On Monday, March 4, the Wyoming House and Senate worked against the clock as they were met with crucial deadlines that would impact numerous bills and the 2025-26 biennium budget.

BILLS

According to Rep. Martha Lawley (R-Worland), Monday, March 4 was the final day for bills to be reported out of House and Senate committees. Thursday (today) is the final day for third reading on bills in the second house.

After that deadline, Lawley said Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon will have until the following Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday to either sign or veto bills, or let bills pass without his signature. However, Lawley said the House and Senate can override the Governor’s vetoes with a two-thirds vote if they are still in session. She noted that they may also add three days to the budget session if necessary, since their last legislative session did not use three of its allocated days.

Lawley’s personal bills, House Bill 148 and HB 134, were still active early Tuesday, March 5.

HB 148, which makes amendments to surgical and now chemical abortions, passed out of the House and Senate last week, said Lawley. After receiving a final yea vote to change the title of the bill, HB 148 is now waiting for the governor’s signature.

Due to an amendment made to the bill regarding chemical abortions, the bill was renamed “Regulations to Abortions.” The amendment requires a woman seeking a chemical abortion to receive an ultrasound no less than 48 hours before the abortion.

Despite some public pushback and controversy surrounding the bill, Lawley said the bill is necessary to the health and safety of women and provides “common sense regulations to abortions in Wyoming.”

HB 134, property tax deferral, passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee and passed out of the Senate Appropriations Committee on Monday, March 4. With the bill, qualified property owners would be able to defer payment on their taxes until the property changes hands.

The bill failed on first reading from the Senate 6-18-7. Sen. Ed Cooper, a co-sponsor of the bill, did vote in favor.

Another property tax bill which Lawley supports, HB 45, from Rep. Barry Crago (R-HD40, Buffalo), passed second reading in the Senate on Tuesday, March 5. According to a previous Northern Wyoming News article, the bill would put a 5% cap on the amount of increase in property taxes in any one given year and can be effective in 2024.

“Right now, there are a lot of property tax bills that the Senate is looking at, and it’s up to them to think about which are the priorities and which aren’t,” said Lawley. The Senate will continue to vote on property tax bills as the week goes on.

Lawley said that many of the Minerals, Business & Economic Development committee bills have passed out of the House and Senate, and now wait for the governor’s approval.

For the Education Committee, Lawley said that Senate File 9, a bill regarding parental rights, was worked on the House floor and passed. Lawley said the House added protections for school nurses and clarified that the bill does not override laws regarding the abuse and neglect of children. The bill now waits for approval from the Governor.

BUDGET

Before the fourth week of the session started, Lawley said, “There’s still uncertainty about the completion of the 2025-26 biennium budget.”

According to Lawley, it was important for the budget to meet the Monday midnight deadline in order for the House and Senate to retain their override power over any of the governor’s line item vetoes.

If the joint conference committee failed to come to an agreement and pass the budget by the Monday deadline, Lawley said that a “free committee” would be appointed by the House Leader and Senate President. The free committee would have a similar role to the initial joint committee and could be comprised of the same members. However, unlike the first joint conference committee that was limited to only discussing the differences between the House and Senate budgets, Lawley said the entire budget would be up for debate for the free conference committee.

“It opens up a different kind of negotiation,” said Lawley.

On Monday afternoon, the House Leader and Senate President appointed members for the free committee, which met for the first time Tuesday morning, March 5.

Before going into the fourth week of the budget session, Lawley said, “[The Senate] did a lot of cutting in some places that, in my view, where a little too aggressive.”

“[The Senate] really did some things that hurt the energy sector in Wyoming […] It has caused some concern about if the Wyoming Senate really does support the energy industry in Wyoming,” she said.

For the remainder of the final full week of the budget session, the House and Senate will continue voting on second and third readings of bills, discuss committee interim topics and work together on producing a 2025-26

biennium budget.