Wyoming Legislature update – February 1, 2023
by Albert Sommers, House District #20 Representative
February 3, 2023
Hello Sublette County and LaBarge, this is Albert Sommers reporting to you on February 1, the 16th day of the General Session of the 67th Legislature. This morning, we heard and passed 14 bills on 2nd Reading. The House spent the remainder of the day working through amendments on 2nd Reading of the budget bill, as we debated 53 budget amendments.
Two bills I will highlight from 2nd Reading are:
HB0103 - Political party affiliation declaration and changes. This bill would change when voters must declare or change their party affiliation. Currently, a voter has until 14 days before an election or on election day to change their party affiliation. In its original version, this bill would require a person to change their party affiliation prior to May 15th for the primary election and 14 days before the General election. On Tuesday, an amendment passed Committee of the Whole that moved the change party affiliation deadline to 45 days prior to the primary election. When the primary election system was put into place in 1911, a voter could change their party affiliation up to 10 days before the primary election. I believe that our election system in Wyoming has served us well and I have concerns with the current version of bill and the number of days it is requiring. I support a party change deadline of 14 days prior to the primary election. I look forward to continuing the debate on this bill during 3rd Reading tomorrow.
HB0124 - Electricity generation-taxation is a bill I sponsored. In Wyoming, there is an excise tax on the privilege of generating electricity from wind. This bill adds solar to the statute so that the State could also collect an excise tax on electrical generation from solar. This bill solves an equity issue. Solar energy should not have a tax advantage over wind energy. I think renewable energy sources should pay their way, like coal and natural gas do.
Tomorrow will be another busy day of work on the floor to get through a long list of Committee of the Whole bills, as we take a day off from budget bill work.
I can be reached at albert@albertsommers.com with questions or comments. Thank you.
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