The Wyoming Freedom Caucus will start off the legislative session with a goal of passing five bills in 10 days. The plan has been officially dubbed the “Five and Dime Plan.” The Freedom Caucus announced it through a video posted to YouTube.
In the video, the voices of different Freedom Caucus members describe what goals their constituents said take priority. According to Rep. John Bear (R-Gillette), he and other right-of-mainstream-conservative lawmakers were given a mandate.
“Last election you spoke to us loud and clear,” said Bear. “We heard you in town halls and on your doorsteps. What you gave us was a mandate to make some changes in the state of Wyoming.”
Conservative to-do list
The caucus has determined that voters found these five issues to be the most pressing to the state: proof-of-residency voter registration laws; immigrant IDs; diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) prohibition; banning environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing and slashing property taxes.
Caucus members have plans for the first bill to make voters prove U.S. citizenship and Wyoming residency in order to register to vote in the state. Secretary of State Chuck Gray and other conservatives have questioned the security and validity of Wyoming’s state election laws and practices in the past.
Second on the list is a bill to invalidate driver's licenses issued by other states to undocumented immigrants. Nineteen states currently allow undocumented migrants to receive a driver's license. Wyoming is not the first to consider the legal power of invalidating IDs issued by other states. Alabama took a cue from Florida and is attempting to implement a similar bill.
In an interview with Newsmax, Rep. Chip Neiman (R-Hullet) said Wyoming voters wanted the caucus to invalidate the driver's license of undocumented drivers so that they “don’t allow people to vote and to do business with those identifications.”
Third is a bill to prohibit DEI practices at high education institutions. The University of Wyoming’s campus saw DEI offices close earlier this year. The closure came after lawmakers cut roughly $175 million from the biennium budget.
Fourth on the agenda is prohibiting ESG investments, and instead prioritizing funds promising the highest financial rate of return. In the same Newsmax interview, Rep. Jeremy Haroldson (R-Wheatland) said the Freedom Caucus plans to “unwoke the state,” partly in reference to preventing ESG investments. Wyoming conservatives view market practices that follow ESG to be a form of “woke capitalism.”
Finally, the caucus will attempt a bill to slash residential property taxes by 25% for the first $2 million of the home’s fair market value. This has been a goal of the caucus’ previously, but was shuttered by Gov. Mark Gordon, who described it as a “socialistic type of wealth transfer.”
Three of these bills failed to pass or were vetoed in prior sessions. Attempts to prevent ESG investment, cut property taxes and invalidate licenses were shot down.
This time around, the caucus will hold a majority in the House when the session begins on Jan. 14. It remains to be seen if the Senate will back those priorities.
Gordon, while speaking to members of the Joint Appropriations Committee in December, voiced a willingness to work with the incoming Legislature on some issues.
“I look forward to working with all of you in the upcoming session and over the upcoming years. I anticipate we will agree often but I also recognize sometimes we will not," said Gordon. In a press conference hosted by Gordon, a few hours earlier than the Freedom Caucus’ conference, he said it will be an “interesting” session.
After Five and Dime
To show voters their dedication to a new right-wing agenda, incoming Freedom Caucus chair Rep. Rachel Rodriguez-Williams (R-Cody) hosted a press conference at the state Capitol. Flanking her left and right were members of the caucus, as well as Gray. They took turns describing aspects of the Five and Dime Plan in greater detail. However, they don’t plan to stop after the first five bills.
“Our priorities are not just for these five bills,” said Rodriguez-Williams.
She said the Five and Dime are for the first 10 days, after which they’ll move forward with a plan called the 2020 Vision.
“It’s 15 more bills to make a group of 20 complete bills that are going to be brought in the first 20 days,” said Haroldson.
Haroldson said there wasn't time to dive into all those bills during the press conference, but listed repealing gun-free zones, protecting women's spaces and bringing universal school choice as three items he was passionate to speak about.
Rodriguez-Williams also welcomed Cassie Craven, an attorney for members of a University of Wyoming sorority who brought a lawsuit against a transgender woman who joined the Greek organization.
Additionally, Rodriguez-Williams invited Will Hild, the executive director of the nonprofit Consumers' Research, to speak about the anti-ESG initiatives lawmakers would be pursuing.
“While I may be [flown in] from D.C., Consumers’ Research is a local nonprofit here incorporated in the great state of Wyoming since 2021, because of the wonderful business environment that you all have here and the defense of our freedoms of expression that you hold so dear,” said Hild.
Gray was the last state official to speak before the conference went to questions and was brought to a close. Gray spoke favorably about the Freedom Caucus’ plans, saying he felt emotional as a founding member of the caucus to see them in power now. After congratulations were given, Gray shifted his focus to voter laws, ballot boxes and Gordon specifically. Last year, the governor rejected the secretary of state's proposed voter registration rules, which would have required voters to prove Wyoming residency if it wasn't already shown on their primary identification.
“These rules were vetoed on April 12 by Governor Mark Gordon, who claimed the rules were beyond the authority delegated to our office. And I took issue with this analysis” said Gray. In the same category, Gray said the Legislature will seek a ban on ballot drop boxes.
“When an individual delivers a ballot to an inanimate object, that's not delivering the ballot to a clerk. That's delivering it to an inanimate object,” said Gray.
In a one-on-one interview with Haroldson after the press conference, he explained parts of the Five and Dime plan with more detail. Haroldson said the legislative agenda aligns different policies with one overarching goal.
“We are going to unwoke the state,” said Haroldson.
This reporting was made possible by a grant from the Corporation For Public Broadcasting, supporting state government coverage in the state. Wyoming Public Media and Jackson Hole Community Radio are partnering to cover state issues both on air and online.