2024 Budget Session Recap
The Laramie Reporter wrote nearly 30 stories this session, following issues of importance to Albany County and the activity of its delegation in Cheyenne.
From the assault on LGBTQ+ rights to the push for police accountability, the Laramie Reporter was there to follow the 2024 Budget Session of the Wyoming Legislature from start to finish.
Here we explain what we were covering and why, and we collect the 28 stories we wrote throughout the session.
Our Methodology
There were three main categories we sought to cover this session. A bill, topic or amendment had to fall into at least one of these categories to attract our gaze.
First, we sought to cover those bills or discussions of particular interest to Albany County. These might involve or impact the university, local school funding or attempts to clean up nuisance properties.
Second, we sought to highlight the activities of our local electeds. Our four representatives and two senators introduced bills, fought for budget amendments, and pushed back on others. We did our best to highlight what your local delegation was up to this winter.
Third, we sought to document public debates about vaccines, trans rights and other social-scientific issues we felt particularly able to address and particularly drawn to explore. These issues are of great importance to residents of Albany County, but are just as important to the rest of the state. We’re proud that this coverage has been read by a statewide audience throughout the session and we will continue to cover these issues as they continue to influence the lives of Wyomingites.
Of course, we could not cover everything. And just because we did not cover something does not mean it’s unimportant. We’ll take a moment here to point out some excellent coverage of major topics we did not address here.
There was significant debate about property tax relief, which resulted in the governor signing four bills but vetoing a fifth. Property taxes have gone up, hitting many residents of the Equality State even as they enjoy one of the nation’s lowest overall tax burdens.
Gov. Mark Gordon vetoed a bill that would have given him money to fight the feds in court in disputes concerning natural resource management plans.
When it came to charter schools, lawmakers wanted to make it easier for public funds to go to religious and other private schools. The governor vetoed one such bill, but passed another (albeit with a line-item veto restricting the bill’s requirements).
Gordon vetoed a bill that would have repealed gun-free zones in government buildings like the Wyoming Legislature, but signed another bill banning red flag laws — a popular variety of gun control legislation that is effective at reducing firearm-related suicides and might be effective at reducing mass shootings or firearm-related homicides. The overwhelming majority of suicides in Wyoming involve firearms.
Wyofile also highlighted the struggle regarding funding for the 988 suicide hotline, the passage of the state budget, its hundreds of amendments and the governor’s vetoes, the subsequent debate between lawmakers who wanted a special session to override the governor’s vetoes and those who didn’t, and other aspects of this year’s tumultuous session.
Our coverage, from start to finish
LGBTQ+ rights
It was, overall, a bad year for advocates of LGBTQ+ rights.
While an attempt to define transgender residents out of their identity failed, there were a mountain of anti-trans and other anti-LGBTQ bills brought this year, each seeking to build upon last year’s passage of the first anti-LGBTQ legislation to succeed in Wyoming in two generations.
One new law, a scaled back version of Florida’s infamous “Don’t Say Gay” bill, could require schools to out gay, transgender or gender-nonconforming students to unsupportive families.
But perhaps more significantly, Wyoming has outlawed life-saving gender-affirming medicine for transgender youth, prohibiting doctors and other medical professionals from proffering the highest standard of care according to their profession. Despite pushback from pediatricians, the wider medical community, human rights advocates and the parents of transgender children, lawmakers passed the bill on the back of unfounded or false allegations about said care and with justifications drawn directly from conspiracy theories.
Abortion restrictions
There were a number of abortion proposals on the table this year, from a doomed Reproductive Freedom Act backed by Wyoming Democrats, to new requirements on abortion facilities, to a bill mandating ultrasounds before abortions.
The ultrasound bill died, while the new requirements on abortion facilities soared through the House. Lawmakers amended that bill to add in the ultrasound requirement, resurrecting the main idea behind that other, failed bill. This package of abortion restrictions went before the governor, who ultimately decided the final bill was too cluttered and vetoed the whole thing.
Anti-vax crusade
There were numerous anti-vaccine bills filed this year, including parental rights bills, bills banning discrimination against the unvaccinated, bills prohibiting the Wyoming Department of Health’s promotion of vaccines, and even a bill mandating that medical professionals mark donated blood as coming from either vaccinated or unvaccinated individuals.
All but one of these proposals died during the first week, failing to pass introduction.
The last remaining anti-vax bill, a proposed parental rights law, was crushed in a House committee following testimony from public health officials. The officials argued the bill would hinder their ability to respond to mass casualty and outbreak events and that it would hinder their ability to help teens stop smoking.
Provenza’s police oversight bill
Albany County Rep. Karlee Provenza (HD-45) fought for a police oversight bill that will close a legal loophole in the Wyoming Public Records Act. The bill gives the Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) Commission explicit access to the police personnel records it needs to conduct decertification investigations.
Previously, officers were able to block the release of their own records, delaying these investigations. The issue was especially relevant to Provenza’s Laramie, where former Albany County Sheriff’s Deputy Derek Colling blocked the release of his records amidst a POST investigation.
Debbie Hinkel, whose son was killed by Colling in 2018, celebrated the passage of this new law, saying she felt truly represented by Provenza.
Wyoming Highway Patrol attempted to scale back the bill, its leaders saying they supported the idea of accountability but didn’t agree with how much access the bill granted the oversight agency. POST’s investigation into Derek Colling is ongoing.
University funding and DEI
Bitter partisan fighting found a new battleground this session: the University of Wyoming’s funding in the state budget bill.
Initially, UW asked for some $522 million from the state — a standard budget of $419 plus $103 in exception requests — and the Joint Appropriations Committee endorsed most of that ask. When Gov. Mark Gordon signed the biennium budget into law, it included $504 million for the university.
That money will fund research and education on a range of topics, from energy extraction to nuclear energy to artificial intelligence to rangeland management. It also includes funding for major maintenance, more endowment matching, graduate assistant stipends, mental health resources and academic journal subscriptions at Coe Library.
But UW’s portion of the state budget was also notable for its footnotes. Specifically, the Senate passed two amendments taking aim at allegedly “woke” programs, defunding and banning gender studies and defunding diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. The footnote banning gender studies was eliminated during the conference phase, when lawmakers smooth out the differences between the House and Senate versions of the state budget. The DEI footnote survived.
UW rallied to support its DEI office and the various other DEI initiatives offered across campus, flooding a Board of Trustees meeting and dominating multiple public comment periods. In the end, UW achieved a partial victory. Gordon vetoed the part of the footnote defunding DEI initiatives in general but did not veto the part of the footnote defunding the DEI Office specifically.
UW is now reviewing its DEI initiatives, determining what it will keep, what it won’t and what needs to be funded by private dollars.
School construction and demolition
The final state budget also included funding for specific school construction projects in Albany County.
It first set aside $300,000 for a rural one-room schoolhouse in Garrett. The provision would benefit the Andersons, ranchers who have fought for the establishment of “Antelope Creek Elementary” for years.
Additionally, the budget sets aside funding for the demolition of Old Slade. That demolition will allow the school district to sell off the 17 lots occupied by the derelict former school.
Furphy’s hearing aid program
Albany County Senator Dan Furphy (SD-10) fought for and secured a statewide hearing aid program that will provide hearing aids free of charge to certain eligible adults living with diagnosed profound hearing impairment. The program is limited to only those with no other insurance options. Some right-wing lawmakers objected to the program, saying it was not “the role of government” to help the Deaf community.
Sherwood’s nuisance clean-up bill
Albany County Rep. Trey Sherwood (HD-14) fought for and failed to secure a tax incentive for cleaning up abandoned or nuisance properties. Sherwood said she was excited for the bill because it provided a “carrot” rather than a “stick” and could beautify neighborhoods while benefiting property owners. Right-wing lawmakers, who appeared confused about the bill’s details, voted to crush the proposal. The bill was just four votes shy of the supermajority it needed to clear introduction.
Addendum: You might have also spotted Ashton Hacke’s photography in WyoFile or Jeff Victor’s reporting for Wyoming Public Radio, where we both did even more reporting on this year’s session. Your support allows us to maintain this local, in-depth reporting here at the Laramie Reporter. To everyone who donated during the three-year anniversary fundraiser, and to everyone who bought a subscription this winter or who has bought one in the past, a sincere thank you for enabling this coverage.
Thank you so much for this breakdown of what occurred! I was looking for something succinct and inclusive and will be sharing this with others I know.