Freedom Caucus applauds 'conservative laws' that took effect in Wyoming July 1

Laws change elections, ban DEI, repeal gun-free zones.

JACKSON — A new slate of Wyoming Freedom Caucus-backed laws — from repealing gun-free zones to changing what types of driver’s licenses immigrants can use — went into effect Tuesday.

Wyoming House Speaker Chip Neiman, R-Hulett, called it a “big day in Wyoming legislative history.

“I don’t know if I’ve ever seen more conservative laws take effect on one day,” Neiman said in a statement Monday.

During the 2025 session, Neiman guided the lower chamber in the Wyoming Legislature for the first time. He is a member of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus, which took control of the House in 2024 and came in with an aggressive plan, which included targeting diversity, equity and inclusion programs, abortion access and undocumented immigrants.

But House Minority Floor Leader Mike Yin, D-Jackson, questioned whether the bills that became law Tuesday were really “conservative.”

“It’s the most legislation that has been pushed by the Freedom Caucus in one year that’s passed,” he said. “That’s for sure. You could even say that the Freedom Caucus is in the middle of trying to transform Wyoming into something that it wasn’t before.”

The Wyoming Legislature passed 178 new laws this winter, and 108 started impacting Equality State residents Tuesday.

The standard date for new laws to go into effect each year is July 1, which often gives state agencies and local governments time to adjust or prepare to implement legislation.

However, there are exceptions when lawmakers are eager to make a bill effective immediately. Some of the laws that were in force as soon as they left the governor’s desk were Wyoming’s two most recent abortion restrictions that regulate surgical abortion and require an ultrasound at least 48 hours before a “chemical abortion”; a bill that bans “sanctuary” cities and counties for undocumented immigrants; and another that requires students to use bathrooms, changing rooms and sleeping quarters that “align with their sex at birth.”

Changing elections

Neiman applauded laws that went into effect Tuesday that will impact elections.He celebrated the passage of House Bill 156, which requires people to prove they are U.S. citizens who have lived in Wyoming for at least 30 days before they can vote.

Gov. Mark Gordon let the bill become law without his signature, and it is now being challenged in federal court by the Equality State Policy Center.

Secretary of State Chuck Gray and his attorneys filed a motion to dismiss the case Friday after he was given extra time to respond to a request to halt enforcement while the law is litigated.

Neiman also backed other election integrity laws, “like a common-sense voter list maintenance requirement and a ban on ranked choice voting.”

Gray called eight bills “landmark election integrity measures.” They included the three Neiman mentioned as well as bills banning distribution of unsolicited absentee ballot request forms and banning foreign funding of ballot measures in Wyoming.

Social issues

On social media, the Wyoming Freedom Caucus celebrated a handful of bills taking on social issues: one that invalidates licenses from other states provided to undocumented immigrants; another that bans DEI initiatives; and two other abortion regulations that are caught up in district court.

“Wyoming citizens will also be much safer with the enactment of House Bill 172, which repeals deadly gun-free zones,” Neiman said. “Homeschool families will be a little more free as well, as House Bill 46 takes effect, removing the requirement that parents get permission from the district to homeschool their kids.”

The Teton County School District board of trustees, Yin and Senate Minority Floor Leader Sen. Mike Gierau, D-Jackson, have criticized those bills heavily, emphasizing the magnitude of the gun-free zone repeal.

While some constituents worried about the bill’s impacts on safety, how it could cause students to leave public schools and a reported increase to insurance costs, Gierau said the Freedom Caucus should worry for a different reason.

“We pass these bills because we’re so altogether petrified about someone taking away our guns, which has never been done,” he said. “At that exact time, we also pass bills that require more ID and registration for voting at all levels.”

He said that could help create a national database for the federal government, which could be used to strip gun rights if the data landed in the wrong hands. That’s why the state previously never supported a universal ID, he said.

The senate side

The Freedom Caucus highlighted bills sponsored by members of the House, but there were similar culture-war issues and politically divisive bills amongst Republicans in the Senate that made it across the governor’s desk.

Senate File 33 went into effect immediately and requires a label on all driver’s licenses issued to noncitizens with “lawful status.”

The ”Fairness in sports-intercollegiate athletics” bill expands a transgender athlete ban from high school to the University of Wyoming and all Wyoming community colleges.

Senate File 77, meanwhile, bans the state government from requiring the use of preferred pronouns.

This story was published on July 2, 2025.