Wyoming Legislature update – Feb. 12 & 13, 2019
by Albert Sommers, House District #20 Representative
February 13, 2019
Wednesday, Feb. 13. 2019
Hello Sublette County,
This is Albert Sommers in Cheyenne, on Wednesday the 13th. We are deep into considering Senate bills and giving them due consideration in the House. Vigorously debating bills is what gives us the best possible legislation.
During 2nd reading today, the House passed, 10 bills including:
SJ0010 – Multiple use of public lands
SF0083 - Real estate appraisers-licensing amendments
SF0113 – Retail purchases of alcohol liquors for resale
SF0127 – Felony fleeing or eluding police. I amended this bill to exclude reckless driving from being the cause of someone qualifying for a felony when they flee law enforcement. I believe the charge of reckless driving is too subjective to create a felony, even in conjunction with eluding police.
The House passed on 3rd reading 12 bills. Bills that were passed included these I supported:
SF 54 – Wyoming Cowboy Challenge Academy endowment
SF 89 – Death benefits – Wyoming retirement plans
SF 129 – Education reporting requirements. This bill eliminated some reporting requirements. I amended the bill to ensure that the Hathaway Success Curriculum is reviewed every two years. We continue to tinker with this curriculum, and I believe it has been to the detriment of small school districts and student choice.
House Members heavily debated four senate files today in Committee of the Whole. We passed three bills and failed one. Bills passing included:
SF0080 - Passing stopped school bus-recorded images
Much of the debate surrounding this bill had to do the difference between proving a vehicle passed a bus and proving who the driver of the vehicle was at the time of the offense.
SF0151 – Judicial salary increases
Senate File 16 failed to pass on a vote of 25-31-4. This bill would have allowed municipalities to create special community development districts. I voted against this bill, because it seemed to create special districts that are not of a critical or specific nature.
I can be reached at albert@albertsommers.com with questions or concerns.
Thank you
______________________________________
Tuesday, February 12, 2019
Hello Sublette County,
This is Albert Sommers in Cheyenne on Tuesday the 12th. Today, in Joint Conference Committee (JCC) on the budget, the House and the Senate made the final compromises between the two chambers. Our staff will prepare the final version of our report, and then the JCC will take a final vote. I believe, we came to an agreement that is beneficial for the state and the people of Wyoming.
During 2nd reading today, the House passed 12 bills including:
SF 78 – Archaeological human burial sites- This is a bill that puts in place a process to address the circumstance when a human burial site is discovered during construction.
SF0090. Nonvested member accounts -This bill would help make the Wyoming state retirement plans more sound, by not allowing members to accrue interest on their accounts when they are not vested and not working for the state.
The House passed all seven 3rd reading bills on a consent list, meaning they were relatively noncontroversial. Six of the bills were committee bills that were debated heavily during the interim. Bills that were passed include these I supported:
SF 37 – Wyoming Energy authority. This bill combined two state agencies into one agency.
SF 63- LSRA investments – This bill would allow a portion of our "rainy day" account to be invested in higher yielding assets.
SF 43 – Hathaway scholarship eligibility - This bill provides more emphasis to CTE programs in the Hathaway Scholarship, and CTE is critical to satisfying workforce needs in Wyoming.
We considered 10 bills on general file today. We debated a wide range of bills including:
SJ0010 – Multiple use of public lands
SF0083 - Real estate appraisers-licensing amendments
SF0113 – Retail purchases of alcohol liquors for resale
SF0127 – Felony fleeing or eluding police – I have struggled to support this bill the last three sessions, because I worry that it could create felons out of scared youth who try to evade law enforcement and are charged with reckless driving.
I can be reached at albert@albertsommers.com with questions or concerns.
Thank you
|
