Shortly before the start of the Wyoming 68th Legislature’s general session, Rep. Jeremy Haroldson (R-Wheatland) made a promise: “We are going to unwoke the state.”
Haroldson had recently been named speaker pro tempore, clinching a leadership position in the state House for the conservative Wyoming Freedom Caucus, which had also just clinched a majority in the chamber.
At a pre-session press conference, the emerging political bloc proudly announced its “Five and Dime” agenda as a mandate from voters to pass election reform, property tax relief, bar state funds from environmental, social or governance (ESG) investments and ban diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in higher education. A representative of the State Freedom Caucus Network said Wyoming caucus members came up with the agenda by knocking on consitutent’s doors and using private polling.
About two months later, lawmakers in the Freedom Caucus were smiling as reporters entered the room for their post-session press conference. Every member who spoke was energized to explain what they accomplished in this session.
“The Wyoming House has spent over 210 hours on the House floor working bills,” said Speaker of the House Chip Neiman (R-Hulett). “Working bills, discussing things, making sure that we will vet everything that we push forward to the other chamber.”
Of the six House bills that addressed the priorities in the Five and Dime Plan, two had become law, with one waiting on the governor’s desk. In a Substack post recapping other policy goals from the session, the caucus declared, “We delivered on the people’s priorities.”
While none of their colleagues in the House would dispute the pure man hours put into this session, non-Freedom Caucus members and even the governor held different visions of the 68th Legislature.
How the caucus wielded power
Freedom Caucus Chair Rep. Rachel Rodriguez-Williams (R-Cody) and House Speaker Neiman led the press conference, recapping the Freedom Caucus’s experience as the majority in a state legislative body for the first time. They focused on their “Vision 2020” bills – a package of 15 bills the caucus hoped would follow Five and Dime – and the long hours spent in committees, legislators who focused on specific topics like education or taxes, and mirroring Trump’s agenda.
“ Just like Pres. Trump is bringing common sense change to Washington, the Wyoming Freedom Caucus is bringing common sense change to Cheyenne,” said Rodriguez-Williams to kick things off.
The representative’s opening remarks touted the Freedom Caucus as “coming in strong” with five bills the House passed at the beginning of the legislative session, but not necessarily part of the Five and Dime agenda. Those were:
- HB 156 - Proof of voter residency-registration qualifications*
- HB 116 - Driver's licenses-unauthorized alien restrictions*
- HB 32 - What is a Woman Act
- HB 147 - Prohibition of institutional discrimination*
- SF 69 - Homeowner property tax exemption
Editor’s Note: An asterisk following a bill’s title indicates it was part of the caucus’s Five and Dime Plan.
Three of those bills – HB 156, HB 116 and HB 147 – were part of the Five and Dime Plan. SF 69 offers a similar 25% property tax break like its failed House counterpart, HB 169, but without reimbursing local governments for tax revenue losses, as the Freedom Caucus set out to do with the Five and Dime.
As of March 18, Gordon had signed SF 69 and HB 147 into law, and allowed HB 116 and HB 32 to become law without his signature. He has until midnight on March 21 to take action on HB 156.
The remaining Five and Dime bills, like HB 80, which would’ve banned ESG investing, and HB 157, which would’ve required proof of citizenship to register to vote, passed the House – but the Senate didn’t consider them.
Former caucus chair Rep. John Bear (R-Gillette) told WPR some of the Five and Dime priorities, like property tax cuts, were accomplished in bills that originated in the Senate.
“We took up Senate bills and made them very similar to what we were trying to produce out of the House … It's completely normal and customary that the two sides would negotiate an outcome because the Senate might view things differently. I don't believe the Senate is nearly as conservative as the House, as far as the membership is concerned,” Bear said.
As for the “What is a Woman Act,” members of the caucus said that bill fell into the caucus’s broader Vision 2020 plan, a follow-up to the Five and Dime.
Neiman applauded the caucus’ work on several legislative issues, including expanding the state’s school voucher program to all families. Neiman specifically called out Rep. Ocean Andrew (R-Laramie) for his work on the bill.
“This gentleman has been working for four years, undaunted, to make this opportunity available to all Wyomingites. It was accomplished this year. We had a framework last year, but this gentleman, through the good work of the House and the committees and the other chamber, provided for universal opportunity for K-12,” he said.
Neiman also applauded the chamber’s work to repeal most gun-free zones in public schools, parts of the state Capitol and other state buildings.
“This has been over 10 years in the making. Rep. Haroldson did a phenomenal job of working with all the stakeholders to make sure that he vetted that well,” Neiman said.
Another main point of pride was two bills relating to expression of identity. One bill requires Wyomingites to use bathrooms, locker rooms and sports teams that align with the sex they were assigned at birth, as opposed to their gender identity. The second bill would prohibit transgender individuals from playing on college sports teams. NCAA President Charlie Baker told a Senate committee in December there are “less than 10” trans athletes in the NCAA, according to BBC reporting.
“Our members worked on multiple bills as a team in crafting amendments and working together to correct women's and girls’ sports and their athletic competitions in private spaces,” Neiman said. “The Freedom Caucus did their utmost and did a phenomenal job of protecting Title IX and protecting the rights of our ladies and our girls in the state of Wyoming to make sure that they are safe, that they are protected and that they can compete on a level playing field.”
Neiman applauded other efforts by the caucus that failed, such as the bill requiring proof of citizenship to vote.
During the post-session press conference, Neiman spoke positively about his interactions with industry leaders, lobbyists and members of the public. He said he had been told this was one of the “smoothest-run sessions” in memory by colleagues and staff at the Capitol.
“Bear in mind, ladies and gentlemen, if we don't work together, these things don't happen. They don't get accomplished. These are accomplishments. These are things that we got done. So that's both chambers working together,” he said.
Populism and compromise
“ Compare this to some previous years,” said Rep. Landon Brown (R-Cheyenne) outside the House floor during the final week of the session. “I think what we saw was less debate, less willingness to compromise and ultimately just kind of bad policy-making for the state of Wyoming from the House side.”
Brown found some of the Freedom Caucus bills, like allowing the state to invalidate non-citizens’ licenses, to be unconstitutional upon introduction. Brown believes bills like this are part of a larger “populist agenda” trend, one similar in scope to what the Trump administration is carrying out.
“ What it boils down to right now is as long as we have Donald Trump in office, anything that the federal government is going to be doing is great. Especially the stuff that Elon Musk is doing. Those types of things. It hits on a level of populist agenda items, right?” he said.
He admitted there were good bills passed by the Freedom Caucus that voters “appreciate,” but thinks longer-sitting members of the House would like to see more debate, regardless of the bill, in the future.
“ I think we'd like to see some contention and we'd like to see some pushback on certain ideas. Even when they're our friends. What you're seeing now is, if you're my friend and you're in the Freedom Caucus, we don't push back against each other,” said Brown.
Democrats in the House held similar sentiments. Rep. Karlee Provenza (D-Laramie) had described at least one of the bills in the Five and Dime Plan as a “nothing-burger” in an op-ed she shared with Wyoming press outlets in late January. She also believes there's an overlap between the Freedom Caucus and D.C. politics.
“ I think what we got out of this session was an overwhelming sense of clarity as to who is in power and what they're going to do with it,” she said in an interview outside the House floor. “They will not use it to serve Wyoming. They will use it to serve somebody that gives them marching orders from Washington, D.C.”
The Wyoming representative of the State Freedom Caucus Network previously told WPR she shares suggestions on how to vote on bills with caucus members.
Across the Capitol, Sen. Chris Rothfuss (D-Laramie) also brought up populism during his reflection on the Freedom Caucus.
“There was a lot in this session which was more about trying to fuel that populist desire and the passions of our constituents, as opposed to actually addressing real problems. We have a 19-page bill on bathrooms that passed both chambers, for example,” he said, referencing HB 72 - Protecting Privacy in Public Spaces Act, which became law.
Rothfuss was particularly concerned with the financial situation of the state, citing a lack of cooperation between the Senate and House when working on items like tax cuts. The senator conceded that bills like SF 69, the 25% residential property tax cut, were “ very much reactive to the public's desire to see lower taxes,” but that a failure to consider the implications of a lack of reimbursements to local governments for lost tax revenue means future sessions will have to “pick up the pieces.”
Rothfuss is still waiting to see how the Freedom Caucus will operate in the next year.
“[It’s] going to require cooperation between the two chambers and we'll see whether that actually comes to fruition and whether the House steps up into that leadership role and acknowledges it, or whether they continue to just stoke the fires,” he said.
The governor's critique
Gov. Mark Gordon expressed similar concerns when he explained why he would let SF 168 - Budget reserve account repeal become law without his signature. The new law consolidates some of the state’s “rainy day” accounts.
“This session has been a series of uncoordinated legislative actions impacting state revenue, including tax redistributions, tax reductions, and earmarks,” Gordon wrote. “These measures collectively divert hundreds of millions of dollars from traditional state revenue streams, funds that would otherwise support Wyoming's constitutional and statutory obligations.”
The Freedom Caucus has referred to itself as the conscience of the Republican Party. When asked how he, a Republican, considers his own pushback to some of these Freedom Caucus priorities, the governor chuckled.
“Look, first and foremost, I've been a Republican all my life,” said Gordon during a recent press conference. “I think the Five and Dime Plan, there were some good ideas in that. It's great. I think it's kind of stupid that [the Freedom Caucus] came away with the way we're going to run next year's session is by overriding everything the governor did last time.”
Gordon referenced not being able to work as efficiently as he could with the caucus on issues like turning the Capitol into a gun-free zone much sooner during the session, or the Freedom Caucus “steamrolling” local school policy.
However, the governor did make sure to mention a point of cooperation with the Freedom Caucus.
“I've had very good conversations with Rep. [Scott] Heiner (R-Green River) about what we need to do to make sure that our energy industry in southwestern Wyoming has a bright future,” Gordon said. “It's just sort of disappointing that we get lost in this political discussion.”
The expectation of being under fire
During a one-on-one interview outside the House floor, Rodriguez-Williams said she “rebuked that claim” that the Wyoming Freedom Caucus had been unwilling to compromise, as put forth by some Republican and Democratic representatives.
“I believe that the House heavily debated issues, including the top priorities of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus. There was great debate on the floor, and I would say it's safe to say that not every bill comes out of the House the way that it was originally drafted because of the willingness to compromise,” she said.
Regardless of how other Democrats or Republicans criticize the Freedom Caucus, the caucus sees that attention as a win.
“Changing the status quo draws fire,” said Rodriguez-Williams during the Freedom Caucus press conference.
“ The Wyoming Freedom Caucus has been and will continue to be attacked by biased media outlets in this state, the ‘good old boys club’ and the deep state insiders,” she said. “This just proves that we're doing the great work of the people in this great state of Wyoming.”
Bear held similar beliefs as he reflected on a question as to whether the session ended with more bridges built or more bridges burned.
“ When you're being attacked by those groups, you're doing the work of the people,” said Bear in an interview. “So if our relationships here are just based on the work that we do, and if we're doing the work of the people, I'm not overly concerned about it other than trying to get that advanced.”
After the the press conference, Neiman took time to address some of the “coffee house” criticism tossed by Democrats, a term Rothruss uses to describe bills that generate a lot of talk, but may not change life for Wyomingites on the ground.
“We’re talking about tax reform, we’re talking about school choice, we’re talking about 2nd Amendment rights,” said Nienman. “If you want to go to the coffee house idea, yeah, I've seen them. The guys all get together, [the] ladies get together and they discuss the issues of the day. Well, those issues they discuss are important.”
Looking towards the future
With the session over, Freedom Caucus members are now gearing up for the interim, when they’ll start considering priorities for next year’s budget session.
Neiman mentioned his pleasure would be to see a “two for one” style of lawmaking. This implies that for every bill brought forward, at least two statutes should be removed from Wyoming law as a way of cleaning up the books.
Haroldson held a similar vision for the future.
“ A big thing we want to do is, let's look at what is in our statutes that shouldn't be there. What repealers need to be brought?” he said. “ I think that's something we can look at as we move forward as running repealers and just lessening the regulatory framework of our state.”
At the same time, Haroldson said his colleagues in the Senate went too far by deciding not to pass a supplemental budget this session.
“ We have to produce a budget constitutionally and as we've seen this last month, that's something that the [Senate] down the hall apparently doesn't see the need for. So there's a disagreement there. I believe we should have a small, intelligent budget, but the cut-and-slash mentality that we saw come from the Senate was definitely not proper management in my opinion.”
Brown believes some Republicans will begin to splinter themselves from the growing Freedom Caucus movement. For Brown, the “ultra-hard right” throughout the GOP at large may start “bleeding” support over the next two years.
“ I think what you're going to start seeing is a little bit more pushback from, I call them the Reagan Republicans,” said Brown. “The people that don't recognize the Republican Party anymore for what it is.”
As for Democrats, they plan to be busy during the interim.
For Provenza and Rep. Trey Sherwood (D-Laramie) – Sherwood refers to them as the “good-cop, bad-cop duo” – the interim will be a return-to-grassroots period. The Democratic representatives are looking to get on the ground and build power through community action.
Provenza wants to educate the public on “ how to impose their civic power and how [the people] can build collective power to get a government that better represents them.”
Sherwood also sees a need for more direct engagement.
“ We want to take away any kind of barrier to engaging with us as legislators to engage with the process. And so whether you call it education or advocacy, making sure that people know how to make their voices heard throughout the interim in terms of community work,” she said.
The Management Council will approve and assign proposed interim topics to committees at its next meeting on April 8. Joint interim committees will start meeting in late April to hear from constituents and experts, study certain topics and begin drafting legislation.
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.
