Legislation that would’ve made judicial filings more readily available to the public, required suicide prevention education in school districts and mandated a popular vote to store nuclear waste via an amendment to the state Constitution died on the second day of the 68th Wyoming Legislature’s budget session.
Meanwhile, bills that would ban abortions when the fetus has a “detectable heartbeat,” protect kids from deepfakes and exploitative images, establish a procedure to recall local elected officials, and require schools to make policies for cells phones and smart watches all survived introduction and were referred to committees for further debate.
Some legislation could still reappear before a Feb. 11 deadline for lawmakers to submit bill drafts to the nonpartisan Legislative Service Office.
All bills except for the budget require a two-thirds vote in order to get the proverbial foot in the door and pass introduction in the House or Senate.
That’s different from the state Legislature’s general session, in which bills only need a simple majority in order to clear introduction and continue on through the lawmaking process.
General sessions occur every odd-numbered year, while budget sessions happen every even-numbered year.
Lawmakers voted down a bill, sponsored by Wyoming Freedom Caucus member Rep. Scott Smith (R-Lingle), that would’ve required hand counting pen and paper ballots, the latest election bill to be killed since the session began on Feb. 9.
The death of that bill means a total of seven election bills, some of which would’ve banned ballot drop boxes and ballot “harvesting,” have died so far.
Many were the product of the interim Joint Corporations Committee and had the support of Secretary of State Chuck Gray, a founding member of the caucus.
Election overhaul legislation is listed as the caucus’s No. 2 priority for the session. Making judicial opinions and oral arguments more readily available to the public was the caucus’s No. 5 priority.
State lawmakers also voted down bills that would’ve made ivermectin an over the counter medication and banned local governments’ and associations’ use of state funds for lobbying the Legislature.
The “Human heartbeat act,” sponsored by House Speaker Rep. Chip Neiman (R-Hulett), a member of the Freedom Caucus, passed introduction 51 to 10. As of Feb. 10, the abortion ban contains no exceptions for rape or incest.
In January, the state Supreme Court struck down two near-total abortion bans after a Teton County district judge ruled them unconstitutional.
Other abortion restrictions, like one that would require women in Wyoming to get a transvaginal ultrasound two days before receiving abortion pills to end a pregnancy, have been put on hold while a district court case plays out in Natrona County. The ultrasound law was enacted in 2025.
Rewind to 2024 and a series of committee bill deaths
On the first day of the 2024 budget session, lawmakers in the Freedom Caucus voted to kill 13 committee bills. Committee legislation is generally prioritized by electeds, since time and taxpayer money go into crafting them and preparing them.
One of the bills killed on the first day by then-caucus chair Rep. John Bear (R-Gilette) and other House members would’ve ensured that people living with a severe mental health disorder would have access to crucial services when their insurance companies won’t cover them.
At the time, Bear told WPR he voted against the bill because it was trying to solve mental health issues through government action rather than through social solutions.
“Those decisions were, for me personally, based on spending and expansion of government, and whether or not I felt it was really a good solution for … society,” he said at the time.
In 2026, Bear talked with WPR about the latest committee bill deaths – this time, at the hands of some non-Freedom Caucus Republicans and Democrats in the House – as he walked through the halls of the Capitol to his next appointment.
“It's a little different when you're killing bills that the people want,” he said. “They still have the right to do that, just as we did in 2024.”
Rep. Ken Chestek (D-Laramie) said introduction is when the state’s minority party has the most power.
“The only opportunity we have to have any real influence on legislation is during introduction votes, when there's a two thirds rule,” Chestek told WPR outside the Historic Supreme Court chambers. “Once we get past that, it's going to be a lot, lot harder for us to do anything.”
In the session’s first two days, more than 30 committee bills failed to pass a vote to be introduced.
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.
