Wyoming will remain one of just two states without a shield law. A bill aiming to give Wyoming just such a law died last week, alongside dozens of other House bills that missed the deadline to be heard.
In states with a shield law, a journalist's news gathering materials — notes, interviews, recordings — are considered privileged. That means a court can't force the reporter to reveal their anonymous sources.
But Wyoming doesn’t have a shield law, so if a journalist refuses to reveal their sources to a court, that court could hold them in contempt and throw them in jail.
House Bill 91 would have changed that and given Wyoming a shield law. The bill passed out of committee with an 8-1 vote. But it was never introduced on the House floor, and now it's missed the deadline to do so.
This is the second time a proposed shield law has been knocked down. In 2021, a similar bill made it all the way through the House but died in a Senate committee.