Why care about the legislative session

The 68th Wyoming Legislature begins its general session next Tuesday, Jan. 14. You may be wondering why you should care?

As I have said previously, while many of the laws the Wyoming Legislature enacts may not apply to you, many may impact your life, your neighbor’s life or a member of your family.

One of the most recent laws that comes to mind is the amendments that were enacted into the Slayer Rule in 2021 with Senate File 66. The bill was sponsored by Sen. Ed Cooper after discussions with Mel and Darr Lea Walker.

Prior to the change the law stated that someone could not profit if they take another person’s life but it did not address joint tenancy and right of survivorship. The new law addresses joint tenancy with rights of survivorship and includes beneficiary designations. The bill also prohibits the person taking another’s life from serving “through nomination, appointment or otherwise in any fiduciary or representative capacity for the deceased person.”

During debate of the bill, Mel Walker of Worland testified that in February 2020 he was notified that his daughter, Deidra Walker Rowe, was murdered by her husband, who then committed suicide. “Due to Wyoming law, her things are still in the house a year later because they can’t seem to come to a decision on probate the way the laws are written.”

He stated after passage of the bill that while the bill will not help him with his daughter’s estate it should help others.

This is why what the Legislature does is important.

Let’s take a quick look at some bills that may impact you:

• House Bill 19 states “No social media company shall allow a minor to be an account holder on the social media company’s social media platform unless the social media company obtains the express consent of the minor’s parent or guardian.”

This bill will impact many teenagers who we know have social media accounts, as well as parents who will have to provide consent in some fashion.

Similarly is House Bill 43 which, if passed, will require “age verification for visiting websites with material harmful to minors,” per the bill.

• House Bill 46 will impact those who are home-schooled. It would remove the requirement that a home-based educational program submit curriculum to the local school board.

• For those with pets or who do not enjoy the sound of fireworks, you may be interested in House Bill 57 that would prohibit “counties and municipalities from prohibiting or regulating the use or possession of fireworks on July 4; allowing the use and possession of fireworks on July 4 in state parks, campgrounds and similar areas.”

That is just a small sample of the more than 200 bills that have already been submitted for introduction.

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Now that you know why you should care, you may be wondering how you can stay informed. Well, say what you will about the 2020 COVID pandemic, the one thing it did do for us is give us in Wyoming more access to the Legislature in Cheyenne.

All House and Senate debates are livestreamed on the Wyoming Legislature YouTube channel. Many committee meetings are also livestreamed.

You can watch real time what is happening in Cheyenne without braving Wyoming winter storms and traveling more than five hours to get there in person.

If you are not into binge watching the session you can follow the bills on the https://wyoleg.gov/ website.

Every bill is at your fingertips. Click on a bill and you get the introduced version, as the bill advances you can check on the status, look at amendments, check out a fiscal note and once the bill passes both the House and Senate you can check out a summary of the bill provided by the Legislative Service Office.

Bill status is updated at the end of each day on the website.

You are thinking this is not unusual and you would be right in today’s society. However, I remember when I first started covering the Legislature. First, to connect to the website you had to dial in on your modem and the amount of information that is at your fingertips today was not there.

To get an update on the status of a bill, you had to call the LSO and ask. Depending on where the bill was at in the process they might have a quick answer or they sometimes had to call you back.

Access to legislators at that time was also limited.

Most did not have emails so you would have to call and leave messages at the Senate or House desk or track them down at whatever motel they were staying at.

Now, on the legislative website, you have access to emails and phone numbers of all legislators.

You go to Senators or Representatives link and click on any legislator and you find out some basic background information including family, party affiliation, what district they serve, where they live, religion, civic organizations, as well as legislative information including committees, sponsored bills and, of course, contact information including mailing address, email address (most have a legislative email address) and cellular or home phone number or both.

LEGISLATIVE CONTACT INFO

To access our local legislators:

Sen. Ed Cooper: Ed.Cooper@wyoleg.gov; (307) 851-5949

Martha Lawley: Martha.Lawley@wyoleg.gov; (307) 431-1272

Other legislators' contact information can be found at http://www.wyoleg.gov.