxtable said the bill poses a huge administrative burden on county assessors to implement it this year. She told lawmakers an estimated 275,000 applications are expected to be submitted for this tax exemption, and county assessors would only have a couple of months to design and process those applications.

“We would be happy to work on that for 2026, but for 2025, we just don’t think, as the bill is written, the application process that could be done,” Huxtable said.

Rep. Liz Storer, D-Jackson, proposed an amendment to delay the application period until next year, but it failed to pass the committee.

The bill passed 7-1, with one member excused. It will now be sent to the House floor for three more rounds of voting, with a chance for members to bring more amendments for debate.

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CHEYENNE—A bill to offer all homeowners in Wyoming a two-year, 50% reduction in property taxes has passed the state Senate.

Senate File 69, “Homeowner property tax exemption,” passed in a 23-8 vote on third reading Tuesday. Last week, the Senate voted to decrease the percentage of property tax relief to 25% of assessed value up to $1 million. This week, the Senate restored the bill to its original form, approving an amendment brought by Sen. Tara Nethercott, R-Cheyenne, in a 19-12 vote.

That amendment brought tax relief back to 50% for all homeowners, with no state backfill and a two-year sunset date.

Senate President Bo Biteman, R-Ranchester, said on the floor that the version passed Tuesday was the bill Wyomingites deserve.

“The people of Wyoming are tired of excuses. They want action, and they want us to deliver for them, finally,” Biteman said, adding that the Senate has been debating property tax relief for years.

“I have said repeatedly, the most difficult thing to do in the Wyoming Legislature is to cut taxes,” he said. “Hundreds of millions of dollars flies out of here every time we do the budget.”

Senate Vice President Tim Salazar, R-Riverton, said this was the Senate fulfilling its promise to provide much-needed relief to its constituents.

“We just passed historic property tax relief. We didn’t do it with trumpets. We didn’t do it with fanfare, but we passed it,” Salazar said.

Other senators worried that the tax cut could affect smaller, more rural communities — many of which have not experienced soaring property tax increases — in ways that it may not affect counties where property values have increased by double digits in recent years.

Sen. Stacy Jones, R-Rock Springs, proposed an unsuccessful amendment to use state savings to backfill, or pay back, local governments for 12.5% of the lost revenue under the cut. In Rock Springs, property taxes have only increased 19.5% from 2019 to 2023. Jones said a 50% cut there would devastate the local civic center, rec center, senior center and services like snow removal.

“What you do today affects all of the communities across Wyoming,” Jones said.

However, Sen. Chris Rothfuss, D-Laramie, who voted against the bill, also voted against Jones’ amendment. Rothfuss said the Legislative Stabilization Reserve Account, or the state’s savings, was not designed to pay back tax cuts for citizens.

Others said that they did not support a backfill, but for another reason: To show citizens that the taxes they pay do indeed go toward local services, and when they are cut, so are those services.

Sen. Larry Hicks, R-Baggs, said he could not vote for SF 69 because it created a “one size fits all” solution for all of Wyoming.

Instead, he said the Senate could have chosen to reduce only the assessed state mill levies, without cutting into those assessed by specific counties.

“We could have gone in … to the property taxes that this legislative body is responsible for, and stayed in our lane,” Hicks said. “But we couldn’t stay in our lane. We said, ‘We are going to usurp all those local governments. We are going to have a paternalistic point of view, and we are going to provide property tax relief. Damn with the local governments.’”

Sen. Eric Barlow, R-Gillette, brought forward an amendment that would allow taxpayers to pay the full amount of property taxes due, without the exemption, if they choose to do so. 

“I hear from folks who say, I need the services in my community. I want to have a way to pay if there is an exemption, a reduction,” Barlow said. “This says that if you get the tax bill, and say it is a 50% exemption, that I can pay the full amount without the exemption.”

That amendment passed in a voice vote.

No state ‘backfill’

Senate leaders told the media shortly after the vote they did not remove the state backfill “to make a point.” On the floor, some senators pointed out that removing this backfill would hurt city budgets and reduce local services.

“Our purpose wasn’t to inflict pain or to make a point. We don’t make a point in tax policy,” Biteman said. “It affects people’s lives, it affects the pocketbook. Good tax policy stands on its own. … If you’re going to cut taxes, cut taxes. You don’t take money out of one pocket, put it in the other, and call it a tax cut. And that’s the bottom line with the backfill.”

Nethercott added that it’s “not sustainable from a state fiscal perspective” to backfill lost revenue with state funds. Local governments need to be sustainable with their own revenues, through their own financial planning, she said.

Biteman said there are still some House members who are “hung up” on including a state backfill. However, the Senate president said those members are “coming off of that.”

“I don’t want to speak for them, but it sounds like things are moving,” Biteman said.

Nethercott said on the floor that a vote for the bill would not be a cut in education funding. One of the funding sources for the School Foundation Program is mill levies, which are paid for through property taxes.

Rothfuss agreed the loss in property tax revenue doesn’t cut education funding, but it would force the state to dip into its savings. Currently, the incoming revenue from property taxes matches the expenditure of education funds, he said.

“That’s a good situation to be in, when your revenue and your expenses are about the same,” Rothfuss said. “If we pass this legislation, then we are no longer receiving enough revenue to pay the full cost of the School Foundation Program.”

This would force the state to pull out of its savings account, Rothfuss said, instead of relying on existing revenue.

“That’s unsustainable,” Rothfuss said.

Before becoming law, SF 69 must pass the House and obtain Gov. Mark Gordon’s signature. If SF 69 passes those hurdles, the exemption would first apply to the tax year that began Jan. 1.

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CHEYENNE—A second House bill that bans transgender athletes from participating on female sports teams in Wyoming schools passed committee Monday morning. Meanwhile, another House bill with similar language passed its third and final reading that afternoon, crossing over to the Senate.

In 2023, a bill sponsored by Sen. Wendy Schuler, R-Evanston, banning transgender athlete participation on female public school sports teams in grades 7-12 was signed into law. Rep. Martha Lawley, R-Worland, brought a bill this legislative session that would expand the 2023 law. 

Lawley’s bill, House Bill 60, “Student eligibility in sports-amendments,” prohibits transgender participation on women’s sports teams in grades K-12 and public colleges. It also prohibits intercollegiate sports teams from playing against out-of-state teams with a transgender player.

Although this bill has successfully passed all the way through the House, Wyoming Freedom Caucus Chairwoman Rep. Rachel Rodriguez-Williams, R-Cody, sponsored her own bill, HB 274, “Biological males in women’s sports,” which mirrors Lawley’s bill.

HB 274 does not expand to grades kindergarten through 6. The bill’s sponsor attempted to bring this amendment forward, but it failed to pass the committee.

The House Labor, Health and Social Services Committee passed HB 274 on Monday, with a single “no” vote from Rep. Mike Yin, D-Jackson. Yin asked Rodriguez-Williams how her bill would interact with Lawley’s bill.

“I would say my bill, HB 274, is cleaner and simpler,” Rodriguez-Williams said. “I don’t get into P.E. or interscholastic sports or anything like that.”

Yin asked if there would be any conflict in passing both bills, since both pieces of legislation address college sports. Rodriguez-Williams said she didn’t have an answer for what would happen in the future.

“Again, I think there’s some significant differences in the bills, and how that plays out within the conference committee or future process I can’t predict,” she said.

Moms for Liberty Laramie County Chapter President Patricia McCoy said she supported the bill for several reasons, one being that it includes a private cause of action for schools, students, parents and guardians “harmed” by violation of this bill.

Yin pointed out that similar enforcement mechanisms are already included in current law. The only difference, he said, is the private cause of action provided in HB 274.

“If you create private causes of action, you create a situation where harassment could actually ensue via the courts,” Yin said. “Are there enforcement problems, currently, that you’ve seen?”

In her answer, McCoy referred to the University of Wyoming’s Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority. There is an ongoing lawsuit between six sorority sisters and their parent chapter after a transgender member was admitted into KKG last spring.

However, McCoy did not mention any sports teams.

Wyoming Equality communications coordinator Santi Murillo told committee members she was the first transgender student athlete at UW, from 2017 to 2019.

“I’m here to say that this bill is a solution in search of a problem,” Murillo said. “This bill is not only discriminatory, but harmful to Wyoming students and institutions of higher education.”

She said the bill unfairly targets transgender athletes and places “an undue burden” on educational institutions by allowing lawsuits against schools and governmental entities. There are currently three bills targeting transgender athletes, she said.

Senate File 44, “Fairness in sports-intercollegiate athletics,” passed the Senate on three readings and was received for introduction in the House last week.

“Realistically, that’s one per transgender athlete in this state,” Murillo said.

HB 274 has been referred to the House Appropriations Committee for consideration before it would move to the entire House of Representatives for further debate and vote.

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CHEYENNE—Three proposed bills in the current Wyoming legislative session could gut funding for K-12 public schools by more than $80 million per fiscal year — and that’s not including any additional property tax relief that may be approved.

Wyoming Freedom Caucus member and House Appropriations Chair Rep. John Bear, R-Gillette, is the sponsor of two bills that would stash more money away into state savings, resulting in a decrease in funds being added to the School Foundation Program.

The School Foundation Program funds the state’s K-12 public school block grant, which pays for inflationary costs in teaching salaries, non-professional staff salaries, classroom supplies and energy.

House Bills 270 and 271, combined, would drain the School Foundation Program by more than $30 million per fiscal year, according to the bills’ fiscal impact notes. Bear told House Appropriations Committee members Monday now is the time to decrease the state’s spending policy in two different accounts — from 5% to 4.5% — and stash it away into savings, where the money could provide a greater return on investment.

“This is an effort to funnel down our spending policy so that we live within our means, put more money into savings, and then allow that interest and dividends from our savings account to give us more money available to spend,” Bear said.

The School Foundation Program has several components funneling money into it, including statewide mill levies collected via property taxes, federal mineral royalties and the Common School Permanent Land Fund.

House Bill 271 reduces the spending amount out of the Common School Permanent Land Fund from 5% to 4.5%, which negatively affects the flow of funds into the School Foundation Program, starting at a decrease of $24.7 million for the 2026 fiscal year.

House Bill 270 makes the same percentage reduction in the spending amount out of the Wyoming Permanent Mineral Trust Fund. This change in spending decreases the flow of funds into the School Funding Program starting at $11.5 million for the 2026 fiscal year.

The Legislature’s Select Committee on Capital Financing and Investments sponsored a similar reduced spending policy bill in 2017, House Bill 55, which passed the Legislature and was signed into law.

However, Rep. Steve Harshman, R-Casper, told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle it was a “mistake.”

“The thing about trust funds is that you’ve got to be careful,” Harshman said. “Because there’s always the debate of today’s people versus tomorrow’s people.”

After the spending policy was adopted, lawmakers quickly worked to undo it amid a revenue crisis in the coal industry, Bear said Monday. But things are different this time around, according to the House Appropriations chairman.

“We don’t have that on the horizon, an expectation that our mineral revenues are going to fall off,” Bear said. “We continue to see our investments perform better and better … and sales tax continues to grow.”

Fight over dollars

Some lawmakers and education stakeholders are hesitant to say now is the right time to cap state spending, with universal private school voucher and property tax relief programs on the table. Rep. Trey Sherwood, D-Laramie, was the only “no” vote on both of Bear’s bills during the House Appropriations Committee meeting Monday.

Sherwood told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle that while she was in favor of investing more state money, this is a topic best studied during the Legislature’s off-season, formally known as the interim. There are a few bills up for consideration this session that could negatively impact public education funds, she said, such as additional property tax relief and the expanded private school voucher, House Bill 199.

Wyoming Education Association spokesperson Tate Mullen echoed similar concerns. As currently written, HB 199, the Wyoming Freedom Scholarship Act, could sap School Foundation Program funding by $44.7 million in the 2026 fiscal year as funds that would go toward public education would pay for families to send their kids to private schools instead.

“What we have seen in other states with universal voucher programs is an explosion of cost,” Mullen told the WTE, adding that the $44 million fiscal impact is only the starting point. “Additionally, the property tax relief efforts only compound this problem.”

Property taxes pay into the 12-mill levy that helps fund the School Foundation Program. With a few property tax relief programs passed last year, and more being considered this year, it could severely limit funds being put into public education, Mullen said.

WEA works with a national partner, Regional Economic Modeling Inc., a macro-economics firm, that studies the economic impacts of state policies on local economies. A $5 million statewide cut in public education would result in the loss of 67 teachers, reduce personal income across the state by $4 million and reduce the statewide GDP by $600,000, according to a January analysis by Regional Economic Modeling Inc.

A $20 million statewide loss to education funding would result in the loss of 267 jobs in education, a reduction of $16.5 million in personal income and cut the statewide GDP by over $25 million, according to the same analysis.

Federal mineral royalties that are being pulled for the voucher program are also used to fund the School Foundation Program, Mullen said.

“Cumulatively, this does become problematic,” Mullen said.

These bills have yet to make it all the way through the House, where further debate and possible amendments may take place before passing over to the Senate.

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CHEYENNE—Two Wyoming Freedom Caucus bills that would place heavy restrictions on abortion access passed easily through a House of Representatives committee Friday morning, with no questions asked by committee members on expert testimony from the public.

The committee chairperson decides how to regulate the procedures of the meeting. House Labor, Health and Social Services Committee Chairwoman Rachel Rodriguez-Williams, R-Cody, did allow committee members to question a state agency providing testimony but did not allow the panel to ask questions during public testimony on the bills related to abortion access.

Partway through public comment Wednesday, Rep. Mike Yin, D-Jackson, asked Rodriguez-Williams if committee members would be allowed to ask questions on testimony. Rodriguez-Williams said no, due to the high volume of public comment. More than a dozen people, many of whom are medical professionals, showed up to testify on the controversial legislation.

Yin told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle after the meeting it appeared to him these bills were being rushed.

“It’s important to be able to have committee members understand from the experts what the policy effects are, and that’s impossible to do if we cannot ask questions of them,” Yin said in a text message to the Tribune Eagle. “But their purpose is to ram through these bills as fast as possible.”

Cheyenne resident Wendy Volk approached the Tribune Eagle after Friday’s meeting with the same concern. With medical experts among those testifying on the bills restricting abortion access, Volk found it concerning there was little discussion with the committee.

“It made me very uncomfortable that, on the three abortion bills, there was no opportunity for the committee to talk to the doctors or the experts in the room,” Volk said. “In all transparency, these three bills were really rushed.”

This is a change from the committee’s practices last year. Volk and Yin said lawmakers had the opportunity to ask questions during public testimony on similar legislation during the 2024 budget session.

Three bills were passed by members of the House Labor Committee that would restrict reproductive health care in Wyoming. Health care experts argued these bills would disproportionately burden rural women in accessing reproductive health care services.

House Bill 64, ”Chemical abortions-ultrasound requirement,” sponsored by Freedom Caucus member and House Speaker Rep. Chip Neiman, R-Hulett, passed the committee on Wednesday, with a 7-1 vote. The bill requires pregnant women to get an ultrasound no more than 48 hours before taking an abortion pill. Anyone who violates this bill would be charged as a felon, with up to a $20,000 fine, up to five years imprisonment or both.

Two more bills were passed by the committee Friday morning, both of which also appear to severely restrict abortion access in Wyoming, which is currently legal. House Bill 42, “Regulation of surgical abortions,” requires Wyoming’s only abortion clinic to be licensed as an ambulatory surgical center.

“As long as abortion remains legal in Wyoming, we have the responsibility for the safety of women,” said Rep. Martha Lawley, R-Worland, the bill’s sponsor. “HB 42 provides common-sense regulations for surgical abortion to protect the health and safety of women who choose to get surgical abortion.”

The committee’s sole Democrat, Yin, voted against all three pieces of legislation.

‘Put us out of business’

Wellspring Health Access in Casper is the only surgical abortion center in Wyoming. This nonprofit organization provides a multitude of reproductive care services, including pelvic exams, pap smears, emergency birth control, cancer screenings, STD testing and treatment, and treatment for urinary tract infections.

“We feel that this is specifically targeted to put us out of business,” said Executive Director Katherine Knutter.

Knutter told the committee Wednesday, when discussion began on the bill before continuing Friday, that the American Medical Association, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and many other reputable medical establishments have strongly opposed similar measures in past years.

House Bill 42 would restrict these health care services “with punitive detrimental measures,” Knutter said. In order “to comply with this trap bill,” the abortion clinic would have to undergo extensive construction, she said.

The bill also requires all of the clinic’s physicians to receive hospital admitting privileges, which is a “major barrier,” Knutter said. Not only is this access blocked for political reasons, but abortion clinic physicians don’t admit enough patients to the hospital on an annual basis.

“Because abortion is very, very safe,” Knutter said.

Dr. Rene Hinkle, an OB-GYN at the Cheyenne Women’s Clinic, told the committee abortions are 11 times safer than a pregnancy. The bill is also unnecessary, she said, since there are plenty of operations, such as vasectomies, that are performed in a doctor’s office.

“This is definitely a directed bill,” Hinkle said. “If you really are concerned about the safety of the citizens of Wyoming, you would include all of those [operations], because those have a higher complication rate than do abortions.”

She pointed to another component of the bill, which requires the abortion facility to be located within a 10-mile radius of a hospital, whereas other surgical centers in Wyoming are required to be within a 50-mile radius.

“The fact that this was 10 is obviously just a target on the Wellspring clinic,” Hinkle said.

Volk said she’s never seen the Wyoming Legislature attack a business the way this bill does.

“To drive them out of business in Wyoming, that is not pro-business,” said Volk, who also stated she’s a Republican and a local business leader. “That is not pro-freedom.”

Yin said he voted against the legislation because it seemed to target one specific Wyoming business.

“I think we all know that this is a bill that only targets one institution in the entire state, which is unfortunate that we’re passing bills that only target one exact place,” Yin said. “I don’t like doing that.”

The bill passed on a vote of 6-1. Rep. Clarence Styvar, R-Cheyenne, was excused from the meeting.

Abortion pills

Freedom Caucus member Rep. John Bear, R-Gillette, is the sponsor of House Bill 159, “Protecting water from chemical abortion waste,” a bill that would make drug manufacturers liable for any abortion pill chemical waste found in Wyoming water.

“This bill … does not prohibit abortion,” Bear said. “It is focused on protecting the life and health of the mother, as well as the public.”

Bear said an unpublished study, funded by Pew Research and provided by Students for Life of America, an anti-abortion organization, found that endocrine-disrupting chemicals in potable city water, specifically from abortion pills, are high in concentration.

“So a 154-pound person drinking three liters of water a day for a period of about 280 days, would have ingested enough chemicals to have an abortion,” Bear said.

This was the only study Bear referred to during public testimony, but it hasn’t been made available to the public yet. Bear told the WTE via a text message “that should happen soon.”

However, testimony from medical experts and the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality contradicted Bear’s testimony. Dr. Hinkle provided the committee with a letter from the Food and Drug Administration dated Jan. 15, 2025, to the Students for Life of America, regarding the unpublished study.

On Nov. 15, 2022, Students for Life petitioned the FDA to require prescribers of mifepristone, an abortion pill, to include a medical waste bag and catch kit with mifepristone prescriptions. The FDA denied the petition in its letter to the pro-life organization.

“The Petition offers only conjecture that remnants of Mifepristone in the nation’s water system are ‘causing unknown harm to citizens and animals alike,’” the FDA stated in its letter. “Specifically, the Petition provides no evidence showing that bodily fluid from patients who have used mifepristone (a one-time, single-dose drug product) is causing harm to the nation’s aquatic environment.”

DEQ Water Quality Administrator Jennifer Zygmunt said she wasn’t aware of any approved methods for detecting chemical waste directly linked to abortion pills.

“I do think it’s unlikely that we would detect these abortion drug chemicals in the water sampling,” Zygmunt said.

She said this is due to multiple factors, including infrequent use of the drug, low amounts of the drug used in a given population and the significant dilution that would occur.

“I’m not familiar with this report that Rep. Bear spoke to,” Zygmunt said. “We would certainly like to see a copy of that and help evaluate that data and see if other communities are finding detectable amounts in water.”

Rep. Ken Clouston, R-Gillette, voted against it, saying this bill, which is over 20 pages long, should be studied during the Legislature’s off-season, formally known as the interim.

“This is probably the first pro life bill that I’m really hesitant on,” Clouston said. “These medications are used for so many other things. I don’t know how we’re going to actually determine where some of these drugs are coming from.”

The bill passed committee on a vote of 5-2, with Styvar excused.

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CHEYENNE—At least two Wyoming Freedom Caucus bills, one defining “woman” and another prohibiting DEI programs in state-funded entities, cleared the final hurdle in the Wyoming House of Representatives.

Both bills will now be sent to the Senate, where they’ll be assigned to committee. Senators will have the opportunity to vote on and amend these bills.

On Monday, amendments were brought to both bills during third reading in the House, but all failed. One notable amendment brought to House Bill 32, “What is a Woman Act,” was introduced by Rep. Ken Chestek, D-Laramie. Chestek’s amendment was to take out language in the bill that stated it was subject to intermediate scrutiny.

HB 32 provides statutory definitions for “man,” “woman” and “biological sex.” It also states that this bill is subject to intermediate scrutiny, should it be brought before the court. There are three levels of scrutiny used by courts: rational basis (lowest level of scrutiny), intermediate scrutiny and strict scrutiny.

In order to pass intermediate scrutiny, the law must “further an important government interest” and “do so by means that are substantially related to that interest,” according to Cornell Law School.

Levels of scrutiny are determined by the court, and Chestek said this bill is telling the court how to do its job.

“This bill does more than define terms,” Chestek said. “Telling the court what level of scrutiny to apply to those definitions is more than defining the term. It’s actually changing the way the court is supposed to act, and that’s something that we have no ability to do.”

Rep. Ken Pendergraft, R-Sheridan, was the only lawmaker to speak in opposition to Chestek’s amendment, rehashing the same argument he used last week.

“I would contend that the only thing this bill does is provide definitions so that the courts can clearly understand what we mean,” Pendergraft said.

There was only one amendment brought to HB 147, “Prohibition of institutional discrimination,” a bill that prohibits “governmental entities from engaging in any diversity, equity or inclusion program, activity or policy.” Rep. Karlee Provenza, D-Laramie, proposed adding language to the bill that would exempt law enforcement.

Law enforcement personnel receive training on cultural differences, which is a critical defense tool in civil rights lawsuits, Provenza said.

“All I’m asking for is to make sure that we have an exemption for law enforcement so they can protect themselves, so they don’t increase danger to themselves, so that they can fight back in litigation when they have done the correct thing,” Provenza said. “An aye for this amendment is a vote to support law enforcement.”

Freedom Caucus Chairwoman Rep. Rachel Rodriguez-Williams, R-Cody, the sponsor of the bill, said diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs “are a distraction.”

“The core of (this bill) really is to mandate a color blind approach for all government entities,” Rodriguez-Williams said. “There is, perhaps, no more important place for this mandate than the justice system.”

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Freedom Caucus anti-DEI bill flies through House committee

CHEYENNE—The third item of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus’ “Five and Dime Plan” is moving forward after a bill prohibiting DEI practices in state institutions passed unanimously Wednesday in the House Education Committee and on first reading in the full House on Thursday.

House Bill 147, “Prohibition of institutional discrimination,” is sponsored by Freedom Caucus Chairwoman Rachel Rodriguez-Williams, R-Cody, and, as she put it, restores the state government to a “colorblind approach.”

“The Biden administration sold DEI, known as diversity, equity and inclusion, as a benign way to address inequalities,” Rodriguez-Williams said. “But the words for which these letters stand have been twisted beyond all recognition to now mean the exact opposite of what most Americans and Wyomingites believe are meant by diversity, equity and inclusion.”

The bill defines DEI as “any program, activity or policy that promotes differential or preferential treatment of individuals or classifies individuals on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, ethnicity or national origin.” It applies to the University of Wyoming, public community colleges and school districts, as well as local governments and political subdivisions or corporations of the state.

Rep. Tom Kelly, R-Sheridan, asked the sponsor if any public schools, which are a state institution, would be prohibited from having open discussions related to institutional racism.

“As an educator myself, and a college professor, I would not want the state telling me what I can and cannot talk about in my classroom,” Kelly said.

Rodriguez-Williams answered the intent of the bill is to prevent DEI practices, not open discussions. Her goal is not to impede anyone’s free speech, she said.

In May, the UW Board of Trustees voted to eliminate the university’s DEI Office. State Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder, who is also a UW trustee, was instrumental in that process and is in full support of the bill, said Chief of Staff Dicky Shanor.

Public testimony from education stakeholders against the bill argued it created a “chilling effect” in the classroom. Wyoming School Boards Association Executive Director Brian Farmer said the way the bill was written, teachers wouldn’t be able to teach Supreme Court cases like Brown v. Board of Education.

Wyoming Education Association spokesman Tate Mullen told committee members the bill disproportionately impacts social studies and history teachers in public schools.

Moms for Liberty of Laramie County spokesperson Patricia McCoy said she was in support of the bill, arguing there was a way to teach slavery “without saying it was the result of white supremacy.” McCoy said children are being taught from an early age they are either oppressors or victims, based on the color of their skin.

“Rep. Daniel Singh, R-Cheyenne, successfully added an amendment to the bill to clarify that teaching about institutional racism in the public classroom would not be prohibited. Two other technical amendments, including one from Rep. Martha Lawley, R-Worland, to specify the phrase “promoting institutional discrimination,” were also successfully added to the bill.

“What is a Woman Act” passes first round in House

CHEYENNE—Wyoming representatives who opposed the “What is a Woman Act” during a floor debate Thursday argued the bill is an overreach of state government and unconstitutionally takes on the role of the court.

House Bill 32, “What is a Woman Act,” sponsored by Rep. Jayme Lien, R-Casper, passed the committee of the whole in the Legislature’s lower chamber. To move to the Senate, it must pass two more votes in the House.

The bill creates a statutory definition of “man,” “woman” and “biological sex,” and requires public schools and state agencies to “identify each person … as either male or female consistent with the person’s sex at birth.”

Rep. Ken Chestek, D-Laramie, said this bill attempts “to do the court’s job.” He pointed to a section in the bill where it states the Legislature finds these laws subject to intermediate constitutional scrutiny.

Levels of scrutiny are determined by the court, Chestek said, based on the justices’ interpretation of the Constitution.

“They’re trying to tell the court what the Constitution requires. That is not the job of this Legislature,” Chestek said. “When we tell the court how to do its job, we are in trouble. We are violating the principle of separation of powers.”

However, Rep. Ken Pendergraft, R-Sheridan, countered his Democratic colleague. Pendergraft said it is the job of the Legislature to clearly define the intent of its laws.

“We need to be very clear on exactly what we mean when we write law,” Pendergraft said. “When there is a cloud of confusion being strewn up about what a word means, it is appropriate for us to stand forward and clearly define precisely what we mean.”

Rep. Lloyd Larsen, R-Lander, was somewhere in the middle, but also echoed Chestek’s concerns. He agreed defining “man” and “woman” could provide some value in today’s society, but asked if the intent of the bill is to merely provide a definition.

“Is the intent of the bill purely to put a definition on what a male and a female is, or is it also to tell the courts what we think meets constitutional intermediate scrutiny?”

Other lawmakers, both Republican and Democrat, argued the bill’s mandate to “identify a person’s biological sex” was too vague and overreaching. Rep. Karlee Provenza, D-Laramie, said the bill doesn’t specify how a person’s biological sex should be identified.

The Laramie Democrat said she worried how domestic violence shelters would inspect the biological sex of victims before being admitted. Given some of these individuals are victims of rape, Provenza said they shouldn’t be forced to expose themselves under the law.

“If you do not outline exactly how this is going to be enforced, you are opening it up to everybody,” Provenza said. “And I don’t want rape victims to show up to domestic violence shelters and have to show their genitals. I don’t think I need to walk them through why that’s so traumatic.”

Rep. Elissa Campbell, R-Casper, echoed a similar concern. She said the bill did more than provide definitions – it’s a “call to action.”

“What terrifies me the most is we talk about government overreach, and we talk about protecting the rights and freedoms,” Campbell said. “This bill, to me, screams, ‘We are taking rights, liberties, freedoms from individuals, and giving that authority to the state.’”

However, several Republican lawmakers spoke in support of the bill, arguing there is a need to put these definitions into law. Wyoming Freedom Caucus Chairwoman Rep. Rachel Rodriguez-Williams, R-Cody, was among those who argued in favor of the bill.

“The courts need a little help,” Rodriguez-Williams said. “It’s time to stand up for real women.”

Correction: The section of the story about an anti-DEI bill making its way through the House of Representatives contained an error. Rep. Daniel Singh’s amendment was to clarify that teaching about institutional racism would not be prohibited. The original version said “would be prohibited.” The WTE regrets the error. —Ed.

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CHEYENNE—A proposed Wyoming bill defining “woman” and “man” passed its first committee hearing Wednesday morning, already making progress beyond that of a similar bill filed last year.

Rep. Jayme Lien (R-Casper) brought back the “What is a Woman Act,” a bill first introduced by former Rep. Jeanette Ward of Casper. Ward’s bill failed to get the necessary two-thirds introductory vote to be considered in the budget session. Lien’s bill passed through its hearing in the House Labor, Health and Social Services Committee with flying colors, with a single “no” vote from the sole Democratic member, Rep. Mike Yin (D-Jackson).

Yin asked Lien the same question he had for Ward about the bill last year during the committee meeting.

“(The bill) says ‘Notwithstanding any other provision of law,’ so meaning that it applies to basically every single law in the state,” Yin said. “But I’m not sure what laws we have specific to ‘male’ and ‘female.’”

The representative clarified he was not aware of any Wyoming statute to prevent a man from using a women’s restroom. Lien answered there is currently no legislation on bathrooms, but there is another proposed bill by Rep. Martha Lawley (R-Worland) that specifically pertains to bathrooms and women’s spaces.

HB 72, “Protecting women’s privacy in public spaces act,” prohibits transgender women’s access to “sex-designated restrooms, showers, sleeping quarters and locker room facilities at public facilities.”

“There’s currently not a statute on the book,” Lien said. “There is proposed legislation (HB 72) in this session, and I’m hopeful that it will also come before this committee, and then we may be able to get it passed.”

An amendment was successfully adopted in Lien’s bill so the definitions of “male,” “female” and “biological sex” are consistent with those in HB 72.

How would this work?

Those who testified against the bill questioned the reality of putting this legislation into place. Wyoming Equality Executive Director Sarah Burlingame asked exactly what law enforcement’s role would be in making sure those who use the restroom do so in accordance with the law.

“Who will the state hire to check the genitals of children and adults? Who will they compel to see a doctor that they don’t want to see?” Burlingame said. “And do we, as Wyoming citizens, believe that that was the role of the state?”

Wyoming Equality Communications Coordinator Santi Murillo, who is transgender, said she felt uncomfortable being forced to use a male restroom. Murillo said she’s faced harassment from both cisgender men and women, and asked lawmakers to consider the impacts this bill would have on transgender women.

“If I am to use the men’s restrooms, men’s locker rooms, that puts me in a level of danger,” Murillo said. “Please, I ask you to oppose this bill and think of the safety of the trans individuals in the state.”

Greyson Sanchez-Hall, a transgender man, expressed similar concerns about harassment. Both Murillo and Sanchez-Hall said they have used restrooms in the Capitol with the gender they’ve identified with for years and never experienced a problem. 

“I’ve been transitioning for a little over five years now, and if I walk into a women’s restroom, I am pegged as a man. That makes women uncomfortable,” Sanchez-Hall said. “I never intend to make women uncomfortable, so I use the men’s restroom.”

‘Transgender agenda’

Gays Against Groomers spokesman Richard Guggenheim spoke in support of Lien’s bill, arguing that the “transgender agenda” has promoted homophobic ideologies. Gays Against Groomers is a national organization that advocates against “the sexualization, indoctrination, and mutilation of children under the guise of radical ‘LGBTQIA+’ activism,” according to its website. The Southern Poverty Law Center labels the organization as an anti-LGBTQ group.

Guggenheim said the transgender agenda implies it is better for a child to transition to the opposite sex than to be gay or lesbian.

“The transgender agenda is fundamentally homophobic, misogynist and harmful to the freedom and liberties of all of us,” Guggenheim said. 

“Gender ideology and queer theory seeks to compel our speech and strip women of their right to consent and say no to men in their bathrooms, locker rooms, on their fields and courts and in their prisons.”

Public testimony in support of the bill expressed concern for protecting female spaces and sports teams. Many said there is a safety issue in cisgender women competing with transgender athletes and sharing locker rooms with transgender people.

A sorority sister who was part of a lawsuit against Kappa Kappa Gamma was among those who testified before the committee. In 2023, seven sorority sisters filed a lawsuit against KKG over the admittance of a transgender woman in their chapter at the University of Wyoming.

Hannah Holtmeier, a plaintiff in the case who has since transferred to the University of Nebraska, told committee members how uncomfortable it was to see a transgender sorority sister in her house.

“I believe that everyone deserves a safe space where they can relax and open up to others who understand them,” Holtmeier said. “For me, that space was my sorority house. … When men start to infiltrate these intimate spaces, women are exposed to and forced into uncomfortable situations.”

A federal judge dismissed the case on the grounds the government cannot interfere with determining the membership of a private organization like Kappa Kappa Gamma. 

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