Legislative session comes to an end: what passed, what didn’t

CHEYENNE — It’s a wrap for the Wyoming Legislature, the first one with the Wyoming Freedom Caucus in control of the state’s House of Representatives, as both legislative chambers officially adjourned Thursday to mark the end of the 37-day legislative session.

The Wyoming Legislature passed 178 of the 556 total bills and resolutions filed for introduction, or 32%, according to the Legislative Services Office. The LSO report found that 47% of committee bills and 27% of bills sponsored by individual lawmakers passed both chambers.

Out of the 209 bills introduced in the Senate, 47% of proposed legislation passed both chambers. The House has twice as many members, so it naturally had a higher quantity of legislation. Out of the 252 bills introduced in the House, 31% of them successfully made it through both chambers.

Gov. Mark Gordon congratulated the Legislature on its good work, although he said “there may have been a few targets we missed.”

Toward the end of this session, the Legislature failed to pass a supplemental budget for the first time in years.

“But the aim of this body has remained true for the citizens of Wyoming, and I look forward to working with you as we try to honor some of the commitments we’ve made in this session,” Gordon said.

The governor urged lawmakers to speak with their constituents at home, hear what their concerns are and bring those problems to the table. His traditional end-of-session speech

was short, just under four minutes long, and included a quote from the Bible.

Right before Gordon spoke to members of the House, Rep. Landon Brown, R-Cheyenne, addressed his freshman colleagues with a brief message: the lawmakers you campaigned against last year are people, too.

An influx of attack mailers during the 2024 campaign season was sent on behalf of Wyoming Freedom Caucus- endorsed candidates, accusing their Republican opponents of being secretly liberal. These political messages often contained false or misleading information.

While a few incumbents managed to hold onto their seats in November, a majority of lawmakers lost their reelection campaigns to running mates endorsed by the Wyoming Freedom Caucus. This included two of Cheyenne’s longest- serving legislators, former Reps. David Zwonitzer and Dan Zwonitzer.

“They’re not opponents. They’re people,” Brown said. “I just ask for that compassion. I ask for that love and that grace that comes along with everything that we do every single morning. … No more castigating against one another. We’re so much better when we work together.”

The Cheyenne representative later told the WTE some of these messages accused legislative candidates of “being in bed with China or lovers of pedophiles.”

It’s easy to run a mean campaign, Brown said, “but it takes a statesman to be able to saddle up” and realize his or her political opponents are human, too.

“What my first (House) speaker told me is ‘Your name has honorable in front of it now,’” Brown said. “‘Don’t ever do anything to remove that title from your name.’”

Freedom Caucus emeritus chair Rep. John Bear, R-Gillette, told the WTE in a text that Brown’s words “would be well received” if he didn’t accuse fellow House members of taking orders from out of state.

“Conservatives have always treated others with respect and debate policy,” Bear said. “Disagreements on policy shouldn’t be seen as dehumanizing, but as a healthy part of the process.”

However, Gordon aligned himself with Brown’s remarks in his speech to the House.

“Sounds a little bit like Rep. Brown was just saying some of the things that I was thinking about,” Gordon said. “When we work together, we can really move mountains.”

What passed, what didn’t

The Wyoming Tribune Eagle posted a list of key legislative topics before the start of the session it would be tracking this session: education funding and school policy; property tax relief measures; affordable housing; election policies and gaming legislation.

After the Senate announced two weeks ago it would not pass a supplemental budget, senators managed to restore the full cost adjustment to the K-12 school block grant, which pays for teacher and non-teacher salaries, classroom supplies and energy costs. This passed through both chambers and the bill is currently sitting on the governor’s desk.

However, the $4 million for child development center funding was lost with the nixed supplemental budget, despite efforts to tack this money onto existing bills in each chamber.

A universal school voucher bill, “The Steamboat Legacy Scholarship Act,” which uses state funds to send children to private schools, including homeschooling, was also signed into law this week.

Bills proposing a ban on cellphone use in public schools and an “enhanced” concealed carry permit failed to reach the finish line.

However, a bill that lifts gun-free zones in the state passed into law this year, but without the signature of Gordon, who criticized it as a “legislative power grab.”

Effective July 1, the Wyoming Gun Free Zones Repeal Act allows concealed carry in governmental and legislative meetings, public schools and airports where concealed carry is not prohibited under federal law.

A bill banning transgender athletes from participating on college women’s sports teams passed by the Legislature is currently waiting for Gordon’s signature. Another bill that bans transgender individuals from entering women only spaces was signed into law earlier this week.

All bills related to affordable housing and regulating Wyoming’s billion- dollar gaming industry failed to pass the Legislature.

As for elections, around 45 bills were filed this session to promote Secretary of State Chuck Gray’s election integrity priorities, despite little evidence of voter fraud in the Equality State. Only eight of these bills made it to the governor’s desk.

The list of failed legislation includes bans on ballot drop boxes and ballot harvesting, hand count audits, a paper ballot default requirement and a ban on electronic voting machines.

Freedom Caucus reacts

The day after the session ended, Freedom Caucus members told members of the media they were proud of all the work they’d accomplished this legislative session. House Speaker and Freedom Caucus member Chip Neiman, R-Hulett, said he had “a very specific plan” for his new role as Speaker in the 68th Legislature.

“I came in with a plan based on what we heard from the people of the state of Wyoming,” Neiman said during a news conference at the Capitol.

Rep. Lloyd Larsen, R-Lander, told the WTE that committee bills typically have a 20% fail rate in the Legislature. This year, more than half of committee bills failed to make it to the governor’s desk.

Bills sponsored by legislative committees come out of the interim season, or the Legislature’s off season. This is a time when lawmakers meet, conduct research and hear hours of public testimony as they draft bills for the upcoming session. These bills are a result of Wyoming stakeholders coming together to find a solution to Wyoming problems.

The House speaker has the power to keep bills in his drawer and not introduce them in the session. Neiman said he prioritized bills that fit “front burner” issues for the people of Wyoming.

House Majority Floor Leader Scott Heiner, R-Green River, who has the power to decide the order of the bills heard on the floor, said his goal for the session was to facilitate, not dictate, the prioritization of bills.

“I tried to get the feel of the body, what bills were important to them, regardless of whether it was a committee bill or sponsored bill from an individual,” Heiner said. “Committee bills still had a higher percentage of passing than personally sponsored bills. Historically, it’s in the 65% to 70% range.”

He added it was important to recognize that committee bills were vetted by former members of the 67th Legislature and not the new members of the 68th Legislature.

“They have a different priority than what the 68th (Legislature) has,” Heiner said. “I work with the members to bring forward the bills that were important to the 68th legislature. What’s important to the citizens of Wyoming today, and not a year or two years ago, and we still had a lot of committee bills that passed through.”

The biggest committee bill that failed, he said, was the supplemental budget.

This story was published on March 8, 2025.