Freedom Caucus’‘Five and Dime’ measures pass through House

CHEYENNE — Five key bills in the Wyoming Freedom Caucus’ “Five and Dime Plan” passed through the state House of Representatives within the first eight days of the general session, putting the hardline group of Republicans two days ahead of schedule.

After the Freedom Caucus gained majority control of the House following the general election, it released an ambitious plan, dubbed the “Five and Dime,” to pass five key legislative bills through the lower chamber within the first 10 days of the 37-day general session.

These bills include requiring proof of a voter’s Wyoming residency and U.S. citizenship (House Bill 157); invalidating driver’s licenses issued to those who entered the country illegally (HB 116); banning diversity, equity and inclusion programs in higher education (HB 147); ending state investments in environmental, social and governance funds (HB 80); and reintroducing a vetoed property tax bill from last year’s budget session (HB 169).

The bills passed through House committees and the House floor with little to no amendments added. HB 169 had the highest volume of proposed amendments, but that’s not unusual, since it’s a property tax bill.

Property tax bills often face significant amendments due to different ideas about who should qualify and at what percentage an exemption should be given, as well as the amount for which a property would be exempt.

Out of the 11 proposed amendments, only one was successfully adopted. One outlier was “Five and Dime” bill HB 80, which received five bipartisan amendments.

The other four “Five and Dime” bills were barely amended, with a couple of them seeing no change at all since introduction. Both freshman and veteran representatives attempted to bring amendments to bills they fully supported but were immediately shot down by their peers.

Freshman Rep. Julie Jarvis, R-Casper, for example, tried to bring an amendment to HB 46, “Homeschool Freedom Act,” that she said would ensure the safety of children. HB 46 eliminates the requirement for parents to submit homeschool curriculum to local school boards.

Jarvis’ amendment would have required parents to at least notify schools that their child was being homeschooled. However, several lawmakers, some of whom were Freedom Caucus-aligned, shot down these amendments, claiming they changed the intent of the bill.

Minority Floor Leader Rep. Mike Yin, D-Jackson, told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle these amendments were either technical corrections or aligned with the bill’s original intent.

“I think what we’ve seen is that (the Freedom Caucus has) a plan for what they wanted to push out, and they didn’t want any changes to it,” Yin said. “But that means that you have a bunch of broken bills that have caused a lot of problems coming out of the chamber, which is not good for the state.”

Senate: Bills need work

According to Senate leaders, bill amendments are a sign the legislation was properly worked through. Senate Majority Floor Leader Tara Nethercott, R-Cheyenne, told the media Tuesday that the work of the Legislature can be taxing and all-consuming, but bills must be worked.

Nethercott also noted a majority of House members are freshman lawmakers.

“I am concerned with the level of freshman House members,” Nethercott said. “Certainly, learning that skill set takes a little bit of time.”

Nethercott said she feels “the weight of some of those (House) bills coming over and the work that may be required.”

An amended bill, Nethercott said, does not mean something is wrong with it, but instead means the legislation is going through the process to better serve the people.

“That is a positive thing,” Nethercott said, adding that good legislation can take years to pass.

“Every bill needs review, and every bill likely needs work,” she said. “Most bills actually should be amended and require debate in order to create thoughtful, lawful legislation that does what it is intended to do.”

Freedom Caucus leadership pushed back on the idea that bills are being rushed through the House.

Chairwoman Rep. Rachel Rodriguez-Williams, R-Cody, told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle this is an engaged freshman class who is bringing experience as politically active Wyoming citizens.

“Many of them were already involved in grassroots organizations in their local communities,” she said. “They’ve taken their experience and their feedback from their local constituents, and they ran for office effectively, and they are doing a great job.”

On Tuesday, Senate Vice President Tim Salazar, R-Riverton, said that a number of controversial bills he’s proposed, including a 2018 “Stand your ground” law and a 2023 chemical abortion ban, took “years” to become law.

“Those bills were amended. Some of them took years to pass,” Salazar said. “There is a great deal of benefit to going through the vetting process, and some amendments are helpful. Others are not, but it really comes down to transparency, letting the public see what you are doing, even on controversial issues.”

Rushed, or talked about in past sessions?

Proposed amendments to the Freedom Caucus bills passed so far in the session would have “weakened” the bills and made them “useless,” said Freedom Caucus Chairman Emeritus Rep. John Bear, R-Gillette.

He added that many of these bills were already debated in the Senate in the 67th Legislature, which Bear said does a lot more “deliberative work” than the House. The Senate body is half the size of the House, with only 31 members in comparison to the House’s 62.

“We have so many people and so many bills on this side, you could argue we don’t get as much time on each one as compared to (the Senate),” Bear told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle.

Bear said “a significant number” of hours had been spent on these bills, with many of them being repeated from years past.

“How many hours spent on these bills is significant — probably more than any other bill we’ll pass,” Bear said. “It’s not because it needed that much debate, because many of these bills were debated and passed in the other chamber in years past. It’s because there’s a concerted effort to block them.”

A House bill concerning voter residency requirements did not meet a committee of the whole deadline in 2023. Also in 2023, the Senate passed two ESG bills, but those did not meet House deadlines, either. In 2024, a Senate file invalidating driver’s licenses for those who came into the country illegally died in committee.

This story was published on January 24, 2025.